Now that the edible gardening season is slowing down (hopefully you are still tucking in a few cool-season veggies for fall and winter eating!), I thought I’d check in with all you new gardeners.  I know we have LOTS of new gardeners this year because I’ve talked with many of you, and so naturally I’m eager to know how you fared.   How did your first season of edible gardening go for you?   Do you feel successful?  Did you encounter challenges, and if so what were they?  Did the experience meet your expectations?  Were there lessons learned that you’d like to share?  As we’ve said before on this page, gardening is a life-long pursuit, and taking the time to assess and reflect on our gardens is a very important step to learning.  And sharing with other fellow gardeners having similar experiences can be enlightening.

Since this blog is not meant to be a forum for this sort of discussion, I would love to have this conversation with you on our Community Page.  http://community.farmingtongardens.com/ If you’d like to share your achievements and struggles, pose questions, share plans for the future – please go to this link and click on Edibles in the Garden.  I’ll meet you over there, and we can talk!  Think of it as a support group for edible gardeners…

I always find this month an interesting time in the garden!  Many of the summer veggies have peaked but are still huge and productive.  The tomatoes, for instance, are still big and beautiful, and thankfully still ripening.  The kale is so huge it stops people in their tracks.  The Swiss chard, peppers and eggplants continue to look good.   Meanwhile, it is time to pull out those that have finished and make way to replant for even more good eating down the way.

Today I spent a couple of hours out in the garden.  It was time to harvest the pumpkins and pull out the declining vines.  Same for the cucumbers that have climbed to the top of our six-foot hand-made trellis.  (Amazingly, there were about 6 pounds of cucumbers hidden in there!)  And by the end of the season like this, there are dead and fallen leaves littering the garden, which are becoming slimy and diseased.  A good strategy for a healthy garden is to tidy up – slugs love this kind of plant material, so let’s not make it too easy for them. 

It was also time to give another pruning to the tomato vines – as I’ve said before, it is important to cut out extra foliage to let in light and air.  I also cut out new blooming shoots that had sprouted since I last thinned.  All of this will promote ripening – a good thing!

Once the bed was tidied up and I could ascertain how much available space there was for planting, then the fun began!  I planted a traypack of Olympia spinach, which did so awesomely in the garden last fall.  I also planted a traypack of red Pac Choi, which hopefully will be as prolific as the green variety we put in last fall.  And lastly, I put in a traypack of cauliflower.  I hope I don’t regret that, because cauliflower takes a bit of room.  But since we’ve not had that in the garden yet, I thought we should show you what it does.  So check it out the next time you are here.

With all these tasty new things in the garden, I scattered a bit of Sluggo around, just to distract the slugs.  As you know, Sluggo is safe for birds and animals, but does the trick for our nemesis the slug.  I highly recommend taking preventive measures!  And using Sluggo this time of year will kill off the adults before they have a chance to lay eggs over the winter, thereby reducing your slug population next year – a very good thing.

So I hope you too can find a bit of time this week to do some garden clean up and maybe plant a few new things too.  Remember the strategy of succession plantings – when something comes out, plant something new!  We have a good assortment of veggie starts here now, as well as garlic and onion sets.   Now is a great time to get all those going.

Our fall shipment of Garlic has arrived, and with it comes a chance for you to grow your own and experience a world of flavor that you won’t find in most supermarkets!  Garlic varieties have many subtle differences and variations from mild to absolutely fiery, and everything in between.  Our varieties include German Porcelain, Early Italian Purple, Brown Tempest, Chesnok Red, Inchelium Red, Nootka Rose, Purple Glazer, Silver Rose, and Elephant Garlic (which is not really a garlic, but close enough).  Garlic needs to be fall planted for best success, so plant yours soon for the best harvest next year!

Our Garlic Information Sheet has been updated for the 2009 planting season, and has descriptions of all of the varieties that we carry and how to plant and care for them.  You can find it in our online reference center, or download it directly here.

Are you all sick of hearing about tomatoes yet?  This’ll be quick – folks always want to know what the favorites were at our annual tomato festival, so here they are, listed in descending order of votes.  Sungold and Cherokee Purple were by far the crowd favorites, and tomatoes I would personally recommend you try growing at home.  Sungold is a prolific cherry, with a sweet and fruity flavor.  Cherokee Purple is a large heirloom with a rich tomato flavor and a deep red-purple color with green shoulders.  Both are great additions to the summer garden.

