Peas

The first blossoms have appeared on the sugar snaps. The plants are rapidly climbing the wire support. Fresh peas will be on the menu soon!

Nothing like a Spring Salad

Summer temperatures have come to Pittsboro and the raised beds are looking pretty dry. I spent a good amount of time watering this morning.

Everything is growing well. The recently planted radishes, field peas, and green beans are up. They have incredibly speedy germination! After a relatively lengthy germination, the carrots and basil have finally pushed through the dirt. The basil seedlings are getting a good start in between the tomato plants. I'll thin them in a day or two. The basil plants will eventually have to be moved once the tomatoes get some size on them. I'll likely transplant them to the end of the bed after the broccoli is harvested. Speaking of broccoli... we'll be eating some within the week!

I thinned the beet plants and will enjoy a salad of baby beet greens for lunch. The fall-planted spinach has run its course. I harvested the last of those tasty leaves and pulled the plants. I'm still getting a handful of radishes every day or two from the first planting. The rest of the salad bed is looking gorgeously green. Spring salad season is here!

More Tomatoes

I replaced the deceased Romas...

... and bought some heirloom tomato plants at the Pittsboro Farmer's Market - two of each: Purple Cherokee, Arkansas Traveler, and Mule Team. They are tucked into the tomato bed. That should just about do it for the tomatoes, although I still want some sort of cherry tomato.

Dead Tomato Plants

Two of the three Roma tomato plants have wilted and dried up - dead! What happened?!

Cream of Spinach Soup

The autumn-planted spinach is about to bolt, so that's what's for supper tonight. Here's a delicious way to eat your greens!

1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 # potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 # cauliflower florets
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 cups (packed) fresh spinach, chopped
5-oz can fat free evaporated milk
3-oz half-and-half (optional decadent ingredient)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
(chopped ham, kielbasa sausage, etc. - optional)

Saute onion in butter ~ 3 minutes. Add potatoes, cauliflower, chicken broth, water, bouillon. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer ~ 20 minutes. Add spinach; cook 2 - 4 minutes. Puree all or part of soup in blender. Return to saucepan. Whisk in milk, salt, and pepper. Add ham or sausage, if desired. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Whisk in sour cream. Serve with some nice bread.

Is that a promise, or a threat?

It rained last night. According to the gauge in the garden, about 3/8 of an inch... enough to keep the newly planted seeds damp, but not really enough to thoroughly hydrate the beds. It'd be nice to get a little more rain this week... a good soaking rain. This afternoon is breezy and mostly cloudy. The clouds are moving swiftly across the sky, and are mostly white and fluffy. There's still plenty of sunshine and blue sky in sight, although the weatherman says we could get some severe weather. In fact, there's a tornado watch currently in effect. Despite the possibility of bad weather, it's been a very pleasant spring day.

Beans, Field Peas, and Radishes Grow

It's hard to believe how quickly radishes grow! The seed packet says 20 - 50 days to maturity. We started eating our first crop 40 days after sowing the seed. Those early plants will soon be consumed. I should've followed the seed packet suggestion of putting in successive plantings every two weeks. Maybe it's not too late! This morning I planted another 12' of radishes, sowing the seed between two rows of beets. Seemed like a good use of dirt. Maybe I can get another planting in before temperatures get too hot.

I currently have white onions planted down the center of the "green bean" bed. The idea was that the onions would be ready to harvest (as "green" onions) before any beans planted down the sides of the bed overwhelmed the space. Just today I read on the website Seedman.com: "Try companion planting with bush beans. Bush beans are excellent grown with most vegetables except the onion family, basil, fennel, kohlrabi." Oops.

Moving on... On the upper side of the green bean bed I planted about 4 feet of Lek's pole beans. Lek, my hair dresser, raves about them and gave me some seed. She says they produce long pods. I finished out that row with Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, a bush-type plant. These beans are supposed to be round, tender, juicy, and stringless. On the bottom side of that bed I planted a purple-podded, Romano-style (flat) bean, called Sequoia. It also is a bush-type plant. Although the pods are purple, they cook to a bright green. This is the first time I've planted bush beans. They will mature in 50 to 60 days.

Once I harvest those badly placed white onions, I intend to plant a row or two of pole beans down the center of the bed. Pole beans offer great use of vertical space since they are climbers. They also have a longer growing season and are more tolerant of hot temperatures than bush beans. Consequently, they will yield two to three times more than bush beans from the same amount of space. So why bother with bush beans? I guess I'll know better after this summer. Pole beans mature in 60 to 90 days. Looks like we'll have bush beans early in the season and pole beans later.

Also got a bed of "southern peas" started. Sugar snaps are currently growing down the center of this particular bed. Today, I planted two rows of Pink-eyed Purple-hulled Peas down the long outside edges. Fresh field peas can't be beat!