Grow Your Own: It’s A Jungle Out There, Kiddies…
by John Weckerle
We interrupt this hiatus to bring our readers an update on our horticultural efforts, which this year have focused primarily on Bed 5, dedicated to vegetables, and Bed 6, the herb garden. (Bed 1 has been moved to the vicinity of Bed 5, as Beds 2 and 3 will be; Bed 4 is mainly floral this year, although we got some great snow peas out of it at the beginning of the season) Bed 6 is doing just fine and we look forward to some basil pesto here before too long.
Bed 5
As the photo of Bed 5 shows, most of our veggies this year are coming along nicely. We still have not seen any tomatoes, although given the emergence of flowers we expect to see them before long. The eggplants have started setting fruit, and we’ll keep a close watch in anticipation of eggplant parmigiana, eggplant lasagna, and a host of other nifty dishes beginning sometime in the next couple of weeks or so. The cauliflower looks extremely healthy. Unfortunately, the broccoli took a beating from some sort of tiny beetle, although several have survived and seem to be doing well. Something is eating the fruits of the green bell peppers, and we fear that we may have to set a mouse trap; however, we have heard rumors of a beetle that usually feeds on alfalfa that has gotten food-eclectic this year, so we’ll try picking up some diatomaceous earth to see if that helps.
Today’s Loot!
Our current big producers are the green beans (several bush varieties). As the photo shows, we’re pulling in some fairly good quantities and are enjoying them greatly. They go great with the dill growing next to the tomatoes, and we have a number of recipes lined up given the amount we have to eat. If all else fails, we can blanch and freeze them.
Have a very fruitful day!
One Response “Grow Your Own: It’s A Jungle Out There, Kiddies…”
What a delight… I was just thinking it was time to start seeing “grow your own” posts. I’ve been blogging the community garden for iCreate and experimenting with expanding “Everybody Eats” into a blog of its own. Needless to say, it won’t be a stranger to “grow your own.” Gorgeous pictures too ~ as usual. Best garden porn in central NM.
Bear PSA is useful… this feeds the spirit.