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

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

Today I pulled out a number of radishes (they keep coming every day!), a little bit of spinach, and plenty of italian parsley.  I’ll write more about it later, but the parsley over-wintered and dropped seeds all over the place so I’m finding parsley in the oddest locations.  I’m going to trim down and eat most of the errant plants and keep the ones that are growing in a relatively good location.

Related articles:

1. First Harvest of the Season
2. On the Farm, June 19, 2009
3. A Growing Farm, May 27, 2009

Carrots

Carrots among the Garlic

The carrots were planted on a windy day.  Good news, they’ve seeded and are growing nicely.  Bad news, they aren’t all in the places that they were planted.  This happens and I don’t get too worried about it.  The picture above shows a carrot growing among the garlic plants.  It will be interesting growing two in-the-ground plants right next to eachother.  So far — so good.

Tomatoes

Tomato Plant, May 27, 2009

The tomato plants are looking good.  For the first time, I planted the plants in the order in which they’ll bloom (early season, mid-season, and late season).  Not suprisingly, the plants are growing at the same rate.  Above is an early season tomato plant which is growing considerably faster than the other tomato plants.  It’s hard to tell from the angle, but the plant is about a foot tall (the other plants are still in the 8 to 10 inch range).

Peppers

Peppers, May 27, 2009

The peppers are strong, but they haven’t been growing high.  Peppers thrive in heat (which is the reason no many people grow hot peppers in the Midwest — the hotter the pepper, the more heat and sun you need).  We’ve been averaging upper 60s for the past few weeks and the pepper plants need 80s.  I’m hoping the weather picks up a bit and they’ll start to take off.

Herbs

Parsley and Cilantro, May 27, 2009

Cilantro and parsley are tough herbs to start.  I’ve had many failed attempts at getting both to sprout and I’m happy to say there were no problems this year.  Above you’ll see a few solidly growing cilantro and italian parsley plants.  If you’ve never grown the two, it’s actually a little hard to tell them apart.  Usually the smell test works — cilantro has a strong distinct smell.  Please disregard my lack of weeding.  Honestly, I’ve made mistakes and pulled herbs instead of weeds so I like to give it just a little time to establish themselves to figure out whether it is a weed or not.

Peas

Peas, May 27, 2009

The spinach is also going strong.  I have three different stages of spinach growing right now.  The picture above is from the first batch.  I can start cutting each of these plants for some baby spinach, but I think I’m going to let it grow just one more week.  There is another set of plants about 2 weeks behind and then a third set which just popped out of the ground.

A good start and plenty more pictures to take and a couple of more seeds to get in the ground in the next week.

Related articles:

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3. Friday Growing

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!

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Peppers

The pepper plants went in the ground about two weeks early.  I was fearful that they would not handle the 40 degree nights very well.  The pepper plants made it!  The have not grown as much as some of the other plants in the ground, but they definitely look strong and healthy.

Pepper Plant Growing, May 3, 2009

Spinach

The spinach is still growing much slower than I had hoped but looking very strong.  The two plants below are about 2 to 3 inches high and very strong looking.  Hopefully I can cut some baby spinach in 2 to 3 weeks from now.

Spinach Plants Growing, May 3, 2009

Peas

The pea plants are the current rock stars.  They are growing rapidly and looking very healthy.  They are still only about 4 inches tall (they have to start climbing the trellis behind them).

Peas Plants Growing, May 3, 2009

Radishes

I was concerned about the radishes as they look longer than I thought to sprout.  But they are all looking good today.  They are only an inch tall, but the idea is not to grow up but down (into the ground).  Hopefully in 3 weeks I’ll be able to pull a few from the ground to eat.

Radish Growing, May 3, 2009

Garlic

Garlic is definitely the low maintenance plant.  The angle of this photo isn’t the best but I wanted to show the number of garlic plants growing.  The plants are up to a foot and I’ll cut the scapes (the top portion) when they reach about 3 feet.  This is very unscientific (and probably wrong) but I generally cut the scapes when I can smell the garlic near the plants.

Garlic Growing, May 3, 2009

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are looking good as well.  They are all growing at different rates so I have plants that are already at a foot tall and others that have only grown an inch or two in the last week.  I planted the tomatoes very deep so hopefully they are also growing the root structure deep in the ground.

Beans and corn went in the ground.  I’ll have more on that later.

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Garlic

Garlic Growing, April 24, 2009

The garlic continues to look good.  Again, garlic is so easy to grow, I’d be embarrassed if it wasn’t looking this good.  It’s about 6 inches tall.  In another 3 to 5 weeks, we can trim the garlic scapes to through in a salad or stir-fry (but they are potent!).

Shallots

Shallots growing April 24, 2009

The shallots are looking great as well.  They are in the same family as garlic but you can tell they are shallots by the multiple stalks all shooting up from the same bulb.  This is my first year growing shallots, so I’m not sure what to expect from them.

Peas

Single Pea Sprout, April 24, 2009

The peas are looking great.  Above is a single pea sprout — there are about 10 pea sprouts growing.  They have a long way to go until we see peas.  They have to climb about 3 or 4 feet up the trellis before we’ll see a pea sprout.   Regardless, I’m happy to see them growing.

Spinach

Spinach Sprout growing April 24, 2009

The spinach is going slow and I’m not sure why.  This is week three for the spinach and it’s about an inch tall.  I had hoped the spinach would be two or three inches.  It was a dry start three weeks ago, so I’m hoping the rain over the weekend and over the next few days will help these guys along.

Salad Greens: The salad green sprouts are so small that the pictures I have don’t do them justice.  You’ll have to wait a week or two for better salad green pictures.

Radishes: Need more time to sprout.  They are fast growers so I’m hoping to have a picture or two next weekend.

Also this weekend, I transplanted green peppers and tomatoes into the ground.  This is very early to transplant, but I’m taking a gamble this year and we’ll see how it pays off.  My next post will outline the peppers and tomatoes.

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Last year I planted Bloomsdale Spinach from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange which turned out great.  Hearty leaves and great taste.  This year, in an effort to try some “classic” versions of vegetables, I tracked down a french spinach from the mid-1800s.

Spinach is a core crop.  Starting with the last frost (around April 24th), we’ll be able to grow spinach through the first fall frost — although the first fall frost is far away.  The baby spinach will be one of the first vegetables we’ll be able to cut along with radishes which go in the ground soon.

Notes on the spinach I’m growing:

Monstrueux De Viroflay
50 days. Big leaves to 10″ long, smooth and deep green in color. Very fast growing plants are popular for fall planting. A gourmet French heirloom that was developed prior to 1866.

Related articles:

1. Planted: Radishes
2. Planted: European Mesclun Salad
3. Planted: Lincoln Peas