Rea Oak Leaf Lettuce and a Lemon Cucumber
I’ve begun harvesting lots from the garden now that it’s mid-July. On July 8th, I picked my first lemon cucumber. It was a bit small still but I couldn’t help myself. Since then, I’ve gotten four more. I really like this variety of cucumber because of their “single serving” size.
Unfortunately, the same day I picked my first cucumber was also the last day I harvested lettuce. The antique cutting lettuce mix I grew was superb, and one I’ll definitely be planting again in the fall. But for now, the heat has sent it bolting.
Carrot and Chives
On July 10th, I picked my first handful of string beans and suspect my plants will be very productive. I also picked my first carrot (again, rather prematurely but it was still a decent size) and plenty of basil, chives, rosemary and sage.
In my cutting garden, I’ve been taking in bunches of beautiful zinnias, dahlias, and blue balloon flowers. I’ve been using the yarrow and borage from my tea garden as fillers too. The borage flowers have been a new favorite of mine in salads, as have the nasturntiums, which are giant at this point.
Borage Flower
At this point in the growing season, I’m quite pleased with how healthy and large my plants have gotten overall. There are a few lagging behind still though – the squash have blossoms and a few small squash on them, but the plants are quite small still despite my extra watering and feeding with compost tea. The eggplants are also stunted at the moment. I suspect the eggplants might have been happier in a different spot of my garden since they receive just a smidgen of afternoon shade from the chestnut trees flanking the rear of my rows. Eggplants like it as hot as they can get it so the shade, even just an hour or two, might be too much. I’ll try another location next year.
Nasturntiums and Borage Flowers
One plant that got too happy and out of control were my cosmo seedlings. They went from about four inches high to 30 inches high less than a week. They also spread their width, shading out many of my smaller echinacea. While I had been looking forward to the addition of their airy texture to the garden scheme, they ended up overpowering it so I had to give them all a severe haircut. Next year, I’m planting fewer cosmos.