By this time, your Swiss chard should be huge and gorgeous!  This is one of my favorites in my garden, for many reasons:

• it is easy to grow, with very few pests or diseases that bother it
• it is colorful and beautiful, adding lots of visual interest to the garden
• with such dark green foliage, it is packed with nutrients -Vitamin A and C, calcium, and iron
• and best of all, it just keeps on producing – I usually pick chard all fall and a little over the winter as well

So, what to do with all that bounty?  You can use it much like you would spinach, although you might find its cooking time to be a bit longer, since they are sturdier leaves.  Here is a recipe from the Catalan region of northern Spain:

Swiss Chard with Raisins and Pine Nuts

1 large bunch Swiss chard (about 10-12 stalks)

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/3 cup raisons

1/4 tsp salt

dash of pepper

1. Rinse chard; shake to remove excess moisture, but do not pat dry.  Cut leaves from stalks; discard or reserve stalks for later use.  Very coarsely chop leaves.  Set aside.
2. Place pine nuts in 12-inch skillet; cook over medium heat for 2-4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring constantly.  Remove from skillet and set aside.
3. Add oil to same skillet; heat over medium heat until hot.  Add garlic; cook and stir 30 seconds.  Add chopped chard; cover and cook 3-4 minutes or until chard begins to wilt.
4. Stir in pine nuts, raisins, salt and pepper.

It is time to talk about what we should be doing to hasten the harvest of our tomatoes as we start to see the end of the season ahead.  I know, we still have a couple of months to go before first frost, but there are things we can be doing NOW to insure that we will have as many ripe tomatoes as humanly possible.  I think I have said much of this before, but since now is the time to be doing it, I feel it bears repeating.

• First of all, if your tomatoes are trained up on our round or square tomato cages, chances are the cage is chock FULL of plant material.  It is very important to thin out some of the extra foliage, exposing the green tomatoes to the light.  Find short branches that are nothing but foliage and cut it off at the base.  Don’t cut them all off, mind you, but I’d start with 1/3 to 1/2 of them, and see how it looks.  It sounds severe, but the plant will respond well to it.  You are bringing light and air to the inside of the plant, which will encourage the ripening process.  The further into fall it gets, the more foliage I cut off of my vines.  I am usually harvesting ripe tomatoes through all of October, and by the time frost arrives, I don’t have any fruit left to ripen.
• Now that you hopefully have green fruit on the vine, you can start cutting back on water.  Just let them get very dry before you give them a drink.  I have even heard some folks say that they don’t water their tomatoes at all after the fourth of July.  This will give a richer flavor to your ripe fruit.
• This next tip you will want to do about the first part of September, but not quite yet.   The indeterminate tomatoes are essentially long vines, and will continue to flower and produce fruit until frost.  However, the energy it takes to continue flowering takes away from the energy it needs to ripen fruit.  SO…. in early September you will want to prune back your vines, cutting off all of the flowering tips.  I usually cut mine back to the first juncture where there is green fruit.  This will cut off flower production and encourage the ripening of the green fruit.
• Don’t forget to provide support for branches heavy with fruit; use soft twine to gently tie them up to the cages so that they don’t break under the weight.
• Clean up and dispose of (in the garbage, not the compost bin) any diseased leaves.

Follow these simple end of season tricks and you will help your tomatoes give you an abundant fall harvest!

Just a quick reminder here that it is not a good idea to let ripe vegetables sit on the vine – they should be harvested quickly to insure that the plant continues to produce.  Once mature seeds are produced, the plant will stop setting new fruit.  And if, by chance, you end up with oversized zuchini, go ahead and pick them.  If they aren’t edible, toss them on the compost pile, or if you have backyard chickens, they will think  Thanksgiving arrived early.

Wow – we harvested a full wagon-load of gorgeous veggies this afternoon, which we will deliver to the Sunshine Pantry.   It totaled over 26 pounds; not bad for this early in the season.  We picked kale (6 lbs) and Swiss chard (4.5 lbs) - just picked the large outer leaves, so that the plant will continue to grow; and an armload (3.5 lbs) of bulbous beets and their leafy greens.  We felt like it was time to harvest all the large onions (we’ve got more small ones already started – that’s the ’succession plantings’ we’ve been talking about!), so we harvested 7 lbs of large onions and their tall greens.  It was also time to harvest the leaf lettuces, so that was 4.5 lbs worth – 9 heads.  And then we found our first cucumber! 

