For gardeners, July is the ‘kicking back’ month, isn’t it? The bees and butterflies floating over the raised beds seem to be as happy as I am as I’m relaxing in a chair in the shade or kneeling in the garden doing a little harvesting!

Our family is eating a lot from the garden at this time of year. My specialty is summer salads. A combination salad with baby Little Gem and Salad Bowl lettuce, baby sorrel (a bit tart, but its pretty lime green leaves and flavor are a nice foil to the other flavors in the salad), endive, escarole, parsley, green onions, and chopped purslane (I still call it a weed, but it adds some spunky nutrition) is wonderful! The purple Trionfo Violetto pole beans growing up my ornamental trellis and the bush varieties, Romo II and Tavera are fabulous this week, and most of them don’t make it anywhere near a steamer, because I also chop them and eat them fresh in salads. My daughter, Sophia, loves steamed Italian Nero Toscana kale chopped with garlic and sautéed in olive oil as a fall dish. But, sometimes she can’t wait until cooler weather to enjoy it. We recently made a dish of it for her using the burner on the outdoor grill.

Watering is the biggest chore at this time of year. It’s important to nurture your crops through the heat, watering as often as needed, even twice a day if you see something start to wilt. Some crops have bolted by now, so I’m pulling up the extra radishes and spinach that didn’t get eaten. The arugula has bolted, but the green onions next to it are at their peak and ready to harvest. Despite the heat, I am planning a little more planting soon. I’ll make time to sneak in another crop of arugula and lettuce now, and maybe another round in a couple of weeks, because I do love my fresh greens!

My other July chores include deadheading flowers to encourage a second flush of blooms. I do this with any flower that would be more attractive without its seed heads, will produce a second flush of blooms, or that I don’t want to reseed in the garden.

Are your spring-planted pansies and violas getting a little long and scraggly? Now is a good time to cut them back. You’ll notice that many of your plants have fresh leaf growth near the base. If you cut the plants back now, you’ll help them redirect their energy into producing a new round of compact blooms in fall.

The delphiniums and cosmos look gorgeous right now! I also adore the Love in a Mist, because it makes such a soft fluffy background in the flowerbeds. The calendula is stunning–there’s a wide swath of it in the border that’s as radiant as the sunlight itself.

Here’s a sneak peek at a new zucchini variety we’re trailing. It’s already produced some rather large squash, so we’re impressed by its early harvest.

See my trailing cucumber plants here? Next year, I’m thinking about trying cucumber frames to support them. I’ve seen how you can take old picture frames and line them with 3″ squares of wire. Once raised off the ground, the cucumber plants will grow up through them, using them for support, then the fruit will hang below it, growing straighter, and be off the ground.

The garden is always a work in progress. Now, there’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy it, but as I do, I always think of new things to try as I’m admiring the beautiful growth!

Once everyone arrived, we began our traditional ‘Name that Plant’ contest. Employees were given a sheet with multiple-choice answers then walked the vegetable/herb beds and the perennial border, trying to guess the names of the plants that were marked with numbered flags. There were a few participants that correctly identified all twenty-four plants on the quiz and won bragging rights for the day. For those that missed a few (or more), it was fun and educational. Seeing how delicious or gorgeous some of varieties looked, hopefully inspired some of them to try some new things in their garden in the future.

            Lunch was a feast from Qdoba Mexican Grill, and the key lime pie, chocolate chip cookies disappeared pretty quickly as well as the homemade brownies whipped up by Judy and Curtis’s daughter and aspiring chef, Catherine. As a bonus, we were treated to fresh snow cones made by Judy and Curtis’s other daughter, Sophia.

            This picnic every year is a time for us all to get together and have some fun, but also a time to talk about how the just-ended season went. Our 2011 wholesale season begins in July Watch the website for the new varieties to be available soon online.

Try as he might, Curtis did not escape the ‘Gatorade Dousing’ that is also a tradition at this picnic. After a couple of failed attempts, Corey from Accounting managed to sneak up on him from behind and dump a bin of half-melted ice over Curtis’s head! It’s our mischievous way of saying, ‘Thanks, Coach…for another great season!”

