Cheap Seat Eats

-A.J.

The highs have been near 80 for the past few days. I did a little bit of pruning just so that we could move around in the garden. That, and I pruned a fair amount of dead and yellow stuff out of the Violet Jasper tomato plant. The Violet Jasper is going to need to turn it around fast to not be considered a washout, and I have my doubts.

Overall though — it’s been sunny and warm. The garden hasn’t required any real maintenance other than watering. The plants (with one exception) still look great. We’ve harvested a few zucchini and the cucumbers and beans will be soon to follow. In a lot of ways it’s the nicest time of the year in the garden.

The transplanted strawberries. All of the lighter green growth on the plant in the foreground is new growth. Pictured with the 2nd-year garlic chives and thyme:

The 1st-year asparagus is (are?) exceeding my top-end expectations. Even the few transplants are sending up new growth:

The front-yard salad table has three levels and is protected by shade cloth. The top level has basically fried off for the summer anyway. There are still lettuce and parsley on the bottom two levels, the pictured lettuce are on the north side of the middle level. The brown “growth” is the end of the peas:

Taxis:

Carmen peppers:

The Fortex and Rattlesnake pole beans. Cucumbers on the left, tomatillos on the right, Tromboncino in the right background. Note the Tromboncino vine growing up and out of the 8′ trellis. On the far side of the Tromboncino are more Fortex beans which are popping up over the top of the trellis as well:

The cucumbers are ready tomorrow or the next day:

The Tromboncino trellis:

We harvested a few of these today — we’ll be more likely to get more big fruits if there’s a little less competition:

An overview from the “front”, facing the house:

We’ve been making a point to harvest the basil a little more aggressively and frequently and the plants have responded well. And we get more dinners like this — two flatbreads, the one on the right is topped with a small amount of melted manchego and is about to be finished with basil pesto:

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.