(For all you newbies to veggie gardening, a word of clarification here.  If this were my home garden, I would not have picked all of this at one time.  The beauty of a home garden is that you run out and pick your dinner right before you eat it.  Fresh fresh fresh.  Since we are taking these donations off site, we have to harvest in larger quantities than you would at home.  I don’t want anyone to get overwhelmed with the prospect of these 26 lb harvests, with 9 heads of lettuce, etc…. and what am I going to do with all that?!…)

Remember we wrote about planting scarlet runner beans in the straw bale garden?  Well, they were climbing up the trellis fairly well, and had started to bloom.  However, they looked anemic and sickly – I’m thinking there is just not enough soil in the straw bale garden to support them.  So we yanked them out today.  Oh well — you gotta try things out, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  The lettuces did great in the straw bale garden, so replanted those today in place of the beans. 

We are continuing to plant new things as we harvest.   A  few days ago, I planted a mesclun blend of lettuces, a napa blues Chinese cabbage, and yellow sweet Spanish onion starts.  These were all traypacks.  I also popped in two millet plants – the birds love them, and they look great in the garden.  I’ve been eyeing the sunflowers – we’ve GOT to have one of those in there soon! 

And one more thing:  the volunteer squash we have from last year is climbing up the trellis now – that will be a sight to see with large squashes on it in a couple of months!  We’ll probably have to support them with slings….stay tuned!

Haven’t we been having the perfect vegetable gardening weather?  Not too hot, but warm enough to kick things into gear.  Our veggie garden here is starting to look full and lush.  Yesterday I harvested all of the Merlot lettuce heads, pulling them out intact; and picked the larger outer leaves of the mixed lettuces — total harvest yield of lettuce: a HUGE bag weighing four pounds.  I also harvested three pounds of Swiss chard yesterday.  So things look like they have a little elbow room now. 

The cardoon is getting gi-normous – I’m beginning to think it has got to come out to make room for other things.  As pretty and dramatic as it is, it is a bit of a space hog.   If you are looking for something ornamental for a large hole in your garden, then these silvery fronds could be perfect.  I’ve learned that cardoon multiplies nicely – just a year ago it was a small start in a gallon pot; now it could be divided into 4 plants.

I like how the cucumber tee-pee is starting to fill in.  I planted three different types of cucumbers around the perimeter of the circle; so far the “Homemade Pickles” cucumber is doing the best, with the lemon cuke coming up next.  The Armenian Yard Long cuke is struggling a bit – perhaps too close to the tomato??  We’ll have to see how it fares.  If you try this at home, be sure to use some soft twine to gently tie it up as it grows — it will not naturally grow up a support, but with a little help, will do just fine.

Part of FG's straw bale garden

• Bales:  Wheat straw bales have the fewest seeds, and have no perennial seeds.  Set bales in place, with straws vertical, not horizontal.   Soak the bales thoroughly (they will get very heavy, so be sure they are where you want them).  They will heat up inside, but will cool down in about 5-7 days.  Then they are ready to plant.
• Preparation of bales:  Rough up the top surface with a hand fork.  Place a 3″ layer of compost along the top – this is the bed you will use for planting.   Try to work a little compost down inside.
• Planting:  According to Dr. N.L. Mansour, from Oregon State University, all of these will do well:  tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and greens.  Rose Marie has had success with: peas, salad greens, squash, and Swiss chard.  Root crops should probably be avoided, because there will not be adequate room inside the bale for large roots.   Small transplants or seeds will work best – use a trowel to pull back the compost, and create a small pocket inside the bale.  Add a bit more compost into the hole if you think it needs it.  Water well after planting.
• Watering:  Rose Marie recommends a drip system.  It will be important to maintain regular watering during the summer months.
• Fertilizing:  Here Rose Marie recommends supplementing with natural fertilizers for healthy plant development – liquid seaweed, fish emulsion, and/or compost tea.

Those are the basics.  Come out and visit our straw bale garden to see how its going here.  I must admit, it is a bit of an experiment, but that is one of the fun aspects of gardening, the trying of new things.  One problem:  I am finding that a bit of the compost is washing off the bale whenever we water;  in the picture you will see a sprinkling of compost on the ground below the bale.  I’m trying to problem-solve that; we need sides on the bale to hold the compost in place.