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!

1. Mozzarella Basil Salad
Normally, we think of lettuce when we hear the term salad. But this recipe is very simple and
can be put together as a wonderful snack or appetizer in no time at all. All you need is:

A ball of fresh mozzarella. You can buy these typically in the deli section of your grocery store.
Because they are fresh, they are often in the form of a ball. Keep any leftover cheese in a
container full of water. Change out the water daily and the cheese will be good for a few days.

A handful of fresh basil. You can leave whole or slice them lengthwise. If you choose to slice
them, do so just before you serve the salad, because they will begin to turn brown on the edges
if left too long.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It is best to use extra virgin because it holds less acidity than regular olive
oil – which is why it is often used in salads such as this one.

Start by slicing the mozzarella into ¼ inch slices. Place on a plate. Overlap them just a little if
you are short on space. Sprinkle the sliced (or whole) basil leaves evenly over the cheese. Then
drizzle the olive oil over the cheese slices 3 times around the plate. Keep refrigerated until
needed, but it is best to serve immediately.

2. Tomato & Mozzarella Salad
This recipe is similar to the mozzarella salad in that it is very simple to make. What you need :

Two fresh tomatoes. Try to use ones that are meaty tomatoes, such as Roma or Italian varieties.
A handful of fresh basil. Never use dried basil. Fresh is the best for this. I recommend chopping
or slicing the basil.
A ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped in ½ inch cubes. Fresh mozzarella cheese is key for
this dish. You can get the cheese at nearly any deli.
4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Remember, the extra virgin has lower acidity content
therefore, making it practical for such purposes.
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar.Do not use flavored vinaigrettes because the flavor of the basil
is all you will need. Adding in such flavors as rosemary or oregano will completely change the
dish.

Chop the tomatoes and place in a medium bowl. Add in the sliced basil and cheese. Drizzle the
olive oil around the bowl about 4 times, and do the same with the balsamic vinegar, but only
two times – approximately 2 Tablespoons. Mix well with a spoon, cover and let sit for a little
while before serving to allow the juices to absorb all the flavors. If you do not like balsamic
vinegar, you can omit it and the salad will taste just as good.

3. Pasta Sauce with Fresh Basil
Although I am a fan of homemade sauce, there are some fairly decent commercial brands out
there. When I have had to resort to buying premade sauce, I always look for a basic plain
tomato sauce which I can doctor up. One of the herbs I use is basil. This applies even with
homemade sauce. When heating up your pasta sauce, add some fresh basil leaves and let cook
for about 10 to 15 minutes over low –medium heat allowing the leaves to cook down. Serve
over a bed of fresh pasta in a pasta bowl and top with some grated Parmesan or Romano
cheese.

This article was contributed by Elizabeth Krause from www.simpleitaliancooking.com a website which specializes in Italian recipes. For weekly recipes and tips, join her newsletter. She first discovered Italiancooking while traveling in Italy. Here she saw the simple lifestyles of the Italians, however noticed they did not sacrifice quality. Every household still had espresso daily, but did so by using stovetop espresso makers rather than always going to a local shop.

Is anybody else feeling like this?

“Aaaaagh!!!”

It’s early June when the garden goes wild and the chores are stacking up. I still have plants to get into the ground, the perennial border to weed, delphiniums to divide, weeds to pull, and a load of mulch to distribute. Did I mention weeds to pull???

This time of year, things are popping up like crazy, and a lot has grown since last week. In another two weeks, the garden will look dramatically different again. It’s a transition period from spring to summer when there’s still so much to do.  The spring blooming plants like Alyssum Basket of Gold and Candytuft are done blooming and need to be sheared back to keep them compact—another chore to add to my list. Aaaaagh!!!

Since, I’m so busy, I’m delegating a little blog talk to my daughters today. Sophia is 9, and Catherine is 17. They’re going to do a quick interview with me about some of their favorite things to eat from the garden.

“Sophia, do you like to help plant in the garden?”

“You do the planting. I do the eating!”

“What’s one of your favorite things to eat from the garden?”

