The Kitchen Garden

Kitchen Garden 2012

 I am not very adventurous when I plan my kitchen garden each year; I tend to stick with the 'tried and true'. This year was no exception. In my four raised beds I planted red beets, bush beans, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers. (Earlier, I planted lettuce, spinach, radishes, and snow peas. These cool-weather crops produced well and are long gone -- I gave the last, bolted lettuce to the horse last month.) I plant just enough vegetables for the two of us, I do a little canning, and there's usually spare to give to friends and neighbors.

I finally bought a decent cucumber frame and it's working well. But I learn something new every year and I'm now aware that I mustn't plant the zucchini too close to the cucumbers when I use the frame, because the cucumbers are shading one of the zucchini plants. It is still producing fine squash, but they are slower to mature.

New Cucumber Frame

Because of the frame, the cucumbers are growing straight and not the curly-Q's of previous years.

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Oops! Spoke too soon ...

 Again this year, beets are one of my best crops, but bush beans are my favorite vegetable.

Beets and Bush Beans Share a Bed

My friend Charlene gave me this adorable wind chime.

 My morning ritual in the garden begins with picking produce that is ready. Early morning is the best time to pick vegetables.

 The peppers are not quite ready yet.

 Every year there are some failures. Looks like it's tomatoes this year. I planted three and two of them have blossom end rot. Oh, dear! The ones with BER are both heirloom tomatoes. The plum seems to be OK.

Roma Plum Tomato (left) and Red Brandywine (right)

Red Brandywine with blossom end rot.

 Uneven watering is a common cause of blossom end rot and this may be what happened here. I didn't mulch, which would have helped the soil retain water during the June drought. I suspect I planted in too shallow a bed also, so the roots aren't deep and strong. Another cause could be lack of calcium. There are so many factors, and I need to focus on prevention next year. That's one wonderful thing about gardening -- there's always next year!

This year's onions are magnificent! I picked some today and put them on the outside potting bench to dry ...

 Although I'm generally not very adventurous with what I grow, every year I like to try something new. This year it is spaghetti squash. I counted 6 large ones on the plant this morning and I am excited that they are doing well. They must be yellow before they can be picked, usually at the end of August. When baked, the inside resembles spaghetti. I'll keep you posted.

 A big disappointment is the new root bed as few of the parsnips germinated. I think maybe I sowed the seeds when the temperature was too high. I'm thinking of sowing carrot seeds, for fall harvesting, in the spaces, but I'm not sure if that will work.

 I don't forget the pollinators when I plant my vegetables ...

Sunflowers, planted to shade the potting shed.

 ... sunflowers are bird and butterfly magnets in the fall. I have milkweed and Queen Anne's lace growing along the bottom fence and I planted tubs of zinnias and marigolds there.

The pink milkweed is my favorite ...

Dill re-seeds itself every year and serves as a host plant for American swallowtail butterflies.

 Also, in the kitchen garden is my grow-bed of chocolate mint. I keep it under control there by not letting it escape the raised bed. I must move the chamomile though because the mint is crowding it out.

Chamomile and Chocolate Mint

 My kitchen garden is situated a little way from the house and I decided I would like my herbs to be closer to the back door. So I created a herb garden using cinder blocks which I placed along the edge of the patio.

 I lined the holes in the cinder blocks with weed block to stop the soil from falling through, and planted each hole with a different herb.

Now when I'm cooking, I just have to take a few steps to snip off what I need.

 How are your vegetables and herbs doing this year?

Love,
Pamela x

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