Harvesting

The first zucchini harvest! Instead of one, I actually got two today which were of good size. In addition I also took some more rainbow chard - the last batch was delicious chopped up into some scrambled eggs.

I am still waiting for the patty pan summer squash to blossom but it seems to be putting on lot of leaves. Not as pretty as the zucchini's marbled leaves (shown on the right) but nonetheless very attractive.

I am very excited about the cucumbers, its little spiny beginnings showing. Lots of flowers also on the lemon cucumber but nothing concrete yet. Right next to the cucumbers are my mustard greens which seem to handling the hot weather very well so far. They need thinning out again, so even more greens for supper soon.

The main event of the afternoon was putting together some support for the burgeoning tomato plants. The are now too big for the wire cages and I was too cheap to buy the wrap-around ones for $4 each. Little bamboo frames and string will have to do.

All in all a very successful afternoon but it was very hot. Had to do an emergency stop cycling home buying limeade since I had run out of water. Such is life... :)

more planting

Today I got a worthy replacement for the loss of my English cucumber - "Orient Express". I'm going to nurture this little puppy to make it through. Let's see if coffee grounds can keep that nasty something away that killed the last plant. Again, I am trying to trellis it. There is more space so I may actually get more cucumber plants since it seems to be a challenge now.

Looking around the garden centre my eye also fell on some Swiss Chard "Rainbow" and some fava beans. It may actually be a little bit too warm already for the fava beans but it's worth an experiment. The spending spree ended with some seeds of mustard greens "Wild Garden Mild Mix". Everything was bedded down and tucked in.

As the plot takes shape I am now noticing some empty spaces that could be filled. I am contemplating more peppers. We eat a vast amount of them but they are expensive grocery items. Maybe also lettuce; I was too hasty in turning down some free starts earlier in the year. I feel a trip to the garden centre coming up again...