Today I harvested all the remaining Oregon sugar pod peas – about 1/2 pound – and pulled up the vines.  In their place I put down some fresh compost, and planted some black-seeded Simpson lettuces and some Spargo spinach starts.  Spargo is a new variety to me, but it is supposed to be a high-yielding, slow-bolting variety – sounds perfect for summer!  We have a few traypacks remaining on our tables, so give it a try.

** A side note:  Rose Marie, co-author of The Bountiful Container, will be here August 2nd for a class on eating seasonally from the garden.  August is the perfect time to start transitioning to your fall garden, so that you can eat from your own garden through the winter.  Rose Marie will have lots of helpful ideas as well as plenty of recipe suggestions, I would imagine.  So save a bit of space in your garden where you can tuck in some fall crops!  And as you know, some of our classes fill up fast – so if you would like to hear Rose Marie speak, call to register for this class – 503-649-4568.

If you have basil starts in your garden, don’t forget the value in pinching them back right about now.  Just nip them off with your fingernail down to a branching juncture – this will help the plant be full and bushy rather than tall and spindly.  And its better to do this now rather than later, because then the fullness will be low on the plant instead of high.  If you are uncertain what this pinching back should look like, I’ve just done it on our plants here in the demo garden, so stop by and take a look. 

So go ahead and harvest a bit off your basil and enjoy it – you will be way ahead in the long run!

Now that we’ve got our tomatoes in the ground and summer is nearly upon us, we should give some attention to HOW we are growing these little beauties.  The right cultural practices will insure the best possible harvest.  None of this is hard, but attention to a few details can make all the difference.

• Our main objective is to encourage photosynthesis (the production of sugars from which it grows) and to discourage disease.  The single best way to accomplish both of these goals is to keep them off the ground by staking or caging.  It is best to do this shortly after planting, so that you don’t disturb an established root system.  Providing them upright support gets them up into the light and improves air circulation, which decreases the likelihood of disease.  After the plant get 18 inches tall or so, start trimming off the lowest branches.  As it grows taller, take a few more of the lower branches off, until eventually you have trimmed it about one foot up the stalk.  This pruning aids air circulation as well as prevents soil from splashing the lower leaves – another disease opportunity.  (Adding a little mulch under the tomato will also prevent backsplash as well as retaining soil moisture.)
• Pinch out suckers which grow in the crotch between a branch and the  main stem.  This can be hard to do, because you feel like you are robbing yourself of future fruit.  However, by cutting out these suckers which will inevitably be thinner and weaker, you are enabling your plant to produce large, healthy fruit. 
• Remember that tomatoes are vigorous vines and heavy feeders.  We recommend 2-4 tablespoons of organic fertilizer (like EB Stone Organics) every 30 days until fruit begins to set.  Simply sprinkle a little on the soil, scratch in with your fingers, and water well.
• The most common problem local growers have with tomatoes is blossom end rot.  This is when the bottom end of a tomato turns black and rather flat.   This is a physiological condition caused by growing conditions, and not a fungal disease or pest infestation, and therefore will not spread from plant to plant.  It is important to maintain a consistent level of moisture and calcium in the soil to prevent this.  Tomatoes planted early in cold soil are apt to have the first fruits scarred with blossom end rot; subsequent fruit can be fine.  If you didn’t plant initially with lime, sprinkle a small handful of lime under each tomato plant, and water in well.  This will add calcium to the soil.  And I’ve already mentioned mulching, which will help prevent this problem, by retaining moisture in the soil.
• In late summer, if you find you have plenty of large green fruit but too few ripe ones, I suggest you start thinning out some of the excess foliage.   This will open the fruit up to sunshine, and will slightly stress the plant, both of which should hasten ripening. 
• And finally, my most important tip for ripening tomatoes:  topping the vines.  Mid- to late-September it is important to curtail any further blooming on your indeterminate tomatoes.  I leave all the green fruit that has already set, but cut back each branch to where the fruit is attached.  This will cut off all the blooms and all future blooms, and will focus the plant’s energy into ripening the existing fruit before frost.  And it wouldn’t be a bad idea at the same time to do a little more thinning of foliage.

Follow these easy steps and you’ll be harvesting bushels of tomatoes this summer!