Edible Garden, mid-June

Tonight I picked some more peas.  I really love fresh, tender little peas. It's too bad they're such a cool-weather crop, and die off as summer heat sets in.  They're already starting to dry out, so I won't be getting them for much longer.  Every year I plant one or two of my raised garden beds with peas.  Once the season for them is over, I can plant other things in those beds.


Besides how much I love eating the fresh peas, another plus is that like all legumes, peas draw nitrogen out of the air and fix it in the soil.  This nitrogen is then available for the next plants that grow there. This is makes it a great place to plant corn. Corn can be planted later in the season, and grow in the heat, so mid-June isn't too late to plant it. I've planted it already, in between the rows of peas.  This way it can get growing, even before I cut off the pea plants. 

The first of my tomatoes is turning color. The other tomato plants have lots of flowers and small fruits setting on, so it shouldn't be long before I have tomatoes every day. This is the "Patio Tomato" in a large container, that I started early in my pop-up greenhouse.

The green peppers are beginning to flower, but we've got a while before any are ready to eat. The bunnies and I have been enjoying carrots for the last month. I every two or three weeks, so I can keep enjoying them all summer.

The green beans are flowering, so it shouldn't take too long before I can have beans for supper. If I keep them picked, I should have green beans through the summer. Like the peas, beans fix nitrogen and enrich the soil.

The cantaloupe vines are beginning to climb the trellis, and have a few flowers already. The June-bearing strawberries are mostly over, but the ever-bearing ones in the stacking planter will be giving me a few berries along all through the summer.

The blueberries and blackberries are both green right now, although the first couple of blueberries have ripened. I'll have to keep a close eye on them, and pick any that ripen first thing every morning, or the birds will get them. 

I've tried several things to protect the berries from the birds. I put bird netting over the blueberry bushes a couple of years ago, but a couple of birds got tangled up in the netting, and were killed, so I stopped using it. I've also tried a plastic owl with a bobbing head, which I moved from spot to spot every couple of days. Last summer I also got some silvery plastic ribbon with holographic patterns. You tie pieces of it so that it flutters in the breeze. Combining several techniques can be more effective to keep birds from your crops.

My herbs are flourishing, so I have lots of mint, thyme, parsley, basil, rosemary and lemon balm to use in cooking or teas. Herbs in the sunshine smell so good as you walk by.

I love it when I get home from work, and can get out into the garden. It's so satisfying to be able to walk out your back door and pick things for the dinner table.