1st week of June 2009
We finally had a wonderful thunderstorm that soaked everything down to the roots. A hose can never hold a candle to the lovely job rain does in watering the garden. A rainy day was also a good excuse to run some errands of visiting some Amish friends to get sweet potato plants and stopping by the greenhouse for extra seeds and supplies. This time of year is when succession planting becomes crucial to ensure a steady stream of veggies all season. I'm trying to put in a new planting of beans every two weeks. This week we planted pole beans using a cattle panel for the trellis. I planted Gold of Bacau, Red Noodles and Greasy Corn Beans. I love being able to offer a different kind of bean in veggie baskets each week. I also planted a new batch of summer lettuce, another round of basil and a flat of fall cabbage and broccoli. A final planting of Kennebec potatoes was tucked in a corner of one of the gardens as we are testing a potato theory we learned from an Amishman, "Plant them in June, they're as big as the moon." We put several large pieces of black plastic (recycled from silo bags) in place and I'm trying to get all the winter squash and melons planted before the next rainy streak. Meantime, Olin is hoping the rain waits till his 15 acres of hay is baled.
This is the season when the lettuce is flourishing and our plates are loaded high with salad. Our children are happy to eat theirs without all the weird greens and sometimes go out and pick heads of lettuce just for a snack. Buttercrunch is their favorite and all it needs is a wash with the garden hose. Soon we'll have more sugar snap peas than can be consummed directly in the garden plus broccoli that is starting to mature. Herbs are also coming abundantly. My family is not a fan of lovage but
I decided to give it a try again after hearing a couple people talk about how much they like it this week. I used a small amount in a soup that I thought the celery flavor would enhance. The children detected it immediately and have threatened to chop down my lovage plant the next time I try to slip it in cooking. Guess I should stick to rosemary and parsley...
The old roses are in their glory. We have 6 or 7 different varieties around the farm that have been here since antiquity. It's amazing that they survive even when they are neglected for years. My favorite one that I call "Grandma's Rose" is a pink ruffled variety that has an absolutely heavenly scent. I have been taking a bouquet of them along for my Lehmans demos to let others enjoy the fragrance. Unfortunately they only bloom for a few weeks but a friend just gave me a rose petal jelly recipe that I may try so we can enjoy that lovely scent in the middle of winter.
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