Grow Your Own – Food Aplenty
by John Weckerle
This week we return to our regular (more or less) garden report. Both beds are doing very well, although the peppers have been largely overwhelmed by the surrounding plants (but are still trying to put out a few peppers for us). We’re not too concerned about that, as we have peppers growing in pots on the deck. Over the past week, the string beans have been the star, having yielded about three pounds of beans or so. Some of these were steamed and then tossed in a wok with olive oil, dill, and lemon juice, and the rest are headed for tonight’s string bean casserole. Last night was pasta primavera, with everything except onions and tomatoes (and, of course, the pasta) coming from the garden. Several eggplants (white and regular) are nearly ready to pick – there will be a lot of them before all this is through – and we picked the first tomato yesterday. The spaghetti squash also looks as if it is nearly ready to collect.
North Bed
South Bed
String Beans and Squash
The brussels sprouts have begun to show little heads, and we continue to collect “secondary” broccoli florets. Two more cauliflower heads have formed and are growing, and the plant from which we first harvested cauliflower has put out a second stalk. Basil is still going crazy, and we still have good supplies of lettuce, although they are growing tall and getting ready for final harvest. The summer squash and zucchini stopped producing for a while, possibly due to heat stress, but are now beginning to show signs of revitalization – we picked the first zucchini in a week last night for the pasta. The first cucumber has formed and is almost ready to pick.
I find myself continually in awe of the amount of food that is coming out of these two little four-foot-square boxes, and greatly appreciative of the fact that there is so little effort involved in maintaining the beds. At this point, we’re eating vegetables and salad from these two beds nearly every day.
6 Responses “Grow Your Own – Food Aplenty”
Your garden results are most encouraging. Updating on the Mountainair community garden – open meeting yesterday evening at the Community Park. iCreate signed $1/yr lease on two lots on Roosevelt St. Time to roll up sleeves and get to work.
Vanessa,
Sounds like you guys are “growing” forward. It will be fun to see your progress.
Wow! Two whole lots should produce a lot of produce. How much space per user are they allowing?
Is anyone having issue with corn? My corn is only growing about 3′ high. It still yields full size ears..but it seems odd that every year the stalks are half-size.
I haven’t tried corn in my system, so I’m just thinking in print here. My thought is that 3′ corn bearing full-size ears would be the next best thing since sliced bread if they can handle the production. Logically, the smaller plants would mean lower water use – but on the other hand, it seems that it would be harder for the plant to produce enough energy and nutrients to develop and sustain full-size, good-tasting ears.
Ha Ha! Well my kids would beg to differ because they just had it for dinner and went and picked more because 2 ears weren’t enough for each of them! :)