The Oregon Rainy Season Has Ended!

Yep, with Memorial Day past the rainy season has finally officially ended.  Any rainy days from now until September are just flukes.

That being the case I can begin planting hot weather crops at any time now.  my plan for the weekend is to get the pumpkin bed finished with clean up and plant the pumpkin and zucchini starts, and the beans. 

I was forced to make a large harvest this week when I discovered that the slugs and other pests had gotten so carried away during the rain that they had eaten halfway through the stems of my cabbages at ground level.  The poor plants were clinging to the soil by a sliver of root... I said to hell with it and pulled them, ending up with 4 small cabbages.  I had planned to let them get bigger but at least they were firm, and with the cabbage worm problems I've had this year I'm thinking it was probably good to pick them earlier rather than later.

Cabbages with kale, chard, and broccoli side shoots

First strawberries and more broccoli

First harvest of greens.  The slugs massacred a lot of the leaf veggies but I still got a few and hope to get more soon.

This large harvest alone more than doubled my May harvest total from 2lbs. 10 oz. to  5 lbs. 8 oz.

I really need to get a better handle on the pests though.  

Harvesting Begins!

This week's harvest was primarily broccoli.

Two harvests of broccoli and the first of the strawberries were collected this week.  I probably could have also picked some lettuce, kale, and Swiss chard if not for the rainy days leaving all my greens slug nibbled.  I think I'll wait until the slugs settle down a bit and pick the greens when they are in better shape.

Broccoli and a Garden Break.

Brought in another 10.5 ounces of broccoli this morning.  The broccoli is just doing amazingly well!  We had sunshine and temperatures as high as 89 degrees last week, followed by some showers yesterday and cooler but still sunny skies today.  The result has been a garden explosion, everything is taking off. 

I have noticed cabbage worms on the brassicas already though... for now I just picked them off, but I may skip over planting brassicas next year just to confuse them.  I've been planting these beds pretty intensively for four years now and they could probably use a good long rest with a cover crop or just some annual flowers next year.  Or maybe a blend of flowers with garlic and onions, they still seem to be doing well enough and it would be good to get some produce out of the garden still.

I'm still behind on the garden work, I'm really struggling to get myself out there and do something productive.  My daughter hacked down some blackberries for me for Mother's Day though, and I did finally get the hot weather starts going a week ago.  Usually my brother comes out to visit this time of year and helps get me motivated, but he has been busy with his own garden and other obligations, so I'm on my own this time around and all I want to do is sit in the sunshine and relax. 

Luckily there isn't a whole lot left to do, just weeding and adding compost to the whiskey barrels and the pumpkin bed, but I have a little time before they need to be ready since the plants going into them have only just sprouted today.

First Harvests 2013

The past three years my first harvests of the year have been peas, lettuce, kale or strawberries.  For some bizarre reason this year the first harvest was broccoli, and the next was spearmint and a winter carrot. 

Alex was very excited to have one of his August planted carrots finally reach eating size!

Sadly, the peas, lettuce and kale are still not ready.

The greens bed is still under cat screens.

 My little blueberry bush is just starting to have real berries on it, they are still tiny and green, but they are out there.  And last but not least, I planted the triangle by the driveway with bulbs and a few perennials, hopefully I'll get a few cut flowers out of it by the end of the year.

 Hope everyone else's gardens are kicking off to a great start!