Its Warm

Yes, summer is definately here.  Working during the day has been tough, but luckily the summer also brings long days.  Most of the planting has been done after 5,  when the young plants have some reprieve from the direct sun.  One things for sure though, once the plants get established, they relish in the heat.  Things seem to be growing a mile a minute.  If you don't believe me, check out some of these pictures as proof...

The leaf garden has definately filled in since last month.  Mizuna has taken over the left perimeter, while beans and peppers are flourishing on the right. The beets and turnips are almost done and the swiss chard is bold and beautiful. The parsley is filling in.  Eggplant is also going strong. 

Beans haven't started producing yet, but will soon enough

The eggplant is enjoying a nice layer of pompas grass mulch, and hopefully will be producing soon as well.  One thing that does not appreciate the heat is spinach.  Trying to harvest it before it starts to bolt has been a race, and alot has gone to waste.  This is probably the end of the spinach until fall.  But it still looks cool...

We are also having to harvest lettuce when it is small.  Big heads quickly become bitter in the heat, while small ones remain tender and tasty.  The trick is just to plant more and and harvest more. 

We won't let them get much bigger than this.  The same trick is being used for the arugula you can see in the backround.  Now back the the things that do love the heat...

Tomatoes are growing well, and there are many green ones on the vines, but no red ones yet. 

The squash and zucchini are doing amazingly well, and I have already picked a nice basket full.  You can see the sucession planting from right to left, hopefully extending our harvest window.

Pole beans growing wild

Peppers are always slow growing, but eventually they will get there.  These aren't the only ones planted either.  There are all kinds ranging from sweet (bell and banana) to mild (pablano, ancho, serrano ) to very spicy (habanero and scotch bonnet).  These are just a few of the many varieties planted.  I think peppers need a post all to themselves.

The cucumbers are definately behind the rest of the pack, but are growing rapidly and will probbly catch up and produce the same time as everything else. 

Kevin planting more cucumbers.

Despite being over run with dill, there still might be a decent crop of carrots this year.  You probably don't think of other cool weather crops like cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage during this heat, but it is around this time that they are finishing up and being harvested. 

Here is a nice snowball cauliflower.  Unfortunately I failed to get a picture of the beautiful spiral cauliflower that we grew, but I encourage you to go online and look for pictures... I promise you they look just like the pictures.  I also didn't get a good picture of the broccoli, but just imagine a nice head of broccoli in place of the cauliflower.

A nice cabbbage specimen here.  Most of the cabbages were eaten by the root maggots, but the ones that survived seemed to do very well.  This picture also shows something else.  This is the time of year that volunteer plants are sprouting up everywhere.  Whether from the compost, or fallen fruit, these plants are offering up their bounty to us for free and we will take it.  As long as they don't get too much in the way of another important crop, we will let them grow to fruition.  The number one volunteer crop this year is tomatoes, and you can see one popping up in the bottom of this picture. 

Thanks for reading everyone and good luck dodging the heat!