Garden musings

[deborahjross]

The transition from spring to summer in our garden is always a tad bittersweet. Farewell to asparagus and grapefruit, hello to lettuce. (And, this year, kale, which seems to be perfectly happy in the alternating cool/marine layer and transitory heat, although I don't usually think of it as a spring vegetable.) The boundary is fairly gradual. That is, we're still getting a bit of asparagus here and there, and each time I pick a few days' worth of grapefruit, I'm sure it will be the last, but then I see a few more waaaay up there. The rhubarb patch, which went all exuberant - leaves a meter across - is finally taking a summer rest.

BTW, we have discovered other uses for rhubarb besides desserts. It's marvelous in oatmeal (porridge) - chop up a couple of stalks and throw it in for the last 5 minutes of cooking. I've read you can make a sauce for meat or poultry, but haven't tried that yet. And, lightly stewed and perhaps combined with blackberries and seasoned with cinnamon, it makes a wonderful topping for waffles.

We celebrated with our first summer squashes - a sunburst (yellow pattypan) and a couple of ridged zuccini sorts that were particularly delicious. Squashes are one of the vegetables that are safe for Dave, so we're doing a variety of both summer and winter varieties. I love them all, so am very happyful. We store the winter squashes in the library shed (humidity controlled) after wiping them down with dilute bleach to kill mold spores. They'll keep until next spring, although there's some variation from one variety to another - some have thinner skins and must be eaten first. At my request, we're not growing any of the super-bombproof-armored type. Or too many of the 20 lb+ type (that, once you cut into, must be eaten or frozen fairly soon).

Potatoes are coming along nicely and seem to be very happy in our yard. We were going to try sweet potatoes, but didn't get around to it; maybe next year. Cucumbers will be along later, too. Tomatoes are just in - our nights are typically too cool for them to even consider waking up until early June. This means a deluge in the fall, and a rush to get them preserved in some fashion before the frost hits.

Dave now describes his gardening approach as "feral." That is, he'll let a few plants go to seed and watch where they get happy. Carrots and tomatillos have happily cooperated. Ditto arugula and purslane. The asparagus has been steadily invading the lavender patch. Somewhere there are a couple of chard plants that keep surviving, year after year. We've managed to contain the forest of parsnips to the back alley, where they grow to 8' tall and, we hope, are gradually breaking down the hard ex-road there. At any rate, the bees seem to like the flowers.

Let's not get started on the blackberry crop...except perhaps to say, Abandon All Hope, Ye Shall Be Blackberried In Perpetuity.

Comments

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

So envious of your garden. All that fresh food sounds so lovely.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

It's such a delight to eat what you've grown (or in this case, what some other member of your family has grown). Such independence from grocery stores, plus a new way of looking at what we need to eat (or don't need, as the case may be).

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Rhubarb is really good with herring, and with pork.

Also, I know exactly what you mean for I have seen it, but I am now troubled by thoughts of an eight-foot parsnip.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Think of it as Queen Anne's Lace on steroids.

Have you seen the roots? It's Parsnip Cthulhu! Because of the hard pan, the tap roots can't grow straight down, so the plant makes many, many roots from a broad base. Looks just like an Elder God.

[stellatangdele.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the idea of wiping down the outside of winter squash with dilute bleach to kill mold spores; I think I'll try that this fall. The rhubarb oatmeal sounds lovely too.