Garlic Harvest #2 & # 1 Totals

Today I harvested the "Russian Red" garlic. I am afraid that I once again I waited too long. As you can see in the above picture, almost all of the leaves on each plant had fully turned brown. Hopefully, once they completely dry, each bulb will still have plenty of layers of paper "skin" protection to hold well in storage.

This is my second harvest of "Russian Red" garlic after purchasing a few bulbs of it the Fall of 2012 in Maine. Once again I am in awe over the size of the bulbs. They are so much larger than an "average" garlic bulb.

Once I got all 12 plants carefully dug, I brought them into the shop to lay on the drying rack and begin curing.

After that project was finished I turned my attention to the "Chesnook Red" garlic that I had dug the week before. I cut off the stock from each bulb, trimmed off most of the roots, and then carefully cleaned each of the 15 bulbs. The largest bulb was 3.7 oz., the smallest was 2.1 oz., and the average bulb weight was 2.99 oz. My total "Chesnook Red" harvest this year was 2 lbs.12.9 oz. It is interesting to note that my average bulb size was down this year, from 3.44 oz in 2013. Two possible factors come to mind. I didn't get the garlic cloves planted until Nov.10th last year, almost a month later than I would have wished. Then we had a hard cold spell in early December, when the young plants were just pushing out of the ground. I wonder if either of these factors, or both perhaps, caused my average bulb size to decrease this year.

I was also able to do a little more harvesting in the the kitchen garden this weekend. I found two more small, ripe "Bloody Butcher" tomatoes and I pulled my first "Candy" onion of the year.

First Dahlia Bloom of the Year

Today I was treated to the first dahlia blooms of the year. Just like last year, they appeared on my Mignon Single "Stillwater Plum". I really like this hot violet blossom, ringed on the inside with red. It's not for the faint of heart. These small dahlia plants may be dainty in size but they produce an abundance of blooms over the growing season. They are especially nice because they can be grown in pots and also look terrific in the front of a mixed flower border. And the bees love them! 

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First Watermelon Blossom

My four "Early Moonbeam" watermelon plants are continuing to grow very well. Today I had the first bloom open on any of the plants. Not surprisingly, it was a male bloom. The blooms are quite wide and flat and are a very pretty shade of yellow. All four plants now have one long vine that seems to grow a few inches each day. And now I am noticing that each plant is producing more vines from its center core area. With lots of hot weather in the forecast I am still hopeful that my plants might produce the very first watermelon that I have ever grown.

Planting Day #14 - A Finish!

Today was a big day down in the garden. Tonight, after work, we headed down to the garden. Since this  was our 4th day in a row with the temperature at or over 90 degrees, we once again began by watering everything.

Then I dug holes and we planted the last row of dahlias. Yes, I said the last row of dahlias!

After planting the final 14 dahlias tonight, all of the rows are done. I have a total of 18 rows this year, planted with 105 varieties and 246 individual dahlia plants. Now, the first plants that I set in the ground are almost 3 feet tall. It's time to switch gears and begin tying, topping, and dis-budding. Pictured above, "Willo Borealis".

Early July in the Kitchen Garden

With the hot weather that arrived at the beginning of July, it seems that everything in the kitchen garden is growing like crazy.

My four "Early Moonbeam" watermelon plants have all begun to branch out with an initial long vine. Since I have never grown watermelon before, I don't know if this is the first of many vines, or if each plant only produces one. Whatever the case, they are clearly loving the hot weather.

All five of the tomato plants now have pretty spays of blossoms. So far, only the "Bloody Butcher" plant has set any fruit.

The "Minnesota Migit" cantaloupe plants are also blooming each day. So far it appears that all of the blooms have been male, so no set fruit yet.

After getting off to a rough start, the "Poletschka" pole beans are now growing quite well. Many of the plants have sent up the initial vine that will soon grab hold of the tower.

I am really pleased with my peppers. I decided one of the reasons that my pepper plants have always struggled in the past was because I was over-watering them. So I have been really watching the soil, and have only been giving them a single, deep watering every 3-4 days. It seems to be working. The plants are growing well and are getting covered with blooms. This is the first set pepper on my "Creme Brulee" plant.

And here is the first set "Lunchbox Yellow" sweet pepper.

Now that we are past the summer solstice, the onion bulbs are really starting to swell. Here's a nice "Frontier" growing strongly.

The shallots are also doing great. It won't be long at all before I can start harvesting them for summer salads.

 

The "Candy" sweet onions will also be ready by the end of the month.

As expected, the Winter Squash have all been loving the heat. All three varieties are sending out multiple vines which seem to be growing by the hour. I keep having to pull them back through the protective garden netting so that they don't get eaten by the deer. Pictured above, an immature "Delicata" squash.

I also found a pretty "baby" squash on this "Queenland Blue" vine.

Not to be outdone by all of the vegetables, my morning glory vines are also growing like mad. Each day I am getting more and more blooms as the vines scramble up the tower.

Planting Day #12

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Another really hot day today. The temperature read 93 degrees when I drove home at 4:00 tonight. We went down to the garden at 6:30. It was in fully in the shade by then but it was still awfully warm when you were performing any sort of labor. We once again watered everything in the garden first and then I dug another 7 holes. I then planted the 14 holes that I dug last night. I now have 218 dahlia planted. The end is in sight, with a little bit more than a row and a half left to do. Pictured above, "Lakeview Illusion".

Poppy "Lauren Springer Grape"

Corvallis Farmer's Market

This morning we headed North 30 miles to Corvallis. Corvallis has a great Saturday Farmer's Market. They close off 1st street, next to the Willamette River, to all traffic and set up the Market. It makes for a great market location. There's plenty of room for people and dogs of all kinds - not to mention all of the lovely farm stands.

Isn't this a beautiful pile of beets ? Deep red, red, pink and golden orange.

There were lots of newly dug potatoes for sale. I am not familiar with the variety "Colorado Rose".

Now that July has arrived, the bouquets are a riot of bright colors.

A few stands were selling the first fresh garlic of the season.

July also means it's Blueberry season in Oregon.

I had to stop and support my Alma Mater. The Department of Nutrition and Food Science now makes and sells cheese. I picked up a container of barbecued cheese curds. Go Beavs!

Tomatoes are really coming on now that the weather has warmed up. I likes these pints of mixed cherry tomatoes.

This table was covered with giant "Walla Walla" sweet onions. They are another sure sign that summer has arrived in the Pacific Northwest.

Along 1st street, next to the Farmer's Market, is a public plaza. In the summer, they turn on the water jets. It was getting warm by the time we reached this spot and the fountain was full of happy kids.

The Market has also reserved a few spots for musicians.We really enjoyed this group. They described their sound as American gumbo. They sang as well as played their various instruments. A really talented group. After we left the Market we headed down to the New Morning Bakery. As a Beaver Believer I couldn't resist taking a picture of there cookies!

Happy 4th of July!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!