Garden Update for Mid-July

Fill'er up. Peas are the tall buddies on the furthest left.And this is the pea trellis May 28. What a difference a six weeks can make!Sugar snaps are over seven feet tall, doubling over themselves, sunflowers are coming on, and squash and cukes are pumping away.

Dry beans are flowering up abundantly, green beans plants are nice and healthy and a few days from flower, which means we'll have green, purple, and striped baby beans (or should I say haricot verts...) in the coming week or two.

Red and green cabbage is starting to head up, and we should have broccoli at the end of this week. The first round of baby carrots should be good for this week, too, replacing radishes which will make an appearance again at the end of summer.

Speaking of radishes, yesterday I planted two of my personal favorite crops: daikon radish, a long, white, cylindrical Japanese radish that is one of the bases for Korean kimchi, and also Misato Rose-- what I think is by far the best tasting radish around. It's sort of like a cross in flavor/texture between kohlrabi, apple, and radish. It's gorgeous on a cheese plate, and pairs beautifully with a good sharp VT cheddar. Come fall, we'll be back rolling in radishes!

Tomatoes and peppers are wildly flowering away, and the first green fruits are in. They got a bit of a late start due to "figuring out" temperature control in the new hoophouse-- the first several flats of tomato starts FRIED early on in a spat of hot, sunny days, so this is round deux.

Basil will be in your shares this week-- we've got three main types: genovese (regular), lemon basil, and thai basil. Mmm, summer.

My first beet crop failed this summer. Spotty germination combined with something that they didn't like in the soil means the direct seed crop went to wasted space. Boo. I've got more transplants ready to go out this week, so we will have beets in a month or so.

Humble kale is coming along, was transplanted out early last week and will be a nice late summer/fall crop, in case anyone is wondering about the good old faithful.

All of the garlic has been pulled from the field, and will be doled out in your shares as we head through the rest of the season. I'm steadily building seed stock, so some of the cloves that you see in your share might be a little less than perfect (smaller head size, small toe/clove size.)

Herbs are coming along: dill is growing wildly and ought to be flowering up for pickling toward the end of this week. Parsely is slow growing to get established, but it's still coming along. Cilantro is thriving hiding in the shade of the peas-- and some volunteer cilantro is rapidly on its way to becoming Coriander (the seed balls formed on the umbels of the flower)-- same plant, different parts/stages thus different names. I have lots of thyme transplants that somehow did well-- if ayone would like a few for their home gardens, do let me know. Fennel bulbs and scallions have germinated up and will soon be ready for a late summer transplant, both thriving in the cooler weather.

That's about all the news from Green Peak Farm at this point-- thanks for reading and hope everyone is off to a great start of the weekend!