“I love peas—any kind of peas!” Her blue eyes get as wide as her smile as she points to the shelling peas and snap peas that will produce tasty crops in just a few weeks.

“What else do you like to eat out here?”

“Strawberries.”

“What about this spinach over here?”

“Mmmm…strawberry and spinach salad with poppy seed dressing.”

“I bet I know another one of your favorites. What about kale?”

“Yes! Dinosaur kale!” Her sister confirms that they both eat big bowls of pasta topped with Italian Nero Toscana kale sautéed in olive oil and garlic.

“So, Catherine, my budding chef, what are some of your favorites from the garden?”

She immediately walks over to the beds of lettuce and holds her hands wide. “Lots of different kinds of lettuce for salads.”

Catherine is hoping to go to chef’s school in the future and frequently rewards us with her yummy dishes. I have one of her delicious homemade rhubarb pies on the kitchen counter right now.

“What else do you like?”

“When I’m cooking, it’s really nice to be able to run out here and grab a handful of fresh cilantro. The carrots are also good. Carrots fresh from the garden taste totally different than the ones in the store. It’s awesome to just pull one up, dust the dirt off and eat it right here.

There, you have it. My kids eat vegetables! They may not be into planting, but they sure do like to eat the fresh food from the garden. It’s another incentive to keep up with my garden chores. At this time of year, the girls often complain that they don’t see me much, because I’m always out working in the garden. It all happens so fast in May and June. I still have more seeding to do, and my salad greens are growing so robustly that they need to be thinned again. I wish I could have someone over for dinner every night to help me eat them. I guess having too much to eat is a problem we gardeners love to have!

Here are some photos from the garden today:

Improper depth is one reason for germination failure. If seeds are planted too deep, they won’t have enough strength to emerge. If they’re planted too shallow, they may dry out.

Some seeds need dark, and some seeds need light to germinate, so it’s very important to follow the recommended sowing depth.

1/4″ is a common depth for a lot of small vegetable seed varieties including carrots, endive, escarole, and lettuce (1/8″-1/4″). If you think about it, this is really shallow! Today, I’m planting all the above varieties. My method of planting these varieties is to scatter the seed into nicely tilled soil then pat them in—you really don’t need to bury them. Simply take a clump of soil and lightly scatter it over the top to cover the seed and water it in. The water will help settle the soil in around the seed.

½” is a common sowing depth for mid-sized vegetable seeds like beets and Swiss chard. To sow them, I poke them lightly into the soil then scrunch a light amount of soil over the top. After you water them in, a few seeds may float to the top. Just poke them back down into the soil. A unique fact about these two varieties is that the ’seeds’ are actually fruits. There are multiple seeds inside each fruit (seed). Imagine planting an entire orange with multiple seeds inside. When these seeds germinate, you may need to pinch off the extra seedlings.

Large-seeded varieties like beans need to go deeper. They need to be sown around 1″ deep. To plant them, I first erect a teepee made of three or more tall stakes inside the raised bed. Then, I make a little trench around the base of each pole and scatter the beans around each stake. After that, I correct the spacing to make sure they’re at least 2″ apart and fold soil down on top of them.

Keeping new plantings watered is critical to germination success. It rained last night, but because it’s hot today, it’s not enough to keep the seeds that I planted the other day from drying out. When I poke my finger in the soil, I can tell that the top ½” is dry. That means that I need to water. A hose with a soft spray nozzle will allow you to water gently. Keep moving the spray around, so no areas are flooded and make seeds float and clump together. You may need to water twice a day if that top layer of soil is drying out too quickly. Once the seedlings emerge, you won’t have to be quite that diligent, because the roots will be deeper in the soil and able to find moisture below the top crust.

I’m moving on to planting broccoli and quinoa next. This time of year, I’m tempted by so many wonderful varieties, but the limits of space and time keep me in check. I’ve been known to go overboard! It’s hard not to daydream about the lovely fresh meals I’m going to enjoy from this simple garden. This daydream has inspired me! I think I will thin the lettuce again and make another fresh salad with the pretty chive blossoms, so I can invite the neighbors over to dinner and share it with them.

