The weeds are all around us and they're growing; it will soon be too late for the knife

This is T. I've not been blogging this year, mostly so I could focus on getting things done around the property, like building fences and decks. Anyway, I seem to have lost some steam recently in the home-improvement department, so I thought I'd take some photos for a garden update.  

In general, things are going much better this year than last. The garden is the same size... about 1/5 acre of generously spaced vegetable beds. I could probably jam the same amount of vegetable production in about half of the space (with less weeding and fertilizer needed), but the garden would feel much more cramped. In any case, by this point in the year the weeding has decreased dramatically as the soil outside the beds has become dry and packed. 

For fertilizer this year I had a load of composted dairy manure delivered and spread with the help of my neighbors tractor and manure spreader. The manure of course carried some weed seed, but it is a good source of organic matter that I hope will improve some of the properties of my sandy and hydrophobic soil. 

As an additional improvment, I added valves to each of the drip lines in the garden so that I can control the water to particular crops (like the potatoes, so I can cut off the water when they mature). 

Here is some seed I'm growing of a red pointed-head cabbage called 'Kalibos'. I took the plants from a grower I work with  and put them in the garden to go to seed. Growing seed is interesting because it gives you a chance to see an essential phase of the vegetable life cycle that you don't normally see. I'll grow seed for varieties that require high seeding rates (arugula) or that I really like and will use for years ( like 'Esmerelda' lettuce). We had excellent bee activity for the pollination of this cabbage, which was a bit of a mystery to me until I discovered that the neighbors have a dozen hives today. I like watching the insects work.

Here is a crisphead lettuce called 'Summertime'. This was a volunteer in the garden from last summer, and I transplanted several of them into a bed. It's nice, if you like crisp lettuce. 'A' thinks that it is too crunchy. It is supposed to be heat tolerant.

Some Super Sugar Snap peas. Nice vigorous plants. Good production so far, but we'll see how they deal with the weather  when it heats up.  I don't like picking peas very much. It seems like I always miss lots of pods, even if I look through the patch multiple times. Tasty though. 

A blue-green cabbage, the seed of which I acquired through my work. That wonderful set of vegetables which are members of the Brassica oleracea species are kind of tough for me to grow, though I'm having more success this year than last. Brassicas typically prefer rich moist soils and moderate temperatures, neither of which we have in abundance here. Last year, to be honest, only the collards really worked, along with some kale and kohlrabi.  Generally, the more 'rustic' the plant type (like kale and collards), the easier it is to grow.  This year, I've had moderate success with broccoli and kohlrabi, and while the cabbage above has put on a bigger frame than I would think is ideal, I believe it will make a head eventually. Other crucifers we enjoy eating include turnip greens, mustard greens, turnips, radish (spring and especially winter), arugula, and a recent discovery... napa cabbage. Napa cabbage stalks are a delightful, crispy texture and a light flavor.. kind of like celery, and just a bit cabbage-y. They are pretty easy to grow, though I've had a bit of a problem with tip-burn on the inside of the heads.  

Ahhhh. Butterhead lettuce. This is a variety called 'Esmerelda'. I haven't trialed lettuces extensively, but I've several and this one wins hands-down. Trouble-free plants and an awesome, silky texture. 'A' and I both prefer butterhead types to all others.  

My edamame plants. The rabbits got every last one of these last year.... I was most disappointed. Edamame makes a great snack, and I hear they freeze well.

Quinoa is one of a few staple crops I'm growing this year (we also have some flour corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, but who is counting). Last year was a disaster of disease and insects on my quinoa. This year I was given a variety at the Organic Seed Alliance conference that may be more adapted than the grocery store quinoa I sowed last year. 'A' and I both love quinoa; and I refuse to pay $3 per pound for a staple grain; so it is the garden or nothing. 

Beets. Better stand this year (too good in fact). I should have thinned them more.
You can see the leaf-miner damage. 

Here is something new this year. Yard-long beans; a kind of indeterminate cowpea popular as a green vegetable in asia. As you might guess, the pods can be very long. Unfortunately, I got excited when the weather got 'nice' and planted these too early. They love heat, and what you're looking at is cold damage. They'll probably grow out of it. 

We're looking forward to a healthy dose of parsnip this winter. Last year the stand was very poor. Parsnip seed has notoriously weak and slow germination, but I babied it up this year. Part of this comes from having a better understanding of how I need to water in my sandy soil.   

My big trials this year are in Cucurbita moschata winter squash  (row on left), melons (row on right, focused on charantais types) and tomatos , with 15+ varieties of each.  I'm growing the moschata squash because all of the Cucurbita maxima plants I grew last year succumbed to a mysterious disease, while the moschata made a few fruit. I'm looking for disease resistance; good yield; thick dry nutty-sweet flesh (not too sweet mind you) and good storage. I'm not quite sure why I'm growing all those melons; I usually can't get through a whole one without overdosing. Please come eat some in late August.  

We had a near miss with our tomato crop (and a few others). We had  temperatures in the low 30s as late as May 10 this year, which is quite unusual, and this damaged a number of my tomato plants. Some varieties were more sensitive than others. Luckily I had replacements in reserve for the most damaged, and the others have snapped out nicely. The photo above is what I like to see... a stocky upright plant with plenty of leaf cover, but not too rangy. I prune my indeterminate tomatos to a single leader (sometimes two) for as long as I can. I'll give an update on tomato varieties later in the season. 

The cats don't know it yet, but they are going to be  enjoying catnip for quite some time to come.