Sunday, June 3, 2012

An Early Harvest Update

I thought I would provide a quick update on our harvests so far!

The Ozark beauty strawberries have been producing 2-3 berries a day for about a week now. We have picked about 15 berries so far. A few have been about the length of a paper clip, while most have been the size of a wild strawberry that you might see in the woods. They have been tasty though! I think that the plants are still a little small, as they are still developing and growing leaves, so I anticipate even more when the late summer crop comes.

The Ozark Beauty plants.... I did end up weeding their box

The other thing we have harvested (aside from almost all of the herbs to one degree or another) is the mesclun mix. It is starting to get a little bitter, so it's almost time for it to cede its container to the collard greens, which I plant to start from seed in a month or so for a nice fall crop.

Mesclun greens.... fresh greens are so much better than anything store bought!

On the vegetable front, the zucchini has a few squash that are about 3 inches long, and many flowers appear about to bloom! All it needs is some warm weather after all this rain the last couple of days, and we will probably have some squash to eat in about a week or so. Also, the Swiss chard is looking like it will be ready to provide a first cutting in about a week or so. Remember with chard to just cut the biggest leaves and leave the "heart" the plant alone and it will continue to produce new leaves for you all summer! It's one of my all-time favorites!

Chard is almost ready!


Until next time, happy gardening!




2 comments:

  1. Wow! Your container garden is amazing! Everything looks so lush, healthy and appetizing, even if it is in raw stage..You certainly have a green thumb..have any of your neighbors started themselves a garden on their porch like you? Maybe you've started a new trend or fad! Obviously, the city does not have any laws against this..with the economy so bad, they should encourage this..beautiful and congrats for such a great job. What year did you start planting veggies in containers? Do you do flowers also?

    PVICK from Gardenweb.com has a great rooftop garden on her porch..I think she is like on 9th or 10 floor. It is amazing what she grows there. I think it is either Chicago or NYC..hers are mostly flowers but she does grow some veggies.

    You've spent a fortune on containers..but they all look like they could be used over and for other things..and I commend you. You should submit your story about your success to one of the gardening mags..

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  2. Thanks for the comments! Buffalo, NY not only doesn't have any laws against gardens, but the city has an annual "garden walk" that people come from all over to attend each summer. On our block there are quite a few people with some serious gardens, so there is certainly an urban farming spirit here!

    I did spend a bit on containers, but they are easily re-used next year and for probably a good few years to come. The best deal of all was the black bins, which were only about $6 at Walmart and hold 11.4 gallons. I wish I had seen them sooner!

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