Wind, wind, go away, come again another day! The weather is finally warm and perfect for planting, but the spinning windmill in the garden is a sure sign that the weatherman’s prediction of gusts up to 65 mph may be right on target.

It’s not the best day to be transplanting tomatoes into the ground, but they’re longing for a permanent home, and if they aren’t settled in soon, the wind might break their tender stems or blow them down the street.

So, today, I’m going to tuck an Ace tomato and two Black Krim tomatoes into a raised bed. The first step is to gently ease them out of the containers.

A unique feature of tomato plants is the root nodes that grow all along the stem. When the stem is covered with soil, these nodes become new roots. And, the more roots your tomato plant has…the more nutrients and moisture it can uptake for healthy production. So, the next step is to cut off the lower branches from the part of the stem that will be buried under the soil. (You want the lower stem to be 1/2 to 2/3 bare.)

Then, make a trench in the soil 3″-4″ deep and lay the stem and roots down in it horizontally, leaving the top ½ to 1/3 of the stem above the soil. Don’t try to force it upright; it will straighten up on its own as it grows and reaches for the sunlight. After that, insert a tomato cage on top, being careful to avoid damaging the buried part of the tomato plant. Now…water immediately! It’s easy to get caught up in other garden chores after this, thinking you will go back and water the tomatoes soon, only to forget and find that your newly transplanted tomatoes have wilted beyond recovery.

While the tomatoes will take up a lot of space in the bed, there will still be room to border them with some flowers. I’m choosing Little Gem Marigolds for one side (from transplants) and Nasturtium Peach Melba (directly sowed from seed) on the other. Some other good companion plants for tomatoes include: basil, borage, chives, and onions.

Finally getting tomatoes into the ground is a good feeling, but the best part of today is going to be lunch! I’ve got vigorous young crops of lettuce ready for thinning: Little Gem, Red Sails, Valentine Mesclun, and Tom Thumb. Before I started, I grabbed a big metal colander from the kitchen. Since I watered the beds last night, the soil is nice and soft, making the seedlings easy to pull. To thin, I pull out a small clump then pinch off the roots before tossing the baby greens into the colander. Doing it this way, makes it easy to get lots of ready-to-eat salad in a jiffy. As an added touch, I pinched off a few chive blossoms from a nearby bed, pulled them apart and scattered the petals on top of the salad mix. Once inside, I’ll give this lovely gourmet blend a quick rinse, and it’s ready for the table. It looks so elegant, I may have to set the table with candles to go with it! Nah…it’s too windy today to play with fire near the back porch. But, what a fun thought!

I’ve chosen a spot on the east side of the house where they will get morning sun and afternoon shade. In this area, they are protected from wind and from getting too much sun at once, which can cause leaf sunburn. When you first start to harden off your tomatoes, don’t be surprised if they look a little wobbly and floppy as they adjust to outdoor conditions. As long as you keep them watered, and they are protected from wind (which could cause stems to break), they will toughen up.

This hardening off period in a sheltered location will take about a week. It’s necessary to get them used to bright sun and outdoor conditions. If a late frost threatens, I’ll bring them back in at night. They’ll only be allowed to stay out all night when nighttime temperatures will definitely stay above freezing. Remember that when you transplant tomatoes, you should either bury the stem half way down in the soil, or lay the plant on it side and cover it half way with soil. The lower stem will then produce more roots along it, and the top of the plant will grow upwards and be more vigorous.

Remember the Lobelia plugs that I transplanted into larger cells a couple weeks ago? They’re really growing now and looking perky. I’ve got the flat right next to the tomatoes to start their hardening off process as well. They should be blooming in another 2-3 weeks.

We had a couple good days of rain last week, so the soil in the garden beds is still moist, and the weeds are sprouting like…well…weeds! This is the perfect time to go out and tackle them. I have five main organic methods in my attack plan:

In rock pathways where little weeds spring up all over, I pull out the ‘big gun’ to make an easy task of what could be a time-consuming process. My weapon of choice is a blowtorch. (A lot of garden centers carry these.) A quick blast from it aimed right at a weed will boil its cells, root and all, so it doesn’t come back. Of course, if you use this method, be sure to stay away from flammable structures.

