We have had a little liquid heaven in the last 10 days or so, and while I am thankful for it, the total accumulation is not even an inch. A couple of times the dirt has actually changed to a darker color, but there is nothing that could remotely resemble mud going on here.
Our first crop to arrive in any quantity is summer squash. Mike started transplants of yellow crookneck and a lovely scalloped pattypan squash; he also direct seeded both of those plus an Italian zucchini. The tranplants have been bearing now for a couple of weeks. (Those plants direct seeded look good but are still a few weeks away from production.) The squash tastes great and I have roasted and stuffed the pattypan a couple of times. It has a nice sweetness that comes out when it's roasted.
The lettuce, which we can't eat quickly enough to keep up with, has begun to bolt, or so have the largest heads. The tomato plants look good and we completed the trellis this week for all nine rows. Yes, we have close to 300 tomato plants in the ground. The cherry tomato plants have begun to set fruit and I am anxiously awaiting the first hint of color. How else do you know it's summer?
In the tomato bed we have 7 or 8 volunteer watermelon and/or canteloupe plants that have situated themselves close to a drip irrigation source. This same field last year was given over to the johnson grass weeds that popped up instead of the corn we actually planted (this was the second corn planting that we lost to last summer's drought....are you catching a theme here?) The summer before that, in '05, for those still hanging with me, we planted watermelon and canteloupe in that field.
We knew there were a few volunteer melon plants of unknown varieties that grew in with the johnson grass, but the weeds got so high and thick we gave up on trying to find any actual melons. These little volunteers that are showing themselves now are second generation to the last melon seeds we bought in '05. Don't you love heirloom, open-pollinated plants? I am fairly certain I have at least two different varieties this summer by looking at the leaves. And since we have drip irrigation around the tomatoes and we keep that area weeded well (ok, weeded), we should be able to harvest something. I'll keep you posted on what they turn out to be.
I have harvested a few potatoes from my potato bed and while I'll do things differently this fall when I plant more, I am generally pleased with the outcome.
There's more going on and I'll just have to check back in by early next week to post those details. The chickens are growing and the roosters are crowing and the beans are blooming, and life is good. I hope yours is.
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I thoguht this would be a good place to put the answer to the question you asked in my comments. Zephyr is the name of the squash we like so much. That was it in the picture (the long ones). We got the seed from Johnny's. The Flying Saucer squash (also from Johnny's) is good too but so far I've just had it in a highly seasoned dish, and that was probably not the best thing to use it in first. But the texture is good. I'm growing the yellow pattypan too but haven't gotten any of those yet.
I'm also growing Costata Romanesco that we got from Baker Creek Seed Co. Haven't gotten one of those yet either. (We planted kind of late.)
The pattypan one I *meant* to buy was Sunburst, I think. We got it at the farmer's market last year and liked it a lot. Judging by the pics on Johnny's site, I believe it was Sunburst.
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