What to do with Broccoli in the Summer?

That is what I did this past week is pick a single broccoli head.  I wasn’t sure if broccoli was going to last this long since it is made for the cooler fall months.  Although I grow a hybrid which is made for warmer temperatures and I want to see how far I can push it before it starts to flower and no longer produces large pieces of broccoli. 



I picked another two pounds of peas this evening and this will make it only the second harvest of peas for the season.  Flowers are starting to dwindle and it looks like it might be the end for them this year, but with the right nutrients they can continue growing with even more flowers hopefully. 



Strawberries are definitely done for the season and all that is left is dealing with the runners that come from all the plants.  If you don’t control them they can go wild and start planting new plants in all directions.  I will take some of them and put one in between all the plants that I have right now.  This should increase the amount of strawberry plants from 30 to 50 or more.

Blueberries are not that far behind and it should be harvesting time in the month of July.  I usually start picking them at the end of June, but it looks like this year that is not going to happen.  They are beginning to turn, but they still have some time before they are blue enough for picking and eating.

I wouldn’t mind starting to pick my lettuce this week.  Some of the plants are not ready, but my king crimson red lettuce is about time for them to be picked.  I don’t like picking plants all at once and instead pick leaves here and there.  I find I can get more out of a plant if I leave them in the ground and only pick leaves when they continue producing them.

Update on Peas, Radishes, Lettuce and Onions

I just wanted to shoot an update on my spring crop for now.  With the weather that we have been having it has benefited my spring crop the most.  My lettuce plants are flourishing, my peas are starting to produce pods, my onions have thick green stems, and my radishes are almost ready for harvesting.

The past two weeks have been exciting and with all the flowers that my peas are growing I am sure I will have plenty of pods before the spring season is over.  If we keep getting cool and wet weather the peas will give me enough pods to last several weeks or more.

The last time I checked my radishes the roots were quite small and I was covering them up with dirt in order to keep the bulbs out of the sun.  The sun can turn them color and make them quite bitter similar to what happens to carrots if exposed to sunlight.  Now they are about the size of golf balls from what I could see.  I won't know their actual size until I harvest them which should be coming real soon.

My lettuce plants have many leaves at the moment and I should start harvesting more of them from most of my plants.  They look quite ready and the weather has definitely been helping them with these leaves.  I have harvested from a couple of plants such as iceberg, butterhead, and loose leaf.  The only one I haven't harvested from would be my romaine lettuce or the Ruby glow hybrid.  I will be picking from them real soon once I think they have enough leaves to loose a few of them.

Here is the romaine lettuce that I haven't picked any leaves from yet.  I probably could pick a few of the older and lower ones.  I might do that tomorrow depending on what I have going on.








So far my spring crop is doing quite well and also my onions are part of this season as well and they are getting thick and strong stems.  This usually means that I might be getting good sized onions this season as long as this weather holds out or I keep feeding them until they are ready to be picked.