Growing green beans

The green beans (a combination of Kentucky Blue and haricot verts) are finally looking happy.

-some of these beans were started indoors in newspaper pots in late April
-some were started in plastic bags in early May
-some were direct sown in the garden in mid-April
-some were direct sown in the garden in early June

There is very little difference. OK, the ones started 10 days ago are definitely smaller, but the rest of them are about the same size. The ones started indoors in late April struggled for a long time after I planted them out in mid-May.

It seems the warming summer weather has perked them up.

Three sisters garden (corn, beans, squash)

When the corn was up 4 inches or so (around June 8th), I thinned the corn to about 12" and planted 3-4 pole beans seeds at the base of each stalk (a mix of Kentucky blue and haricot verts). 10 days later, the corn has survived a rabbit attack and the beans are starting to sprout.

I also planted pumpkin at either end of the corn bed. This is the "three sisters garden", a supposedly beneficial planting arrangement where the beans climb the corn stalks and the squash, in this case pumpkins, fill in around the base to form a natural mulch. Greg normally does not go for such promiscuous co-minging of plants, so I've never tried this approach before.

Vegetable garden in Massachusetts

It's been about 10 weeks since the garden was started with some of the earliest seeds - bibb lettuce, mesclun mix (spinach, blood beet, mustard greens, lettuce), carrots, snap peas and mache.

The bibb lettuce and mesclun is in full swing. We are eating salads exlusively from the garden right now and have been for about 10 days. Unless the weather turns suddenly hot, I think we'll have lettuce for a few more weeks. The mache never really took off, though. I'm thinking it needs more water...?

We are also starting to get snap peas - which are delicious snapped right off the vine (so delicious I've been eating most of them before they make it to the kitchen).

The carrots are almost, but not quite ready.

Growing strawberries

Growing strawberries in the garden is one of the most rewarding food crops I've ever grown. We started our strawberry patch last year with about 6 plants donated from our friend Gus.

They spread like crazy last year. Every plant sent out 5 or 6 runners for new plants. This spring, I rearranged them in their 3'X5' area. They are planted pretty densely - spaced about every 6 or 8 inches. I threw down a sprinkling of composted manure - about 1/2 inch deep and mulched them with pine needles. Strawberries prefer slightly acidic soil in the 5.5-6.5 range and pine needles will help lower the pH. That said, the pine needles had no immediate affect on the soil pH. The soil in the strawberry bed is still just over 7.

I watered them 2-3 times per week with the rest of the vegetable garden, and I put netting over them once the berries started to set to protect them from critters. (It's important not to put the netting on too soon, because the bees were not too keen to go through the netting to the flowers, even though the holes were plenty large enough for them to fit).

Now, in early June, we are pulling in a bowl of berries every day! 3'x5' feet is just enough for everyone in our family of 4 to have fresh strawberries in the morning, but not enough to justify making jam.

The total cost for our strawberry endeavour was about $2 for netting and maybe $1 in compost, and it will yield several pints of strawberries over the course of 2-3 weeks. And WOW! these strawberries taste like... STRAWBERRIES! I've gotten used to the giant, red, flavorless variety that comes from the grocery store. These taste like strawberry candy - they are so intensely strawberry-flavored and so juicey.

After the fruit is finished, they will again send out runners, and we will have more strawberry plants than we have room for. Anyone want to start a strawberry patch???

See more of our strawberry growing adventures in Boston!

Grubs in the Chard part 3

Suck it grubs! Chard victorious.

Growing mache from seed

Mache is a delicate, sweet green sometimes called "lambs lettuce". The mature heads are only about 2 inches across. This mache was direct sowed in the garden April 5th. At 8.5 weeks it is ready to be eaten. The problem is that not a lot of it grew from my seeds. I did not get enough mache from my 36"x18" plot to make a full salad, but I'll still enjoy the little bit that I got! If the mache had grown thickly in this area, I would have gotten several salad.

Mache is a cool weather plant and it's thriving in this cool June weather, but as soon as the days turn hot, I will pull the mache and replant with something else for the summer. I'll give the mache another go in the fall!

Cilantro at 7 weeks

At 7 weeks after directing sowing on April 15th, the cilantro is ready to eat.