The June Monthly Update

The Garden: June 19th

Can someone please tell the Guy upstairs to go ahead and turn off the water spicket for a couple weeks...at least until we go to Colorado for a week in July?

I always enjoy a good rainstorm. Being a kid from Colorado, I always welcome moisture. Drought is all too common in the Southwest. But this wet spring has been a tad ridiculous. It's starting to hamper the garden. Sure, it loves water, but the garden needs sunlight to use that water in photosynthesis. Here's the monthly update on the plants.

• Acorn Squash-A handful of blossoms popped up a couple weeks ago and last weekend I found the first squash forming. It was a very light green color; a stark contrast to the deep green color of mature acorn squashes. Maybe the color changes, but I worry the lack of sun may be an issue.
  
• Albatross Bell Peppers- Fruits have also developed on Albatross. But something is amiss. They are a very light green color and look almost dead-on similar to the fruits growing on the Romanian sweet pepper plant in the same pot. Is it a sunlight problem? Was I duped by a misplaced label at the garden center and bought what I thought was a bell pepper plant? Does the presence of another pepper plant cause this plant to change attributes and mimic its neighbor? There will be some investigation into this.
  
• Jalapeno Peppers- A half dozen peppers are fully mature and taste great.
  
• Romanian Sweet Peppers- The plant has grown nicely and has several fruits growing quickly.
  
• New Mexico Espanola Chiles- The Espanolas are quickly growing up. Several blossoms have developed but I pinched them off. Yesterday's mid-day storm was too much for one plant to handle and the force of the rain knocked the plant over. It doesn't appear the stalk was damaged. So this weekend will involve tying all the plants to their stakes.
  
• New Mexico Heritage Chiles- The plants look very healthy. I pinched the blossoms on the Heritages as well. The plants are still too small to support large chiles.
  
• Bush Whopper Cucumbers- Some blossoms have popped along with a few extremely small cucumbers. I expect in the next week or two to be making cucumber/feta/dill salad.
  
• Celebrity Tomatoes- There are a couple HUGE tomatoes chillin' on the vines. The celebrity uses more water than the other tomato plants so far. I'm guessing some warmer weather this weekend will get the ripening process started on these whopper -sized 'maters.
  
• Mr. Stripey Tomatoes- The plant potted last has now become the tallest plant in the garden. It is about a foot taller than the tomato cage. Early this week the first fruits appeared.
  
• Patio Tomatoes- Still bushy, still growing tomatoes.
  
• Supersweet 100 Tomatoes- Did I get the runt of the litter when I bought this plant? I can't figure out what the deal is with the supersweets. I see a ton of blossoms, but very few fruit. It doesn't look sick, but not all that healthy either.
  
• Finger Carrots- I clearly overplanted the carrots. I probably need to pull half the crop out for any chance of decent sized carrots this season.
  
• Lisbon Onions- Doing their thing. Probably overseeded.
  
• Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas- It's the tail end of the harvest for the peas. I had about 5 days of solid picking of pea pods. There are two full Ziploc backs of sugar peas in my freezer. The vines are quickly dying in the heat. I give the peas two more weeks before they completely die. I'll reseed sometime in August.
  
• Rutabagas- Now slugs have moved into my rutabaga boxes. These have been a lost cause. I may pull 80% of these this weekend and see if there's any hope of saving them.
• Salad Mix- We've had some great salads with this lettuce. The leaves were huge and had a slightly bitter taste. But it tasted great with some homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

The Fruit File

• Blueberries ('10 Harvest)- Growing the fastest of the two berry plants.
  
• Raspberries ('10 Harvest)- Still growing nicely.
  
• Strawberries- Had two little strawberries. Not much to offer this year.
  

The Herb Honor Roll

• Basil- I've really kept my eye on the basil. Daily pruning of buds and blossoms has kept the plant healthy. The basil has been outstanding this year.
  
• Chamomile- Still going.
  
• Chives- I've cut this plant way back. Haven't used it much lately.
  
• Cilantro-Had a couple nice cuts from it. It has grown tall and flowered. Doesn't look at all like the stuff in the grocery store.
  
• Dill-Very healthy looking and really tasty. This is prime dill time.
  
• Lavender-Zzzzzzzz
• Oregano- The oregano is going great and providing a great taste for a weekly homemade pizza.
  
• Parsley- Looking good and nice to have for recipes.
• Peppermint-Doing great...may have to make some iced tea
  
• Rosemary- Haven't used it much, but the rosemary looks good.
  
• Thyme-Continuing to grow thick. May have to try it in some scrambled eggs this weekend.