Peas

This is it!  Pea season is officially over.  I pulled a number of peas off the vines today.  They taste great.  I got about 5 peas for each plant.  No fertilizer, just weeding and watering.

Cilantro

The cilantro bolted!  See the pictures of the pretty white “flowers” — that’s cilantro which went to seed.  I grew Slo-Bolt Cilantro.  So much for slow bolting.  Actually, it has been growing since the last frost.  It’s also from seeds that overwintered in that bed.

Tomatoes

Tomato season is almost here!  The first early tomatoes have started to fruit.  They are only a half inch in diameter.  In another 2 weeks, we should have some cherry tomatoes.

Lettuces

The lettuce looks great.  The Rocky Top is a strong grower.  The European Mesculan was a bust.  I cleared out the cilantro bed and planted arugula, salad greens, and mizuna.  In another 3 weeks, I’ll have more greens than I can deal with.

Cucumbers and Watermelon

Both went in the ground two weeks ago and the seedlings look great.  I’m going to try to grow these two up on stakes and trellis in the hopes of growing more in a smaller area.  I’ve never done it like this, so we’ll see what happens.

Chard

The chard which got water logged last week came back under the hot, hot sun.  It doesn’t like too much sun, but due to the flood of water, it’s doing ok.

Clean Up!

It’s not all growing.  Today was a big clean up day.  Planted sunflower seeds in an area next to the compost bin and cleaned up some of the beds.  In the next few weeks, I’ll have more clean up as the pea plants come out and something new comes in.

Related articles:

1. On the Farm, June 19, 2009
2. On the Farm, June 6, 2009
3. On the Farm, June 12, 2009

In the harvest is peas, spinach, rocky top lettuce, radishes, and cilantro. Here is what’s going on around the farm:

Lincoln Peas

Pea harvest season is here.  I’m guessing I’ll get about 3 weeks of peas.  The peas are looking real good this week.  A couple of the pods are huge and the are tasty.  The smaller plants actually seem to have more pods on them than the really big plants.  I put down a little extra fertilizer today to keep the growth going.  All of this watering is doing them well.

Tomatoes

I’ll have to do a tomato comparison, but I believe some of the tomato plants grew two feet or more this week.  Two of the plants are approaching four feet today.  Still weeks away from a tomato, they are looking great.  Again, put some fertilizer down to make sure the plants get a solid start before fruiting begins.

Chard

The swiss chard appears to be the only plant in the garden that can’t take the rain.  A few of the chard plants are washed out.  Chard is a fast grower, so I’ll replant next week if they don’t recover (sometimes they do).  Chard likes cooler weather, so I’ll need to replant in the shady section.

Peppers

We have multiple branches now on most of the pepper plants.  I feel like the peppers are growing really slow, but they aren’t do to fruit for a long time.  When compared to the tomatoes, they look like slow moving turtles.  Next month I’ll complain how they are growing too fast, I’m sure.

Radishes

I’ve pulled all of the radishes out of the ground that I’ve planted.  About a 75% success rate — that is, 75% of the seeds I planted, I pulled full radishes out of the ground.  I’ll wait a few weeks and replant some more.  Essentially, you can keep planting radishes all summer.  I take a bit of a break so I can figure out mid-summer spacing and replanting.  Radishes are easy, go anywhere plants — I can put them where ever I have space.

Cucumbers

I’m so happy to say that the cucumbers are in full growth in the garden.  I probably planted too many plants this year, but that should be the least of my problems.  I’m growing a traditional pickling variety and the seeds sprouted and have a great start.

Rocky Top Lettuce

The rocky top lettuce looks like a great variety to grow.  They are growing tightly (which makes for less weeding) and strongly.  I cut four inch leaves today.  They’ll be great for sandwiches.

The rain is really accelerating growth this week.  With the temperature turning from mid 70s to mid 80s this week, I expect some great growth and harvesting next week.

Related articles:

1. On the Farm, June 6, 2009
2. On The Farm, June 26, 2009
3. On the Farm, June 12, 2009

Cilantro

Wow, the cilantro is growing strong.  I’ve picked a number of bunches of cilantro today.  Too bad the tomatoes aren’t ready to go as they would make great salsa.   The cilantro smells so good.  This is slow bolt cilantro.  Cilantro bolts or goes to seed and becomes bitter very quickly.  Slow bolt cilantro is suppose to go to seed much slower.  You can see from the first photos a slight difference in some of the cilantro.  This is the cilantro slowly starting to bolt.

Radish

The radishes are huge today.  I’ve pulled a number of radishes out of the ground today.  Also for the first time in 5 years, we have a critter in the garden.  Based upon what was eaten and the location (and also what I normally see in the garden), I’m guessing I have rabbits.  I’ll keep an eye on it and hopefully the rabbits will eat only a reasonable amount.  They are hungry after all.

Peppers

The peppers are starting to grow.  They’ve been about 3 inches tall for the past few weeks and they’ve added about two inches in the past few days.  We are a long way to actually eating a pepper, but they are looking good.

