The Garden Is Taking Off - Part One

We have had some nice hot weather for the last two weeks or so and the Garden is really loving it.  I've been trying as hard as I can to keep up with the weeds, but as you can see in some of these pictures, right now the weeds are winning.  I guess that will happen when you are trying to make sure that your garden is well watered.

The peas have almost reached the top of the fence and have begun to make tons of flowers.  Pretty soon the nights will be filled with the sound of the dehydrator helping to save our harvests for the coming months.

 

The carrot bed is working out nicely so far.  As the radishes are harvested the carrots have filled out to take up their space.  Some of them have even started to fill out their roots.  Fresh carrots won't be far behind. 

 

The broccoli are just starting to fill out as they branch off to make more florets.  The onions in front of them seem to be doing their job so far since none of the plants seem to have any bug problems yet.  I hope that remains true as the season progresses.

 

The three remaining brussel sprouts are coming along nicely also.  If they don't become infested with aphids this year we might still get a small harvest.

 

The onion bed is growing taller by the day.  Right now some of them are up to my knee.  I had to pluck a few flower stalks off of the sets that I planted which is one of the downfalls of growing onions from sets.  I do think that I might allow some of them to go to flower so I can collect the seeds, but the last time I tried that none of the seeds sprouted. 

 

The garlic has been growing so nicely that some plants are as tall as my hip.  If this harvest is as good as it looks right now I just might have enough to make it to next year with some left over for seed which is exactly what I wanted.

 

The tomatoes are growing by leaps and bounds and all of them have several flowers on them.  One of them has already set fruit as well.  It's starting to look like we will be eating fresh tomatoes in a few short weeks.

 

The celery has stalks that are growing taller and thicker everyday.  When the stalks get big enough I will start cutting off the large stems and leaving the small ones to continue to grow.  Last year I dehydrated the celery and I think it turned out a little bitter.  Right now I have only used small amounts in soups and stocks.  This year I think I will blanch and freeze most of it to see if it tastes any better when we have to use it later on.

 

The lettuce bed has some promise, though I think my timing may have been off when I staggered my planting of lettuces.  The first few rounds have been growing nicely and I harvest a gallon bag off of them every few days.  The next few rounds seem like they have been very slow to sprout and have taken a long time to start growing.  The problem is that the older plants look like they may start to bolt soon and after that they get very bitter.  The younger plants are no where near ready to start harvesting, but maybe they will grow fast once they get a little more established.