Garlic (July)

Garlic was the first plant to come up this year and also one of the first to be harvested in late July. Being a hot July, the significance of the harvest and the approach of fall seemed remote but now it's two weeks from the start of school and the nights are getting cold even if the days are still hot.

Elsa and Josie really enjoyed pulling them up ~ and it's great to let them harvest a plant they can't really damage by pulling the wrong way at things they can't reach etc.

The two varieties shown here are from New Roots Farm in Newmarket (who make the most phenomenal hot-dogs from their own cows) and Meadow's Mirth Farm in Stratham (who grow the best potatoes anywhere). Both are excellent.

Mockingbirds

I was watering the trees between the Newington Public School and the Fire Department when I noticed some mockingbirds in the flowering pear tree by the side entrance. You can see both adults in the three in this first picture.

In the second picture you can see four chicks with their beaks open. They seemed pretty stressed. It was still about 98 degrees, down from 102 earlier in the day. You can see their mouths open ~ hopefully because they are hungry and not due to dehydration.

Top Sunflower

Title says it all. I am six foot two inches tall, so this has to be at or above 10 feet. Tall in any case.... you can see some stupice tomatoes to my left as well.

Garden goes crazy!

With all the heat and occasional rains of late, the garden has really taken off. I looked back at the pictures I posted in June and it has been a total transformation since then.

For one, the sunflowers are now pushing ten feet or more high. These are close to the tallest in the garden, but the highest ones are already starting to bend under the weight of the seeds as the flowers mature.

That is good news for all the leafhoppers (aka "Hoppies") that live up on the higher leaves and are now out of the kids' reach. Catching hoppies has become one of their favorite pastimes, and I have noticed a slight decline in the populations as the kids are not afraid to pluck them right off the leaves, as long as there are no ants protecting them. They then provoke the hoppy to jump, usually onto the ground or some other plant for which they are not suited. I don't know if they can find their way back or not.

Tomatoes have started which, as I have written before, is the most anticipated moment in pretty much any garden, especially a northern one. Here is Josie with the first two taken on Friday, along with the first onion of any substance, as well as a cucumber and zucchini number.... I am not sure at this point. Probably about the 12th zucchini of the season from two plants. We had zucchini latkas for breakfast in an effort to diversify. It was a simple recipe of 2 grated zucchinis, 2 eggs, a little flower with salt pepper and parsley. I was pretty pleased with the results but I think I was in the minority. Leila's not a big parsley fan and the kids are suspicious of everything that is not drenched in maple syrup.

Right behind the first tomato in terms of excitement is our first watermelon shown here with Elsa's foot (size 10) for comparison. This is really taking off and I think the next rain storm is going to cause spectacular growth on all the melons. Their shoots are growing about 18 inches a day after each rain storm. I am watering about once or twice a week as needed which has close to the same effect. I like to water on Saturday or Sunday depending on the weather because it takes me about an hour to get everything done. It's a labor of love in any case.

Melon garden!

Here are some photographs of the new melon garden, taken on my iPhone (sorry). Apologies in advance for the image quality.

On the left are the italian zucchinis I've linked in earlier posts. I have nothing but great things to say about this variety. At first I thought the leaves had some type of powdery mildew but that is not the case.... they are just wacky heirlooms that have a very striking pattern. Even better is that they started flowering and bore fruit when they were only half this size. The kids love the large flowers and keep asking to pick up the ones that have fallen off... unfortunately that means walking on the bed itself which I really discourage. I think they understand.

Here on the right are my charentais musk melons which are doing much better than I dared hope with the cold spring we experienced. I think a lot of the credit goes to the cold frame keeping them warm when the nights in May were dropping to 40 degrees. I estimate it added 10-20 degrees during the day depending on how open I left it, and about 5-10 at night by trapping the air against the ground. These melons have tendrils that will wrap and climb around the chervena chushka peppers. If the peppers grow high enough it should not matter but at the rate the melons are expanding they better hurry. This is my second year growing these and I am really looking forward to harvesting them in mid-August if all goes well.

The watermelons have started to flower (1 or 2) but that is about all I can report. I have never grown them before so I am being cautiously optimistic. The seeds themselves took a month to germinate and I almost through them out several times before they did. If patience is the secret to gardening... I am doomed.

Ironically, the cucumbers are behind all of the warm weather plants. I have no good explanation for this but the plants appear to be doing well. It may be that they set fruit early and it has slowed their development. It is a russian variety (Bushy) so it is hard for me to believe it is weather related. A dahlia I thought had died came up on the left.... and on the right.