Rocky Top Lettuce

The rocky top is going strong.  I took a small batch of baby lettuces out today and they tasted wonderful.  The rocky top is delicate when it is in the baby stage, but in another couple of weeks we’ll have a strong batch of lettuce.  At this point they are growing very tightly together and require almost no care, which is a treat.

Peas

Check out the peas — we’ve got pods.  I’m so excited.  I’ve never grown peas before so I was surprised to notice the snaps growing on the vine.  There are about 4 pea pods per plant — a little less than I expected.  I was able to pull a pod and took a picture of the inside.  I think they need a week or two more but so far they taste great.  I also took a picture of the pea blossoms.

Garlic

The garlic is growing perfectly.  It was planted in the fall and is about 3 to 5 feet tall today.  There are a variety of theories on growing garlic, one of which is to cut the tops of the garlics — called the scapes — to allow for the bulbs to focus on growing.  I’ve cut the scapes and I haven’t cut the scapes and have found no difference.  Anyway, I cut some scapes — enough for me to throw in a stirfry.  I have some pretty good pictures of the scapes.  It looks to be a great garlic season.

Beans

The greasy grit beans are going strong.  This is also my first year growing beans so we’ll have to see how they grow.

Related articles:

1. On The Farm, June 26, 2009
2. On the Farm, June 19, 2009
3. On the Farm, June 6, 2009

Three Weeks Ago

Last Week

This Week

Related articles:

1. Planted: Rocky Top Lettuce
2. On the Farm, June 6, 2009
3. Friday Growing

Peas

The peas are looking good.  You can see from the photos that they need some training to work their way up the trellis.  But I’m confident they are good learners.

Tomatoes

The tomatoes are coming up slowly but surely.  They are at about 16 to 20 inches right now.  Last year, the tomato plants reached about 4 to 5 feet so they have a ways to go.  At the point, I’m more concerned about the root strength than the height.  A 5 foot plant needs a really strong root structure.

In one of the pictues, notice a huge batch of tomato plants (almost looks herb like).  I left some tomatoes on the ground at the end of last year and tilled them into the soil in the spring.  Much to my amazement, they are growing.  They aren’t in a great place to grow 4 feet, but I am letting them grow just to see how they fare.

Chard

After a couple misses, some of the chard is finally coming up.  I’m not sure why it didn’t all sprout (I usually don’t have chard problems), but the few buds look good.

Spinach

No complaints on spinach.  This is the second week that I’ve been able to cut the outer, larger leaves for spinach salads.

Radish

The biggest radish came out of the ground.  Take a look at the pictures above.  It’s about 2 inches in diameter.  I happened to go to the Green City Market today and found 3 inch radishes, but I’m happy anyway.  The radishes have a great spicy punch and are really crisp.  I also replanted another 16 radishes that should be ready in about 3 weeks.  They are just that easy to grow.

Rocky Top Lettuce

The rocky top lettuce has grown a lot in the last week.  You can see about 3 to 5 different varieties growing.  In another 2 weeks, I’ll start to trim back for baby greens and let some other plants grow for fuller heads.  I also replanted Rocky Top today.  I am growing this batch in a shadier area of the garden.  I’ll grow the lettuce all summer, but it needs a reprieve from the hottest sun.

Planted Today:

I’ll have a longer description of each variety but I planted basil, pumpkin, watermelon, and two varieties of cucumbers today.  All from seed.  Descriptions on the way.

Also notice the permaculturephotos.  I have taken one bed and I’m growing — in random — a variety of herbs, lettuces, radish, etc.  I’ll write up separately on my lessons on permaculture.

Related articles:

1. On the Farm, June 19, 2009
2. On The Farm, June 26, 2009
3. On the Farm, June 12, 2009

Spinach

Spinach, May 8, 2009

The spinach is looking great.  We’re at about week 3 with the spinach above.  It’s not yet considered “baby” spinach — maybe a week to 10 days more.  It’s about 2 inches high.  There are about 3 sets of 8 plants growing at different stages.  With about a week in between.  Spinach will continue to grow really big, so I just cut each week the amount that I’ll need.  These 24 plants will likely last me through to July.  In late June, I’ll replant for a fall crop.

Radish

Radish, May 8, 2009

The radish plants really came into their own this week.  These are also about a two inches high and all but one sprouted.

Radish Sets, May 8, 2009

As you can tell from above, only one seed didn’t sprout (bottom left).  They are spaced about 2 to 3 inches apart and should grow a nice 2 inch bulb.  The radish leaves will grow about 6 inches high when the radishes themselves are ready to pick.

Lettuce

Rocky Top Lettuce, May 9, 2009

The lettuce finally sprouted!  Above is the Rocky Top lettuce… not even an inch high so far.  You barely cover the seeds in the dirt when you plant them.  Two things generally happen.  1) They blow away.  2) Birds get to them.  As you can see above by the scattered growth, one of the two happened.  It’s ok.  You prune back (baby lettuce) as you go to let a few grow out big.  So it will all work out in the end.

Peas

Peas, May 8, 2009

Single Pea Sprout, April 24, 2009

Look how far we’ve come in 3 weeks.  The top was taken this morning and the bottom three weeks ago.  The peas are on their way to the sky!

