Whoa – that was hot. Really really hot.
It looks like most of the garden made it through the apocalyptic heat – lots of careful watering. The major concern is the potatoes – there are lots and lots of yellow and even brown vines on them; lettuces came out well; berries are a little startled but seem to be mostly okay. The tomatoes, peppers and melons all thought it was swell, of course. Because there was so much rain two weeks ago the soil temperature moderated the nasty heat effects – at least, that is the guess. The annoying thing is that four of our fallow beds became about two feet tall in weeds. Pulled out the old fashioned scythe and mowed them down, stacked them up and pulled them out. The scythe does not cause the weeds to drop more seeds, and then the whole plant can be composted or given to the cows to process.
It is not clear how damaged the roses are; the flower specialist was muttering to herself about what would be going out this week. There are a lot of blooms of other flowers – prepare to be surprised.
The good news in all this is that the Raspberries and Boysenberries are starting their ripening cycle. Also, there are baby hook neck squash, small bell and spicy peppers, and some very nice new cabbage – the cabbage will be going out this week.
Tomatoes. They seem to get nearly ripe for months; in actual practice it is 3-4 weeks from the start of color change till juicy drip down the chin ripe. This isn’t that week, but you can see it from here. Once again, the whole crop is picked and portioned out. It does look like the continued mid-80’s temperatures will make all those giant vines start throwing out fresh fruit. That means that there will be opportunities to get ‘bonus boxes’ of Tomatoes before much longer. A bonus box is about the size of the personal share box and is $5.
And… this is the time of year where people start saying “My crisper is already full of lettuce, can you bring me less?” So – you will be getting cegolaine lettuce and a head of cabbage in your personal share; if you have a different preference, speak now or suffer the consequences!
So – Here’s what is in the box for week 6:
| Greens | Lettuce (Red and/or Green), Green cabbage, White and/or Red Chard; Baby beets for (large) greens |
| Crunchies | Snap peas, maybe – vines look really sad. Beets have small bulbs. baby carrots aren’t ready yet, cucumbers are growing vigrously, hook neck squash if you want (ask) some baby sized. |
| Herbs | Arugula, Green Onions, Chives, Basil, Cilantro, Fennel if you ask, Parsley, Oregano, mint. If you want ‘lots’ of Oregano that can be done. Your challenge is to figure out what herb is what… |
| Other | more Tomatoes, Ugly Walla Walla onions, Raspberries maybe Friday or Saturday… New Potatoes – various colors. Flower of the week will be snap dragons or roses Any preference? |
Next Week:
- larger number of Tomatoes
- Hook neck summer squash
- Raspberries
On Deck:
- Figs, Plums, Boysenberries
- summer squash (Zucchini, Patty Pan)
