1st week of July 2009

Detroit Beet, Chioga Beet, Golden Beet We have been blessed with pleasant summer temperatures in the 70s this past week. It's wonderful for working outdoors without melting and comfortable for sleeping at night though not entirely ideal for ripening tomatoes. Lettuce is one crop that is not fond of summer heat and I'm covering one of my cold frame skeletons with plastic snow fence to act as a shade blanket. We'll see how that works in keeping the lettuce sweet and happy. I continue to make succession plantings of zucchini, cucumbers and beans and now have to start making plans for fall garden crops. The broccoli and cabbage plants are in flats and ready to go in the ground before they shrivel from watering neglect. Some of them will be planted where cover crops of buckwheat and rye were standing. When the peas are finished producing and are pulled out, those areas will transform into fall carrot and beet beds. Talking about beets, here are some fun varieties we are harvesting Currants, Mulberries, Josta Berriesright now - Detroit beets, golden beets and chiogga beets with the bulls-eye.

Some fun fruits that are ripe now include currants, jostaberries and mulberries. Our daughter picked a gallon bucket of red currants today. I remember my grandma raising currants and making jelly. They have a pleasing tart taste so we eat some fresh and put some in the freezer for winter coffeecake and muffins. The white currant bush is just starting to ripen and their flavor is slightly different but still yummy. The jostaberries and similar to gooseberries and have a grape-like flavor. We have several mulberry trees, each with a slightly different flavor and today's picking went into the blender with yogurt for popsicles.

Gourmet Salad LunchMeals are becoming very colorful this time of year. Here is one of my lunch plates with multi color carrots, sugar snap peas, and salad topped with borage and nasturtiums. The toast has rosemary shallot soft cheese spread and there is apple mint tea sweetened with stevia leaves to drink. Using just a few herbs and edible flowers can turn an ordinary meal into something gourmet. An Amish friend called today to order some extras for a meal she is serving to 16 guests. I'll help by supplying nasturtiums, snow and sugar snap peas, sweet onions and golden beets. I also shared some ideas for her to dress up her deviled eggs with dill, parsley and johnny jump-ups. I hope her guests will appreciate the beautiful colors and flavors she is carefully preparing for them.

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