Shallots

Shallots, May 8, 2009

The shallots are growing nicely.  I’m excited to cut those shallot scapes in the next few weeks to throw into a stir fry.  They are strong.

Tomatoes

Tomato Plant, May 8, 2009

The tomato plants have a long way to go before they grow a tomato.  These plants were 5 inches high when they were transplanted in the ground.  At transplant, you plant them really deep so only two inches showed above the direct.  Now they’re back up to 6 inches high.  Eventually they will reach about 4 feet.

More from the garden tomorrow!

Related articles:

1. Peas, Spinach, Radishes and More…Growing
2. On the Farm, June 6, 2009
3. A Growing Farm, May 27, 2009

If you follow @GreenCityMarket on Twitter, you were notified that Cannon Drive was closed this morning for the Wrigley “Start Early Run” Race.  Walking through Lincoln Park, I was caught up in the action.

Caught at the Wrigley "Start Early Run" Race on the way to the market.

Sometimes you have to stop and smell the flowers.  In my case, I stopped to photograph ducks in the North Pond of Lincoln Park.  I walked all the way up to the edge the pond — about 2 feet from the ducks — and they just sat their while I took a picture.

Ducks of the North Pond, April 2009

Sorry about the side track, back to the market.  Luckily for us, Growing Power is able to start their vegetables in a greenhouse or cold frame (I should have asked) so they have a variety of greens ready to eat today.  I picked up both the arugula and salad greens.

Salad Greens and Arugula from Growing Power at the Green City Market

It’s rare to get scallions this early and they really smelled good (and strong — my entire bag smelled like scallions.  I also picked up mint and sorrel leaves from Nichols Farm, both of which looked great.

Mint Leaves from the Green City Market

Sorrel Leaves from the Green City Market

Scallions from the Green City Market

And finally to round out my Green City Market trip, I picked up Green Offerings bunch of tulips.  They’re very closed now (I purposely picked them like that) so hopefully I can watch them slowly open all week.

Tulips from Garden Offerings at the Green City Market

And since I was one of the first 200 to show up, I received a basil pot!  This one will go on my kitchen counter in a small pot.  Thanks Green City Market!

Basil Pot, a gift from the Green City Market

It’s far too nice to be inside today.  I’m back outside to enjoy the weather before it starts raining tomorrow.  Have a good day!

Related articles:

1. Friday Weeds – April 10, 2009
2. Friday Weeds – April 17, 2009
3. Friday Weeds – April 24, 2009

Rocky Top is probably the least descriptive seed I’ve bought.  From Baker Creek:

Our improved blend is now better than ever!  With more brightly colored and unique lettuces, it makes a flavorful and brilliant salad.  People love the rich, old-fashioned taste.

Unfortunately, no listing of exactly what makes up Rocky Top.  Sadly, I picked it this year after my usual salad mix – Summer of Salads Mix – was discontinued.  Summer of Salads provided many, many pickings of 20 different varieties of salads throughout last summer.  This mix specifically I planted about every 2 to 3 weeks during the summer months.  While salads grow great all year long, it is important that they don’t get too much sun.  The lettuce plot is strategically located near the garage so that it gets only a bit of morning sun.

Yesterday I mentioned how I was lazy when it comes to lettuce, opting to plant directly in the ground versus transplanting.  Lettuce seeds shouldn’t be planted too deeply.  In fact, if you were growing them indoors, you would want to lay them on top of the dirt instead of in the dirt.  Outside, giving the windy Chicago springs, the seeds would blow away and I’d be staring at the ground for days wondering why my lettuce isn’t growing.  A little bit of dirt and lots of water generally keeps the seeds right where I left them.

Related articles:

1. Planted: European Mesclun Salad
2. Planted: Lincoln Peas
3. On the Farm, June 6, 2009

Lettuce Cultivars by David Shankbone, New York City

As a home farmer, growing single types of lettuce can get boring.  The fun of growing at home is growing a number of varieties that you wouldn’t necessarily buy for yourself.  This year, I’m planting two mixes of lettuces — European Mesclun Salad and Rocky Top Lettuce Salad.  I’ll talk about Rocky Top tomorrow.

European Mesclun Salad mix contains radicchio, arugula (formerly known as rocket), endive, orach, mizuna, kale, mustard, and corn salad.  I grow kale separately, but it adds variety to this salad mix.

Many people grow lettuces indoors and then transplant outside.  Primarily you’d like the warm soil to allow the lettuce to sprout — something we don’t get outside in Chicago in April.  Call me a little lazy, but I don’t mind waiting a few more days for the seeds to sprout directly in the ground.

In past years I’ve thrown seeds around in the plot to let them grow where ever they fell.  With salads, you tend to cut them at different times — early for baby leaves and later for full salad heads.  With the website and a new camera, I want to take more pictures of the vegetables throughout the season, so I’ve planted them this year in a more traditional row method.  At least I’ll be able to compare whether rows or free fall makes a difference.

Related articles:

1. Planted: Rocky Top Lettuce
2. Planted: Radishes
3. On the Farm, June 6, 2009