Eating local, real local.

I had a big harvest yesterday after not visiting the garden for a week.  Everything looked fine.  The Beefmaster plant is huge and still producing tomatoes.  It would probably do well with an 8' stake at this point but it's going to have to be content with draping all over the corn.  The beans continue to flower and my succession planting seems to be a success.  The younger plants should begin flowering in the next week.  To make room I thinned out some of the older plants that looked a little dry.  We ate the beets, beans, and carrots last night along with our first installment from our fish CSA (silver hake).  It was a very local dinner!

I'm growing a dramatic sunflower called Earth Walker.  I would like a whole bouquet of these but since I've only got one, I guess it'll stay in the garden.

Anybody want a kitten?  This little ruffian is running around the garden and sitting on my plants.  I love crazy face markings on cats though, and this guy/gal has one killer nose!

These trees are in bloom in Jersey City right now.  The big billowy flowers look great but turn into a disgusting sidewalk pulp once they come down.

Oddities from the Garden

Most of the carrots I grow wind up looking like pants or ginger roots and I've definitely seen a few tomatoes from the garden who could be called Pinnochian.  Fruits and veg in nature are rarely the uniform beauts you buy at Whole Foods.  The weirdos have all been winnowed out by the time they hit the markets.

Artist Uli Westphal has a lovely series of photos documenting all the unusual shapes that produce can grow into if allowed.

The Mutato Project is interesting for anyone with an artistic eye or who has gardened, but also strikes a chord with anyone who has shopped for fresh produce.

Summer Veg Coming Along

The beets are finally outgrowing "Baby Beet" status. After a very long and wet spring, the plants are enjoying the warm (HOT) weather and the relative lack of munching pests.  The variety is an heirloom called Flat of Egypt beet, from Baker Creek.

These spicy Cherry Bell peppers ripen to red.  I've been picking, deseeding, and freezing them as they ripen. As with everything in the garden, they're thriving in the summertime heat. They're a bit hotter than I expected, so I'm sure the bounty will last well into 2014.

The first tomato plant I put in this year was a Beefmaster from the Union Square green market in the city. It's by no means a distinctive variety, but it's definitely making a case for hybrids.  There are already half a dozen fruits on the plant, which is towering out of the cage and still flowering profusely.   I've got high hopes for this guy.

I've never had much luck with beefsteak style tomatoes in my plot.  I tend to overcrowd with too many things, and inevitably something gets shaded in the fight for UV resources.  Three years ago I planted a very typical cherry tomato (a hybrid) and got quarts and quarts of fruit off the thing.  I've yet to match that in productivity.  I blame it on the fickle heirlooms I'm so drawn to.  With the Beefmaster doing so well though, I might just leave the heirloom tomato growing to the farmer's market vendors.

The Summer Garden

Things are getting bushy in the garden.  As spring turns to summer, it'll be time to make some decisions about what to plant next.  That patch of lettuce in the center right will be exhausted and that enormous flowering purple sprouting broccoli in the top left will be chopped into compost.  Eventually all the garlic along the right will be ready (July?) and the radishes in front of the broccoli will have bolted.

That may leave just enough room for the tomatoes to grow, or I could fill in with some short perennial flowers.  If the weather stays cool I might be able to grow lettuce under the shade of the tomatoes.  I'm more inclined to maximize my space than to let things be, so I'm sure I'll plant something new!  Maybe something for that trellis in the back...

PS: Last week I was weeding in the garden, perched on my single stepping stone in the middle, and I toppled over and narrowly missed squashing a bunch of plants.  A second stepping stone is on my short list to prevent future disasters.

Heat Wave

We're having our first heat wave of 2013 in the Brunswick Street Community Garden and that means bye-bye for some spring crops. Tonight I'll be checking on everything but I am anticipating bolted lettuce and radishes.

Last week the garden looked amazing. We were coming off a long spring with a good mix of sun, cool temperatures, and weekly heavy rain. I think summer may have arrived this week. Luckily I pulled a big bunch of radishes before the weekend. (I apologize for the bad photo, I'm trying to figure out this issue.)

They were the best harvest of cherry belle radishes I have ever had, I think due in part to the long spring. When I pulled them, I filled in with more seeds but I think the weather is too warm for radishes to grow now. 

As for the lettuce, I had a beautiful patch before the weekend. I plan to harvest a few heads tonight and if the remainder aren't dying of heat stroke, I might consider setting up a shade for them. If I can keep the sun off them for the next two days, I might be able to prevent the lettuce heads from bolting. 

It's hardly a doom and gloom situation though. The tomatoes, hot peppers, and eggplants are loving this warm spell and will probably double in size as a result. I can't wait to see what happens with those this summer. 

Iris Time!

The flowers are in full bloom at New Jersey's Presby Memorial Iris Garden, as you can see!

We haven't been over there yet this year but I put in a request for an After Work Visit one night soon.  I can't wait to see all the crazy varieties they grow.  It's one of those really specialized gardening experiences that is unique in the age of mega this and big box that.  Where else can you go to view iris, and only iris?  Between May 10th and June 5th?  Presby Memorial Iris Garden!

A Chipmunk named Mao Mao

Let the Salads Begin!

Aside from lots and lots of broccoli, other things are growing in the plot. Yesterday I gathered some homegrown additions to our evening's salad: one radish (a test to see if they were big enough) and a bunch of mixed leaf lettuce.

I pulled out another broccoli and the two that remain are making pretty yellow flowers. I'll leave them until something else starts to bloom (won't happen until i plant something else). 

The rest of the garden is filled with iris, columbine, coral bells, and other miscellaneous blooms. It is so lovely to be there this time of year. 

My Plot is Now...

BIG.

Broccoli Broccoli Broccoli

I harvested just over 2 lbs of broccoli last week and turned it into soup. Today I took down two of the five broccoli trees to make way for something else. The weather seems to be getting just warm enough to make it bolt and we're having a hard time keeping up.

The warm weather has also got the iris all blooming. I brought home a bunch of purple stems for this week's bouquet. Soon the yellow variety should pop in the garden. Since they've been moving plots around and disturbing some of the perennials, I'm not sure there are enough this year to bring home.

I did a big plot remodel this morning with Josh's help. I'll post pictures soon!