Sam discovered the Tiger Lillies in the yard: orange, yellow and pink. He found them fascinating and “pretty.” These were used in our fresh cut flowers this week.
This week was a discovery week in the garden. Discover what isn’t growing because of last weeks hail and extreme rains, as well as, what is growing. Our spinach did not survive last week’s weather, and our lettuce really took a beating.
Onion hail damage – note the brown spots, and how it is broken over.
Tomato plants recovering from hail. Note the white spots on the stems where hail hit the plant.
Rhubarb stems were pelleted with the marble size hail. Making many stems unusable.
The lone pepper that we had growing in the garden during the storms was bruised by the hail and became inedible.
The corn leaves were stripped by the hail. It is remarkable how strong corn plants are to recover.
We have replanted spinach as well as carrots, beets, three different varitites of lettuce. These were planted in a new garden partially made out of pallets as well as another section made from beams. I am hoping with the pallets that there will be less weeding:) Steve and the boys spent Saturday morning assembling it, and I planted that night. We were pleasantly surprised to see some growth in these gardens already on Tuesday! I also planted some more annual flowers and zuchinni.
Steve making pallet gardens on the left and a garden made from beams on the right. I am hoping that the pallet garden will have fewer weeds.
Another look at the pallet gardens from Keith’s angle.
Saturday was spent weeding while exhausting, it was also a treasurer hunt finding glimmers of hope of how strong the plants were. We are thankful that we bought much of our seed from Jordan Seeds in Woodbury. They are a wholesale seed dealer for farmers who raise crops for farmers markets and CSA. Their years of experience assisted us in buying good seed. Thank you to our friends who recommended that route!
How muddy were parts of the garden? So muddy that Sam got stuck in it, and I had to lift him out. So in this spirit, I took off my shoes and proceeded to weed the garden with no shoes for the rest of the morning. It was actually quite refreshing and in the end I had so much mud on the bottom of my feet that it did not hurt to walk across our gravel driveway. The boys found this quite amusing!
After about 9 hours of weeding, the garden was looking alot more promising.
BOXES OF PRODUCE
This list is prepared before we harvest your share. Some guesswork is involved! We do our best to predict which crops will be ready to harvest, but sometimes crops are on the list that are not in the share, and sometimes crops will be in the share even though they’re not on the list.
Look for new links on recipes etc. Also remember food safety when preparing, always wash your before eating. http://bit.ly/MBhskn
Rhubarb – The rhubarb season will be coming to an end in the next few weeks. When exactly will be determined by the weather. It has definitely appreciated the rain, but not so much the hail. Simply cut off the damaged areas and enjoy. I tried to select stems that had limited amount of damage. Definite advantage to the plants large leaves. Rhubarb freezing great! I freeze in amounts recipes call for and use it throughout the year.
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce – Wash, cut off longer stems. These plants are struggling to recover from the storms. Our second and third plantings of salad crops took a beating. We have replanted. With this heat and humidity, we hope to have spinach and several varities of lettuce very shortly.
Beets – Althought the leaves were damaged by the hail, they appear to be recovering. We are thinning out the rows so the bulbs have more room to grow, so enjoy these small beautiful red bulbs.
Carrots – Enjoy some fresh garden carrots!
Peas – The pods are edible. When I took a peak at the garden this morning, I was excited to see these were ready to harvest and indulged in a few for breakfast!
Herbs – Chives, red basil, mint, parsley and golden oregano. Remember you can dry them or you can freeze in an ice cube to use later.
Fresh cut arrangement – Tiger Lillies this week. Enjoy!
Turnips – Many have commented how this is a new vegetable that we are not quite sure how to use. Below is the recipe my mom tried this week and shared with us. Remember, the turnip greens are also edible and could be used in a salad.
Lemon Parsleyed Turnips
Cook 2 cups turnip sticks in boiling salted water. Boil until tender. About 20 minutes. Drain.
Add:
1 Tablespoon butter
2 teaspoon snipped parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Toss. Serves 4. Note: Norma cut the recipe in half for just her and dad.
Salad using Turnips
Salad greens, turnips, almonds , walnuts, and a few blue berries with her favorite dressing on the side.
Turnip Sandwich
Mom also loves radish sandwiches so she is going to try a turnip sandwich. Slice either vegetable thin. Place on buttered bread.
Sources: Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (1960’s edition) and my mom, Norma Campbell
Really cute photo of your son.
Thanks Tammy.