Getting the first Set of Red Onions Harvested this Past Week

At the moment my red onions were ready to be harvested, but my yellow onions are still not quite ready to be picked.  I always wait for the stems to fall over when harvesting onions and my red onions have fallen were ready to be picked from the soil.  I had planted two extra totes of red onions this season and it seems to have been a good decision.  Once they dry out on the table outside I will then bring them inside and feast on them throughout the year.
 

Although I have harvested red onions the rest of the garden is still growing and not quite ready for a good harvesting.  I would say within a week or so I should be start picking vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and possibly peppers.  Right now I have been slowly picking zucchini which has been growing quite well and ripening fast.
 

Many of my tomato plants are producing fruit and have not began to ripen just yet.  I am hoping that with all this hot sunny weather they should start turning red.  It will be interesting to see how many plants of cherry, Roma, and beefsteak I have.  I went through several plantings in the spring and kind of lost track of how much of each type I have.  At the moment I have at least two Romas, several beefsteak, and several cherry tomato plants.
 

I will also start digging up my potatoes that I planted in the springtime.  The plants are started to wither and die and this is when you know it is time to get them out of the ground.  I plan on digging them up sometime this week at the latest.  I could do it tomorrow morning before the afternoon rain comes.  I will have to see how the week goes before digging them up.  They will definitely be up by the end of the week.

What is Next Now That Lettuce and Spring Crops are Done?

Yup it is now time to switch to summer crop mode now that most of the spring crops are either going to seed or starting to turn brown which means no more production from them.  I still have to wait before digging up my potatoes which is one of the very last spring crops along with onions that have to be picked from the soil.

As for my onions they are still growing and getting bigger at the moment.  Some of them started to go to seed quite early so I had to make sure to remove the seed pod at the tip of them stem otherwise my onions would be very small when I pick them.  My yellow onions I will keep in the totes for now, but my red onions look like they are just about ready for harvesting.  At the moment most of the red onions have fallen which means they are done for the season.  Since my yellow onions have not fallen that means they are not quite ready for picking.  It won’t be long before they begin to fall.
 

Now that it is time for summer crops to produce it looks like my peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini are the first to be harvested during the month of July.  At the moment I have picked two zucchinis which have already been used to make some good meals and there are still more growing on the plants.
 

Pepper plants and tomato plants have flowers and some fruits.  Right now my peppers do not have fruits, but my tomato plants do.  I have at least a couple of plants that have flowers and fruits that will hopefully be ready by the month of July.  Usually it is usually a cherry tomato plant that is producing because they grow and ripen much quicker than beefsteak tomatoes.  Right now my beefsteak tomatoes are the ones that have tomatoes growing and plenty of flowers beginning to open.

 

I also have a couple of small cucumbers that are growing on a few vines that look like they have been pollinated.  One of them is getting bigger each day, but another one is too small to tell if it has been pollinated yet.  I am staying optimistic that they both have been pollinated and I should be getting the first cucumber of the season very soon

Time for Harvesting Many Spring Crops

It is that time of the year when spring crops are ready for harvesting which include radishes, lettuce, pea pods, broccoli, and soon to be harvested potatoes.  These are all cool weather crops but are best harvested when the weather gets just a little bit warmer.  You don’t want to pick them in very hot weather because they will most likely start to bolt and no longer be edible.  May to June is the perfect months to harvest these kinds of vegetables.

Let’s start off with lettuce which is usually the first plant to be harvested right next to radishes.  I have had just one harvest so far, but I know there is plenty more lettuce in the garden.  I like to space out harvests especially if I have many lettuce plants.  There is only so much I can store in the fridge and so much I can eat each day.  This way we have plenty of time to eat it without being overloaded with lettuce.
 

Radishes are also another springtime vegetable that is great to have through the cool weather months.  I grew about a half a row this season planting two different kinds of radishes.  One of them was supposed to be a traditional radish while the other was supposed to be much larger.  The key to radishes is to keep them covered with dirt and don’t forget to water them otherwise they will crack and possible rot in the ground.  I was able to get some good sized radishes from this harvest which I have been enjoying in many salads this year.

Last but not least comes my strawberries.  They had been growing this entire season and when they started producing many flowers I was excited to starting picking and enjoying them.  Since these are June bearing strawberries it is a good bet that they will fully ripen in the month of June.  This is the first good harvest I got from them since I started planting them years ago.  It takes a few years before you get a bountiful harvest from these plants

Running out of Time Planting Seeds into the Garden

It looks like time is starting to run out and I only have a couple of weeks to get all my plants and seeds into the ground.  Weather and other factors have prevented me from getting everything in on time and this can happen from time to time.  I will just have to work as fast as possible in order to get everything done before the month is over.

I do have my spring crops in the ground which I placed in the garden about a month ago and they are thriving with this cooler weather.  I am hoping to start picking the leaves off my lettuce real soon because they are growing really good.  Both my green and red plants are just about ready for harvesting which may be done by this week.

Even though I haven’t picked any lettuce leaves I did pick some of my strawberries that were ripe enough to eat.  I picked about four pounds worth of strawberries which is large for a first harvest of these berries.  I am hoping to get another harvest from these plants within the next week or so, then I can start focusing more on plants that need to be transplanted right away.

 Along with transplants there are some seeds that must be planted in the garden including beans, carrots, and corn.  I have planted my corn already and they have been sprouting and I have thinned them out this week.  Now I just need to till some more of the garden and get my beans into the ground before planting any other seeds.  My pole beans need a little bit more time to grow and produce beans and that is why I like planting them in May rather than June.

What’s Left of My Spring Crops That Need to be Transplanted?

This week I actually started placing my spring crops into the garden.  I have plenty of plants that I think I should get a decent crop as long as the weather cooperates for the time being.  Spinach was the first plants that I needed to get into the garden.  They were starting to get a little bit pot bound and running out of room within the container.  Some leaves were also starting to fall which means they need to get into the garden right away. 

 Next I decided on placing the Brassica plants that I planted into the garden.  Unfortunately I lost track of which container had cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  Since these plants all look the same when they are young it is very difficult to tell at the moment what they are.  In a couple of weeks they should start to take shape and I can tell you exactly what plants I added into the garden.

Next I wanted to get a new type of lettuce into the garden.  As you know I planted a large crop of lettuce seeds this season in an effort to make up from last year.  I planted seven different varieties of lettuce I was planning on having a great crop as long as they sprouted.  Some did not sprout which was disappointing, but I still have plenty of lettuce plants that did sprout which I hope to place in the garden very soon.

Once I get all my spring crops into the garden I will then start my summer tilling and get my corn, beans, and carrots planted right away.  I need to get them into the ground in the beginning of May and we are now getting close to mid May which means I must start planting them as soon as possible.  I am hoping to get them into the soil this weekend, but I am not sure if I can accomplish this with the time I have.