Northeast Gardening — Mid July

July can be such an enjoyable month for a gardener in the Northeast.   All the hard work and planning is rewarded with some of our favorite vegetables and we are enjoying more than just greens and peas.   Over the next few weeks, we’ll be enjoying cherry tomatoes and cucumbers–the two things I will never be without in my garden. Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite varieties in the coming weeks.

 

After a pretty slow-growing month of June, my garden is finally starting to take off again.  June was a very, very dry month in the Mohawk Valley and we finally had some rain over the past few weeks.  My plants were surely sighing with relief and everything doubled in size after two good days of rain.

 

 

 

What We’ve Been Picking

• Collards

• Kale

• Swiss Chard

• Green Beans

• French Breakfast Radishes (we picked the last of our spring radishes)

• Snow Peas (last harvest)

• Sugar Snap Peas (last harvest)

• Shell Peas (last harvest)

• Lettuce (planted every 2 weeks)

• Cilantro (planted every 3 weeks)

• Parsley

• Basil (sweet & lemon)

• Mint

• Lemon Balm ( I love drying it for tea)

• Our first handful of cherry tomatoes!

• Our first Ancho Pepper

• Black Raspberries

It’s been wonderful to be able to pick all of our greens for smoothies, salads, and sides right in our backyard over the past few months.  As the summer gets hotter, it becomes more of a challenge to keep a steady supply of salad greens.  I do several plantings of lettuce over the season to ensure a steady supply.  For the hot summer months, I plant the hardier summer lettuces like Romaine and Winter Density, a favorite in my garden from the early days.  Don’t let the name fool you into thinking this is a lettuce only for the cool spring or fall.   Winter Density is usually the last of my summer lettuces to bolt. Germination can be tricky in hot, dry weather but if you can plan on sowing your lettuce seed right before a rainy day and continue to water well, you’ll find more success with getting your summer lettuce to germinate.

Happy Gardening!

–Jen

 

 

 

 

 

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