Tuesday, June 29, 2010

This has been the summer of the lupine. Last week the sun was out for a couple of days, but now we are back in the fog. As the moist Pacific air is sieved by the treetops I was glad not to have to water last week. The grass is growing by leaps and bound, making for great compost and mulch.

Last Sunday we opened Café Szarze to some of our friends. On the menu were crepes filled with fresh fruit crème cheese and a frittata with greens and onions from the garden. This is the best way to share the bounty of the garden.

In the garden love is in the air. The ladybugs are doing their thing creating the little ladybug larvae that will eat many insects, especially aphids and other sap feeders.

Last week I spent a lot of time amending the plants with compost, weeding, and spreading mulch around plants. The compost is an amazing thing. Last week steam came out of the vent for three days in the primary composter.

All is growing well in the garden this past week, although we think the cool weather has slowed growth of some plants, i.e. broccoli, cabbage, and alums. The lettuces, greens, and peas seemed to be doing fine. In the hoop house the zucchini and pumpkins have flowers and small fruit. All around the garden the flowers are making a show.

The currents, goose berries, strawberries, and service berries all were in bloom.

In the yard the wild flowers are putting on a show as well.

Another interesting note are the spruce trees are producing male cones on the south side of the trees along with a few female cones. Some trees are burst with male cones.

As of this week I am still planting seeds of beets, onions, lettuce, and pac choi for harvesting the last part of the summer. Within the next few weeks it will be time to consider what greens to plant for the fall.

As I start thinking about fall plants I should mention how mache has been a great producer up until this point, the cool weather has prevented it from bolting. However, the plant of the week has to be cress or pepper grass. In the photo above it is on the left. This wonderful green fared well in the cool weather and continues to produces leaves. We use it salads and tortillas. It is great to snack on in the garden when browsing.