ADMIN: Please read the blackboard for important notes when you are in the Veggie Shed.
What’s Growing On
As we officially check in to summertime, the garden knows it. Our patch of onions relies on these longest days around the summer solstice to bulb up into big round onions. We will harvest and air dry them soon, along with the garlic. The cucumbers need this sunshine and warmth--they are tiny but will grow fast and be ready soon. Green beans should be coming in soon! Crops of summertime.
But what’s ready? How about those beets! Bright red beets. I boil them til they are soft, let them cool, slip the skins off easily, and coarsely chop them. A splash of balsamic vinegar and honey and a pinch of salt, and chill. The best! These beets are elevated paired with goat cheese. We are harvesting broccoli again this week. Harvesting broccoli is a miracle every time. It’s not easy to grow broccoli. It must be timed perfectly to harvest in mid-June, in warm weather but before the heat of peak summer. We are still enjoying the greens, although spring is their season to shine. Napa cabbage has given way to round green cabbage--big round cabbages ready to shred into slaw for your summer picnics. Kohlrabi shreds nicely into slaw too. Phil has tested lettuce varieties to find the ones that can withstand summer heat, so you get lettuce throughout the summer if he has his way. Summer squash is a classic summer crop. I have a big yellow patty pan squash sliced and splashed with olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh oregano, ready for the grill. These big rounds won’t fall through the cracks! Nice. And you can park a chair in the garden to just sit and watch the zucchini grow. We harvest them every day or two.
MINI GARDEN TOURS
Our team of volunteers made quick time of sweet potato planting. Thank you for those who lent a hand! I took some kids exploring the garden during their visits last week. We searched for baby cucumbers (so small!) and watched the honey bees pollinate the cucumber flowers. We admired the potato patch, all flowering and bushy, growing potatoes underground. We saw how the broccoli grows. Much leafier plant than you might expect, given how they are presented in the store. Please find me or a farm volunteer during your pickup if you would like a mini tour of what’s growing! Fun for all ages.
