Vacation during harvest season

So I'm preparing for another vacation - this time to Europe with my mom.  We leave on Saturday.  Exactly in the middle of harvest season this year.  I had it all planned...last year this would have been well before the peak harvest season.  This year, it's smack dab in the middle of it.  I even have cherry tomatoes (Peacevine) that are beginning to ripen.  And worse, it's in the 100's outside - necessitating extremely frequent watering.  Dianna will be here - and she ensures me that she will harvest, weigh the produce, and water.  I still worry.  She's good at this, but these plants, this garden, is really MY baby.  I'm the one who walks it every day, the one who constantly monitors it.  I am the garden's momma.

So today I harvested two summer ball pumpkins at one pound each, and a yellow crookneck squash that was almost 1 pound (15 oz).  Yesterday I harvested over 2 pounds of haricots verts and pickled them.  Four pints of pickled beans.  Tomorrow I'll pick more beans, and then it's up to Dianna to keep the garden going while I'm gone.

So we've got a good start on the season, now we just have to weather vacations and we're good.  I will be looking at the gardens in France and Germany for inspiration.  And I will try to blog from my iPad about what I'm learning.  Stay tuned!

Mid-Summer Prep for Fall Veggies

It's always strange for me to think about upcoming cold weather and cold weather crops when it's 100 degrees outside, but now is the time apparently.  I got my Territorial seeds catalog and they are suggesting that we start cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower now.  I did, they're under the lights in the basement.  Since I also transplant my lettuce outside, I started the fall lettuce crop as well. Outside I pulled the peas and direct seeded turnips and basil.  Hopefully our bunny friend will leave them alone - she's been munching on the carrots lately...

My big mistake this year was trying to interplant basil in different areas of the garden.  Next year it will have its own section, I just don't have enough for drying and pesto.  Hopefully there's enough time in the summer for the seeds to grow into plants. 

I'm hoping that the fall crop will do better than the spring crop - I got two measly 2 inch heads of broccoli and no cauliflower. The cabbage was OK - loose heads, but enough to make a good bit of slaw.  I still have to pick and use the kale, it's doing OK as well. 

Haricots Verts Harvesting

The importance of harvesting beans every day cannot be emphasized more.  If you are trying to be self-sufficient, you need the most productivity on the least amount of land...and beans are super producers!  But once they think they've set seed, they slow their production.  So it is imperative to pick every day or every other day.  Keep the beans harvested and you will keep the plants producing.  Dianna thought that I was obsessive, and people will wonder "why do you insist in picking every day?".  It's simple.  Most of what I do is all about productivity.  Square foot gardening, harvesting beans daily, companion planting, keeping the weeds out of the garden -it's all about getting the most food in the least amount of space while still using organic methods.  Day before yesterday I harvested 6 oz of beans, today 12 oz.  The magic is to keep harvesting, while the beans are young and tender.  The plants will keep producing well into the fall.