The Harvest, Part 2

Over the past couple of weeks, the garden has been blooming like crazy. Everything is flowering and growing nicely. This past weekend, I noticed that we have about 6 small green tomatoes already. Since the carrot tops have been sticking out more and more, we went ahead and picked one to see how they're doing. It was a bit small and a little knobby in shape, but it tasted great! The color and texture were also perfect. Even Jackson heartily approved. I washed the carrot and left it sitting on the counter top, where Jackson found it and scarfed it up happily. I was so happy to see my toddler not only eating a vegetable, but one we grew ourselves! Hubby noticed a small cucumber (about 3 inches long) growing as well.

But somehow we both missed a multitude of green beans that sprouted seemingly overnight - that is, until late yesterday afternoon. Hubby said he saw a couple of really long beans in the garden, and I excitedly grabbed my basket and went to investigate. Beans are sprouting up by the handfuls on each plant, and many are ready for harvest! I picked a bunch and brought them inside, where we gazed lovingly at them before storing them in the fridge until dinner tonight. We boiled them tonight and served them alongside perogies. They were fantastic.

On the downside, my bean harvest led to an unhappy discovery that while we seem to have nipped our beetle problem in the bud, we now have what appear to be aphids making a nice home of our bean plants. So far I don't see much damage to the plants, but if we don't act soon, they will likely stunt their growth or kill them completely. My Organocide spray is supposed to control aphid populations, so we're hoping a few sprays should do it. I think we also need to work on watering the beans more frequently and keeping the soil moist and less inviting for the aphids. I'll post again after we see how it goes.

In the meantime, I need to pick up some freezer bags so I can start blanching and freezing green beans for the winter. Next up on my list is learning to can vegetables and building a stockpile of canned and frozen vegetables for fall and winter. Also, we need to get moving on building some trellises for the plants that need support. I'm pretty sure we should have put them in the soil when we first planted, but hey, we're amateurs.

The lettuce is still growing rapidly. We pick it frequently and always have an abundant supply for salads throughout the week. We've even given lots of lettuce to our parents and friends, but our supply never dwindles. We are curious to see how long the leaves continue to grow. I'm so glad we chose to grow lettuce this year, and we'll definitely be growing more next spring.

Happy gardening!

The Harvest, Part 1

As you sow, so shall you reap - and I, my friends, have reaped some lovely spinach and red lettuce! While most of our crops will not be ready for weeks to come, our spinach and leaf lettuce have been ready for harvest for several weeks! We pick the largest outside leaves first while the inside leaves mature. You have to pick leaves frequently to prevent flowering or else the plants will stop producing leaves. I've decided that I will definitely grow lots of lettuce again next spring. Not only are all the fresh salads great, but being able to reap the rewards of our garden so early when no other veggies are ready for picking is very exciting and satisfying. The lettuce also seems to be a fairly low maintenance crop, especially since the fence keeps rabbits out and bugs don't seem to be interested in this variety.

On the downside, we have had some garden pest issues lately. We noticed a few small insect nibbles on the spinach leaves, which soon became many bites on the zucchini, bean, and tomato leaves. A little observation revealed some striped beetles that resemble the Colorado potato beetle. Husband and I saw these beetles crawling on the plants on separate visits to the garden. We are not growing potatoes; however, the beetles will apparently feed on some other crops, including a few we are growing. I suspect that some of the damage may also be caused by stink bugs, which are rampant in PA. So far, the plants still seem to be growing fine, so I hope they will survive the damage and still produce veggies.

We purchased an organic insecticide spray called Organocide when we bought our first seeds just in case we would need one. We sprayed this once so far and have not seen the beetles since. We will be mulching the garden with our finished compost to improve the health of the plants, fight weed growth, and hopefully prevent any potato beetle eggs from hatching under the soil. We have thoroughly inspected the leaves of all plants and have not seen any eggs or additional pests. I'm hoping we can nip this in the bud early and move on to the enjoyable parts of gardening.

I'll post again when I have an update. Happy gardening, and check back soon for a new recipes feature!