The hula hoe is my next favorite weed elimination tool. It works well in areas with bare dirt. You simply rock it back and forth over the weeds, and it makes them disappear in a jiffy.

The paths between the raised vegetable beds are layered with several inches of dried grass clippings to keep weeds down. But, sometimes those pesky weeds work their way up through a thin spot anyway. An easy fix to smother them is to lay a couple sheets of newspaper over the top of them, then put down another few inches of grass clippings. Simple, but effective!

It seems to be a never-ending battle to control the grass that creeps under your borders into your flowerbeds. Unwanted grass has to be dug up with a trowel to get the whole clump. Along with that, it’s a good idea to follow any runner roots along with your hand to get all of it. (Grass roots are easy to identify, because they are so white.) It’s important to get the entire root system out or the grass will just re-sprout from it.

Of course, you really don’t need any special tools to get rid of weeds. When the ground is this soft, it’s easy to reach down and pull most of them out with your hands. Bindweed is a particular enemy that must be tackled with direct hand to-hand combat! Every time I see it creeping along, I pull it up, trying to get as much of the root as possible. This method is by no means foolproof. Since bindweed can regenerate from long roots, you may have to pull up the same plant many times before it weakens and gives up. (Some organic gardeners are known to resort to weed killers on this particular foe out of frustration, but note that applying weed killer on bindweed in the spring when it’s in vigorous growth mode can be like giving it a shot of caffeine—what doesn’t die just grows even faster. If you do choose to use weed killer, save it for the fall when bindweeds roots are storing up nutrients to prepare for dormancy. They will absorb it better and then be unable to recover.) But the best plan of action for weeds, and especially bindweed is to: Dig it up! Dig it up! Dig it up! Persistence is the key to winning the battle with weeds.

Spring is a fickle friend here in Colorado. We woke up to ½” of snow on the ground this morning. Since everything currently sowed outside is a cool season crop, nothing was affected much by the late chilly weather. The arugula, lettuce, mustard, snap peas, and spinach seedlings simply shrugged the snow off as the morning sun melted it, and the violas and pansies looked downright perky after their shivery night. Pansies seem to be a little more durable and even longer lasting than the violas. People often don’t realize just how tough they are through cold weather!

The extra moisture from the snow can help kick-start the growth of tender spring crops almost as well as rain. The only downside to this late light snow shower was that it was another sign that it’s still too early to plant some of the warm season crops outside. Our pepper and tomato plants are still huddled under grow lights in the office, even though we’re just days away from the average last frost date. Until the weather forecast shows some consistent warmer weather, they’ll just have to hunker down indoors.

Once the snow melted this morning, I was able to do a little thinning. On our arugula packets, we recommend sowing seeds 1″ apart, then thinning to 6″ apart after they are ½” tall. This is ideal spacing to get mature plants that don’t compete with each other for water and nutrients. But, sometimes, I sow seed more thickly, so I can get a fast crop of tender young leaves. Of course, this requires me to be more ‘cruel’ when thinning. A row of tightly packed arugula seedlings will produce a lot of foliage, but it will be a lot more productive if I gently pull out or snip out enough seedlings to make sure they are no closer than 1″ apart. This means I am sacrificing a lot of seedlings. They’re pretty small right now—only about ½” to 1″ tall. But, even this young, the thinnings will make a tasty addition to salads. It’s easy to put them in a strawberry basket and rinse the soil off. Then, you can top a salad with them that day or save them in the fridge to eat in a day or two. In another week or two, I’ll go back and thin this crop again, and have even more salad fare after a little ruthless plucking.

In the flower borders, I thought I’d share some photos of some of my favorite spring blooming plants. The white Candytuft and gold Alyssum are in full bloom right now. They make a smashing combination and really brighten up the spring garden. The blue Forget Me Nots are also making a lovely show with their intense blue color. I have huge mound of perennial Oriental Poppies that are just now getting pods. Next week, I may have some show-stopping blooms to show you.