Garden Series: July Update and Caring for your Garden

Hello!

A return to the garden series! We have now fully weeded the garden twice, and enjoyed our first full harvest of a planted vegetable.

Our french-type radishes grew and were picked- in the VeggiePods, it made room for another planting of basil. In the garden, they were in the carrot row to promote spacing of the carrot seeds. They grew beautifully and were super sweet. I roasted some on the bbq.

Because of the rain and poor weather thus far this year, everything is pretty behind. We experienced one crop failure- romaine lettuce. We’ve planted again and are now watching quite a few heads grow. The beans, peas, squashes are all quite delayed and while flowering, have not produced much yet. Even our little herbs are slow to grow.

The real crop winner thus far is kale and lettuce! The veggie pods are happy and lush, and hard to close ha. I have given them a hair cut equivalent to 20 salads the last 2 weeks and it barely looks like anything is missing! We also have a full row of lettuce in the garden ready to be donated to the seniors shelter and soup kitchen we support.

So now that you have things growing, lets talk about how to take care of your garden! These are my top tips:

• Buy a dutch hoe. It takes the pain out of weeding and helps you keep the gaps between your rows nice and tidy, with unpacked dirt.
• Weed regularly, both your walking spaces in the garden AND between your plants. A dandelion can choke out a carrot or beet in a week.
• Be on the lookout for slugs and take appropriate measures to get rid of them. For our soil, sprinkling espresso grounds around helps. And it gives me an excuse to make a latte a day.
• Don’t be afraid to pick some of your stuff while it’s still small. Baby beets are delicious! You can thin your carrots, those are sweet eating! and it gives your other plants room to grow and mature without competing with each other.
• Pick your zucchinis OFTEN if they’re already producing. They can turn into baseball bats very quickly.
• If it’s been raining a lot for you, like it has for us, be sure to harvest your greens and lettuces from the bottom upward. This is because the bottom leaves won’t dry out and can be prone to going soft, then start to mold from high humidity. Likewise, if you have a raised bed, pick between the rows so you get adequate air flow.

Hopefully soon I’ll have some gorgeous hauls of veggies to show you! How are your gardens coming?