Garden in Full Splendor
The hard work of April and May is now bearing fruit- or vegetables and flowers- as the case may be. The garden is in full, splendorous bloom.
Fava beans are already 5-6 inches long; the pods shiny, light green. Oddly, the pods are constrained to the mid and lower half of the plant stalks. I see immature flower-pod combinations near the top of the stalk but few are maturing, instead shriveling away. So there is definitely an issue going on, just not sure if it’s due to the previous damp weather and then sudden heat or its an insect.
I’m leaning toward an insect issue, but it doesn’t diminish the joy of seeing fava beans in the garden! Did you know that the stalk of a fava bean plant is completely square? It’s quite an amazing plant. They seem to like being near the broccoli more than the tomatoes, although, this could be part of the issue since large numbers of aphids are attempting to set up shop on the tomato leaves this year. Hopefully, the marigolds I planted around them will take care of that as they are now in bloom.
Later planting pays off for bush beans
I feel that my patience in waiting to plant bush beans has paid off. By planting in mid-June versus the end of May, I missed the feeding frenzy of the Japanese beetles. Now, the plants have already yielded two large harvests of tasty beans.
Kale and Garlic
The kale is upright and healthy. We are addicted to the ‘Lacinato’ kale variety. It has such a subtle taste and a milder bite than the curly kale. I’ll start harvesting some lower leaves in early August, but once it hits full maturity I will cut it regularly to encourage a full and healthy plant that will last well into fall.
Cucumbers are loving the sudden heat, as evidenced by their rapid winding up along their bamboo poles with heavy flower production and fruits.
Fava harvest
It’s now two weeks after I started writing this post and the fava bean harvest is on the menu for dinner tonight. Broiled flounder with lemon, fava beans with pancetta and garlic over pasta. Served with a glass of cool, homemade Chardonnay. Fresh fruit for dessert. A healthy summer meal!
Speaking of garlic, I’ve come to learn that if you plant garlic, you must purchase at least double the quantity of cloves you hope to harvest as bulbs. Of the more than 30 individual cloves that I planted last November, the yield was just 18 full-size garlic bulbs. A little research showed this is not uncommon. Still, I plan to keep planting garlic. What was strange: the cloves I planted in the raised beds yielded similar size bulbs as those from potted plantings. Similar soil composition but the raised beds have rich, loose soil and pots tend to become compacted. Any thoughts out there?
Pollinator-friendly
I made an extra effort this year to add pollinator-friendly flowers in and around the vegetable garden. The rudbeckia and echinacea are at their peak as is the mint- it’s a non-stop feeding frenzy for chubby bumbles.
The mixed zinnias, seed-saved from a few years ago, are now stocky plants with large flower buds. They make such lovely cut flowers, I don’t know if I will be able to resist leaving most of them on the plants to provide nutrition for butterflies and bumbles.
