Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Saturday in the Garden

Today was predominately spent in the garden. I have had a few tasks that have turned into many task so I decided to complete them all today. It felt great to great everything done and then be able to rap things up with veggies from the garden for dinner.

The first things completed was harvesting & removing the shelling peas, sugar snap peas & broad beans. Unfortunately I had left the third picking of shell peas on to long and they had gone starchy, they will be composted. I had a few sugar snaps left and ended up with a pound of broad beans. I also left a couple broad bean plants standing to be used for seed saving purposes.


Here are the broad beans I harvested. The seed for these came from
a trade with Down on the Allotment and this photo will be entered into
her "Matron's Worldwide Veggie Show 2009" on July 14th

Once that was done I planted the leeks I started in May in front of the melons. These will be a fall crop and I am hoping there is enough time for them to size up. They take 90 days to harvest so they should have just enough time to grow before the weather turns in October. Here are some photos of how I planted them:

Here are the starts that are a little over a month old now. These are 'Large Musselburg' Leeks.


I remember seeing leeks planted in trenches well watching Victory Gardener, many many years ago. Funny how you can remember obscure things when you're so young. Anyway, so I dug trenches about 5 inches deep and then planted the leeks about an inch below the trench. The soil is being stored in a bin behind the shed and will be added back as they grow. This method should grow some nice, long, white leeks.

Here they are all planted. Now they just need to get growing!

Today I also decided to harvest all the garlic. They probably could have stayed in a little longer but I needed the space. I have not weighed them yet but ended up with 8 nice size heads and 4 small heads.

I have the garlic drying on the patio table with the umbrella up. I am going to try and rope
my Mom into braiding the eight large heads together. We shall see if I am successful.

On the planting front I planted another row of parsnips in place of the garlic also well as a row of carrots & beets. The carrots and beets will be another fall crop and the parsnips I am going to leave in over the winter. I have read they produce a very sweet taste once they freeze in the ground. They will make for a nice harvest during a winter thaw or in March when the snow goes away. The last things I planted was white cucumber in the pot the sugar snap peas were growing in and I planted the red celery I started in May.

The last task of the day was thinning the carrots & beets that are currently growing. A few of the thinnings were big enough for dinner but most went into the compost. Beets and carrots seem to be growing very slow for me this year.

13 comments:

  1. The picture of the plate of broadbeans (with the nice basket of them in the background) - is a sure fire winner! That is a beautiful composition and the beans look delicious.

    I pulled regular garlic today too. Left the elephant garlic in the ground for just a bit longer - but they will be coming out relatively soon too. Planted up fall crop transplants of broccoli, kohlrabi, and a new variety of cabbage I am trying this year - Beira Tronchuda - which is a loose leaf cabbage.

    You will love the parsnips. They are my favorite fall/winter crop - with carrots running a close second. I love them sliced and sauteed in some butter - just a sprinkle of salt.

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  2. KitsapFG - I can't wait to try parsnips out of the garden. I have tried them from the store but they are always so bitter tasting. I just saw the 'Good Eats' guy cooking them with pears and mushing it all up together, it looked really good.

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  3. What beautiful photography! Love your first photo of the beans on the cake plate... such an elegant arrangement!

    Congratulations on your harvest. It's so exciting!!!

    I've started plucking off pea pods... but they make it into the house! ; )

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  4. Very pretty beans. You're so on top of your fall sowing. Makes me wish I were more organized. I'll just praise you all from the sidelines
    : )

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  5. My beets and carrots never grew either. Your bean picture is amazing; I hope it wins.

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  6. As always the photos are great....the little basket is so cute. :)

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  7. With your photograpic skills, you're going to win. Great shots as always.

    My carrots were wierd this year too. Some seemed to bolt instead of grow, but others grew great. Not sure.

    I think I should be harvesting my garlic also, I'll need help on that since it's the first time growing it.

    Lastly, I went to your mom's site, those smores bars look yummy. I may try them.

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  8. Dan, it sounds like you had quite a productive day in the garden on Saturday :-) Today was our day to dig in the dirt and work outside. We're replanting the summer crops (a 2nd wave of them). I'll be glad when it's time to plant the carrots and beets again -- when it cools off LOL.

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  9. That pic is superb for sure, but even more impressive is the subject ... those beans are absolutely flawless ! Wow, well done, Dan.

    Your carrots are beautiful and ready so soon ? I didn't even realize you had those going. If mine look half as good as yours come harvest time, I'll be quite pleased. :D
    Very nice. The beets too !

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  10. I stumble upon your blog and was glad I did. Those are great looking broad (fava) beans!

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  11. I want to braid my garlic too, but most of it is hardneck garlic. I only have 4-5 heads of softneck that could be braided (depends if I want to use one or two heads for seed garlic this fall). The hardneck grows so well here, but I do love garlic braids. I'd love one hanging in my kitchen.

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  12. Daphne - Maybe I won't be having it braided then because they are all hardneck

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  13. Dan, your veggie garden has such great variety in it! You'll be eating hearty, for sure! Of the lovely flowers, I must say that black urn with the red petunias (?) is gorgeous! I must try that myself. ~~Rhonda

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