Harvesting in the Victory Garden
This year has been a great year for the garden. I’m usually extremely busy and struggle to find the time to keep on top of everything. Having more time to relax, weed and plan the next crop has been wonderful. I’m even fighting the urge to take out a bed and put in a pond….really fighting super hard.
This is the tenth year of my victory garden. Every year I learn something new and this year was no different. Lessons learned this season: more frequent fertilizing and deep watering. I was not keeping up with the demand of the heavy feeders and allowed them to deplete the soil of precious nutrients. So this year I started fertilizing at least once a month and deep watering the beds at least once a week. Deep watering allows the water to saturate at least 6 inches into the soil to promote deep root growth, thus ensuring plant survival during times of no rain. Last year I watered frequently, but not deep enough. The entire garden wilted away during out two-week road trip last summer.
This season most of my herbs, flowers, lettuce and carrots were self seeded from last year. I was also not in the state of mind to really start seedlings this March, so I purchased tomato and pepper transplants. It was worth it, thank you Fruition Seeds.
Onto this week’s harvest, which consisted of watching the bees gather nectar, Mr.Fenton harassing the frogs, Honey Drop Cherry and Chiapas Cherry tomatoes, Ancho Poblano Peppers, Provider Green Beans, Russet potatoes, Black Raspberries and Plum Shiso.
I have been eating a ton of tomatoes with motz, basil and redwine vinegar and oil. YUM! Cooking up the green beans with minced garlic and pepper, the boys loved that. Looking to dehydrate the Ancho Poblanos in the next couple of days. The potatoes are going to be made into mashed potatoes, and maybe potato chips. I have never tried that so that will be another blog post. Shiso, well I’m looking for recipes for that.
The summer isn’t over yet and more seeds will be sown soon.