In The Garden with Judy 6-25-10
It’s going to be 99 degrees in Denver today. Buddy doesn’t seem to mind. He’s running around in the grass under the shade of the willow tree with a piece of wood in his mouth, munching on it like it’s the most tasty treat he’s ever had. A lot has happened here in the last couple weeks. The garden is now ringed with a beautiful cedar picket fence, and the garden shed is almost done. The shed will be a great place to store garden tools for easy access and to do transplanting. I can’t wait until it’s finished!
Today, I want to emphasize how important it is to plant successive crops throughout the summer.
Here, I have a crop of spinach that is getting very large leaves. They’ll be fabulous in a stir-fry for dinner. But, a second crop planted just a couple of weeks ago has smaller leaves that will be great in a salad or as baby greens to accompany another dish.
This bed has a luscious crop of several lettuce varieties and mustard. They look amazing right now, but the long summer days and heat will cause them to bolt soon. So, last week, I sowed a new crop of lettuce.
Lettuce is notorious for not germinating when the weather is warm, but I’ve worked out a technique to get it started even when temperatures are in the 90’s. Simply sow the seed as usual, then water it well and place boards over the top of the bed to shade and cool the soil. This reduces the temperature of the soil and keeps it from drying out so fast. Once seedlings emerge, remove the boards to let more sunlight in. Using this method and picking the lettuce young (so it doesn’t have a chance to get large and bolt), you can have lettuce growing for salads all summer long. This also works to get other cool season veggies started when it’s warm. Some cool season varieties with long crop times, like cabbage, should be started now, so they can mature in the cooler weather of fall.
Sometimes getting a little behind in chores can actually be helpful. For example, my early crop of cilantro has bolted. I haven’t pulled it yet, but I’ve sown fresh seed around it. The shade the mature plants provide will help the younger seedlings get established. Once the new crop is established, I’ll pull out the older plants. Since I’m behind in weeding, my young fennel plants are surrounded by purslane. But, it helps to shade the soil and has shallow roots, so it will be easy to pull out when I’m ready. I’ve heard that purslane is edible and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Though it’s becoming increasingly popular as a nutritious garden vegetable, I haven’t decided to add it to our seed line yet, because it’s still a ‘weed’ to me. Have you tried purslane? What’s your favorite way to eat it?
There are pockets of interesting color combinations all over the flower borders now. Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite combinations: Desert Bluebells with Nasturtium ‘Alaska’ and Poppy ‘American Legion’ with Delphinium ‘Pacific Giant’.
And, finally…a photo of the most asked about plant in my garden right now. It’s the Italian Red Onions from last season that have bolted. I love how architectural the blooms look, and they make a striking accent in the garden. Visitors are in awe when they see them!