It is so hot… and dry! This week has all been about getting a more robust irrigation system hooked up – it is so much drier that the system has to be run twice, and the number of emitters doubled for some plants. The crops are loving the heat, mostly – although by the end of the day the Radishes, beets and Salad Turnips are looking kinda wilted, and the lettuce is trying to go to seed. Lots of pictures to choose from this week – but this is the best:
Strictly in the interest of science the farm test kitchen has been trying different varieties of new potatoes slathered with olive oil and seasoning then roasted with young summer squash. This tray is a baby Russet, which is a dry (not wax) potato – and the combo was excellent. You will, of course, probably get a mix of potatoes this week, and the summer squash has kicked into high gear. The goal is to always get you small young squash – the yellow is really great, and green is too, but most of the first squash is yellow.
Meanwhile, at least one variety of bean has topped the 6′ trellis by at least 18″ – and has blossoms (if one looks with some imagination a baby green bean can be seen). There are at least 6 different green bean varieties, the early type is the mystery right now – the beans were sprouted in the house and lost their identity papers before being planted!
It was really disappointing to not have winter squash in 2022 – it is possible that we over-compensated. Some of the squash has set fruit, and the Candy Roaster and Red Kuri are sending out explorers to take over the world. Making a row for winter squash is essentially a waste of time, as they cover the entire garden area.
This is the first time that Radishes have done well in the summer – not sure why, but the longer red radishes are actually quite attractive – and the Japanese Turnips are now showing their little white globe of turnip-ness – so, it’s all good!
The only other really exciting thing is that the very first Figs are starting to get soft – still not quite ripe as of this writing, but close enough that a few have been consumed by garden staff… And the tomatoes are still just teasing with a few fruit at a time – slicers are getting bigger, but not ready for another couple of weeks.
So here is what you will get, most likely:
| Lettuce | Getting to another Lettuce Gap – some nice green heads, some heads that are just barely going to seed, and some that have already been passed off to the critters. |
| Brassicas | Small leaf Kale, and not much of it; a few bok choi. New cabbage is considering the possibility of forming heads. |
| Roots | As with last week, there are some small beets, nice radishes, and Japanese salad turnips. New crops are growing, but… |
| Greens | Obviously Arugula, Chard (is Chard a green?) |
| Herbs | One member begged for some of the one remaining Parsley, lots of small Chives, tons of Basil. |
| Misc | Still just a few Tomatoes. Pint of new potatoes random assortment unless you have a wax/dry preference.Really good yellow summer squash. |
Flower of the week is snapdragons unless flower farmer changes her mind on impulse. Still lots of really pretty roses…,and also Statice and Zinnias and Stock…
And there is still one half of beef available. The very last Shilofarm Beef, shed a tear.
