In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
Leading with red onions seems paltry when other gardeners have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other summer veggies to showcase. The garden is slow and shows the consequences of May Gray, June Gloom and now, No Sky July. Will Fogust follow?
My red onions are grown from sets planted in the fall and I enjoy scallions, spring onions and then I turn around and see the bulbs have formed about now and it’s time to pull them. They don’t store well but they get used promptly after drying. Growing onions from seed is tedious in the fall with warm weather here and the need to keep the soil well-watered. So I resort to onion sets.
I’ve only harvested zucchini which doesn’t mind the local weather. So far, I’ve not saturated the neighborhood and have lots of takers. Raven from Renee’s Garden is a fifteen year favorite.
Even over-sized zucchini that occasionally escape my notice show a firm inner flesh with few seeds. The plants are compact, nearly spineless and the dark green fruits are smooth-skinned and glossy.
Coming soon are the Emerite pole beans, Baby Belle peppers and Chelsea Prize cucumbers. A few tomatoes have sized up but are still very green. Chocolate laceflowers (in the bouquet at the end of post) are alluring and I pause when I pass by.
A week ago our house was “tented” for termites—an every ten year event. Plants too close to the foundation have to be moved and others have to be trimmed up and the soil saturated with water to prevent the gas from killing the plants. Inside, food not in factory sealed glass or cans has to be removed or bagged. Medications too.
The biggest garden project was lifting and removing three huge clumps of rhubarb. They remained out of the ground in the shade of the orange tree covered with wet towels for a week. Yesterday they went back in the ground, fortified with more compost and fruit tree fertilizer. So far so good.
We’ve only gathered a few nectaplums but soon the counters and fridge will be full. In recent years we’ve had over 100 pounds from the two trees. Thankfully, this year’s crop is more modest. By August last year I had “stone fruit PTSD.”
And my Sunday church bouquet with a new favorite, Chocolate Lace Flower , seeds from Floret. Little Ollie foliage teams with Seashells Cosmos and zinnias.
The summer garden is planted now. Likely no time or room for succession crops since I’ll begin planting the winter garden in late September. As thing finish, I’ll tuck in lettuce starts and add some arugula to the empty spaces.
Check out Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog and see what garden bloggers around the world harvested last week.
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