Going Green: Early July Vegetables

In the past few weeks, the garden has changed a good deal. We have already harvested green beans twice. They are lovely cooked slow and low with a little bacon or lightly blanched with salt and butter. But, my oldest son prefers to eat them raw from the colander as we pick.

The lettuce continues to produce in abundance. We have provided lettuce for our neighbors and the children's grandparents. Green salad is our preferred potluck dish of late, too. The response is always the same, "this is from your garden?!? You're kidding!" (There is usually very little left to bring home.)

There is something wonderful about feeding your family produce that you've grown at home. We all participate in the planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting. It really is a family enterprise. But the eating is the fun part. It is nutritious and so, so tasty. And I cannot believe how much money I am saving at the grocery store by growing my own food. My second son told me the other day, "Mom, guess what? We're farmers!" I guess he's right.

In an attempt to be a better 'farmer', I've recently taken out a couple of books from the library on year-round gardening and succession planting to extend our growing season. I'm thinking of putting together some cold frames to grow my own seedlings next year too. The books are helping me to plan my fall chores and to begin the layout for next year's garden. The hottest time of year is good for that -- and I don't need sunscreen to do a little research.

This is also the time of year to think about a watering program. I watch the weather each week, and if we've gone three days without rain, I give a good, soaking evening watering to all my beds. I use a sprinkler with a timer, set to between 1/16 and 1/8 inch depth. That works out to about 40 minutes to one hour for the widest path. It may seem like a lot of water, but fewer, more drenching waterings are better for plants than frequent, more shallow spraying. When the water soaks down deeper into the ground, it encourages plants to send their roots deeper. As an alternative to the sprinkler, we also water individual plants with the water from the kids small swimming pool. It is good not to let 'recreational water' go to waste, and the plants don't seem to mind if kids have been splashing around in their evening drink.

Our water table has been so high with the wet May and June we've had that I want to encourage further root development. I've begun a bi-weekly feeding of some my vegetables, to ensure they have enough nutrition to fruit well. The heat has helped our pumpkin and muskmelon/cantaloupe vines begin to take off. They are already in full flower. The tomatoes and peppers are already setting fruit. They seem very healthy with few pests so far. (Keep your fingers crossed.)

Since I took out the last of the Spinach at the end of June, I have planted eggplant (a first for me) and cucumbers. All the plantings are doing extremely well so far, but we'll see how they progress. The oregano and cilantro/coriander are in bloom, as is my dill. The heat is really making the basil -- self-seeded from last year's crop -- take off, too.

That's the veggie update for now. I can't wait to begin harvesting later in the month. When I do, I'll be sure to share some recipes on my family recipe blog, http://allsecretrecipes.blogspot.com/ .

Until then, happy gardening!

Midwest Mom
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Going Green: Time off in the Garden

After weeks of rain in the Midwest, we have finally had one whole week of sunshine. It has been in the high 70's each day with a light breeze. Weather like this almost makes you forget that the hot stuff is on the way.

This is the reason I love the month of June.

The kids and I took the morning off to spend time together and play outside. Because it's been dry, we decided to do some watering... the old fashioned way. To water my plants, I usually fill a 5-gallon bucket and put it near the flower garden or the vegetable garden and ask my children to choose one of the 17 plastic watering cans in their toy box. They water the plants, they water each other, they water me. As a matter of fact, I'm sure I've grown as a result. (ha. I'm such a shorty.) We have fun, and they help me to notice all the small changes in our plants since the last time we were out.

Spending that time -- they are much more observant and thorough than I am -- made my wonder whether it was time for a garden update. I checked the blog, and LO! It is.

After a healthy run -- clearly the best spinach year ever on record in this house -- all the spinach has finally bolted. We had one variety that lasted a really long time -- I wish, now, I could remember what it was called. But, it is done and setting seed. I will probably have one more really good harvest -- enough to make a big batch of wilted spinach with slivered garlic a'la The Barefoot Contessa. I could eat the whole bowl of it, it's that good.

The lettuce, though, is going strong. This wet, cool, long-lasting spring has been a salad-lovers dream. In the past, I always planted mesclun, but this year I opted for Green Leaf lettuce. It is so nice to just go out and pick a whole head of it for the evening's salad. You can't get any better than fresh lettuce, and it is so good, it doesn't even need dressing.


In worse news, my sugar snap peas have been totally decimated by the cutest baby bunny I've ever seen. Why does the creature ruining my peas have to be so darned lovable? It makes it impossible to be angry. I even sat with my daughter about 6 feet away from the thing (about the size of one of her shoes) while it ate an entire plant from root to tip. Total pea harvest =5.

We have several vegetables in flower, and as long as our bunny friend doesn't get to those, we should be okay. They are: tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and green beans. There are seedling basil and cilantro plants in the garden that are looking quite healthy, too. So, the next month should be a fun one for cooking with fresh vegetables and herbs.

Our flower garden has also been fun to watch. Our roses are in full bloom, although we lost one planting near the arbor in our backyard. We replaced it with two clematis vines. So, keep your fingers crossed. Our petunias from last year seeded themselves, so we have a mixture of pink, purple, and white petunias popping up all over the place.



In the wildflower garden, there are day-lilies, tiger lilies, bluebells, and forget-me-nots. It makes for a few pockets of color, but the big bloomers, like the bee balm, purple coneflower, brown-eyed-susans, sunflowers, and cosmos are waiting for warmer weather. They have a good number of buds, though! So, it looks like we're promised a colorful July.

That's all from the garden! I hope you don't mind if I head out again with the kids. You just can't pass up a day like this!

Midwest Mom

Going Green: Update

There is a little bit of garden news to report. But first, I have to file an update on my promise to run errands by bicycle instead of using my car. I have to say, it ain't easy!

Last week, my son finished school on Wednesday. So, from then until Saturday, my car sat still. We took bike rides with the kids, practicing all the roads we'll need to go grocery shopping on two wheels instead of four. They did great. Even my 5 year old -- fully under his own power -- went on one bike ride that was over 3 miles! His training wheels were burning up the road.

Our only problem came when -- and if you live in Illinois, you know what is coming -- we got such torrential rain that I could have rowed to the grocery store. So, as I joked with my neighbor about ark-building, I did use my car (1.2 miles each way) to buy food.

Oh, the shame of it all.

Ha. I'm in control of many things, but the weather's not one of them. I'm sure that, moving forward, we'll be able to do a lot more under our own power. Being more conscious of gasoline usage has made me realize two things. One, that I really did use my car an awful lot, just for the convenience of it. And two, that (in good weather) I really can get along without it pretty well. So, it's parked for now. We'll see how long I can go this week.

As for the garden, I have one variety of spinach that has bolted, one that's holding off. So, I may try freezing some spinach if we can't eat it all fresh. The lettuce is still beautiful, too. But, my children saw a game of tag between a bunny and a chipmunk yesterday right in the middle of the garden where my peas and beans are. It was hilarious to watch, but in the process, four pea vines got cut. Darn bunnies.

I have renewed understanding for Mr. MacGregor.