Garlic & Gooseberries: Midsummer Report

Progress: The garden has been busy growing and the first eggplant has been harvested along with our first and only yellow summer squash so far. There are lots of zucchini and yellow squash blossoms but only one actual squash. I had never heard of anyone’s zucchini plant not producing until I met my neighbor, who has never had any luck growing zucchini. We will see if I follow in her footsteps or eventually find myself offering her our excess. Stay tuned.

A large kohlrabi has now been harvested and is awaiting being turned into Smoked Paprika Kohlrabi Fries, a recipe I love on the inspiring Inspiralized website. There are also some sweet little green eggplants starting to show up, and our first leaves of Russian Red Kale. The swiss chard is vibrant and plentiful.

Problems: In the meantime, some of the squash leaves have developed powdery mildew. After a bit of research I started spraying them with diluted milk, as suggested by Marie Iannotti in her book Vegetable Gardening in the Northeast. I will watch them carefully to see if it works.

A lesson in never giving up: I am happy to report that there are a few new garlic shoots where all the transplanted garlic died off earlier. Perhaps they will produce some bulbs in the fall or next spring. The leeks too are coming along slowly. They can take their time. I will have a soup pot and a few potatoes ready whenever they get big enough. While the basil and lemon balm are struggling, the lemon verbena has finally taken hold and I am happily harvesting and drying leaves along with lots of oregano, sage and mint.

Reported missing: the turnip seeds I planted may or many not be coming up. I can’t tell if what I am seeing are weeds or not. The pot marigolds/calendula are also nowhere to be found. I hope I didn’t accidentally pull them up in a fit of garden housekeeping. Still no sign of spinach. I will plant some more in a couple of weeks.

Unwelcome visitor: the beautiful morning glory that I was excited to find popping up has turned into an unwelcome guest. It is a vine that wraps itself around all the other plants, growing aggressively, putting out the occasional flirtatious purple flower to distract me from the damage it is causing. (See its deceptive heart shaped leaves threatening the lemon verbena above?) Out it went the other day, evil temptress, before it could do any more harm.

Community news: Our fearless community garden coordinator called a meeting recently and 6 or 7 people out of 24 showed up. It was a friendly, civilized group and together we solved a thorny issue about placement of hoses, conjured up a set of rules and decided we should all be responsible for weeding the paths around our plots. Social hour and a work party may be organized at some point in the future. Meeting adjourned.

Swiss Chard:

Happy eggplant: