The Garden Cart CSA

Happy Labor Day to everyone!  The first of September has arrived.  Along with it came cooler weather to remind us that fall is not to far away.  We have been blessed with a great summer this year - hot days, warm nights, and rain when it was needed.  Soon the produce will turn to the late season items such as acorn squash, spinach, and peas.  For now, there’s still a great taste of summer to be had with tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.  Enjoy them today as soon they will be gone for another year!

There was lettuce in this delivery, it just did not make it into the picture for some reason….

Some corn was fnally ready to be picked.  It did not grown very well this year.  We knew the new garden section needed some amending but did not realize it was that lacking in nutrients.  Next year we will solve that problem by putting the corn in the orignal garden area and begin a program of amendments in the new areas.

The rest of the garden is coming along great.  Lots of peppers, tomatoes, and squashes were ready to harvest as well as some more lettuce.  With the variety of produce ready, it was a good week to eat from the garden.

Can you believe that we are already half way through the harvest season for 2010?  Me neither!!!  The garden is doing wonderfully although we are going through a bit of a dry spell.  It’s supposed to rain tonight so we will be looking for that.  If not it will definitely be time to break out the hose.  There’s new seeds in that ground that need the moisture.

This week’s box hasd more tomatoes, squashes, onions, and cucumbers.  There was also another nice head of cabbage to share.  Enjoy!

This week’s box contains many colors of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, even purple and pink!

The weeds are slowly losing their hold on the garden as we gain ground on their removal.  It was worse than thought but all is going well now.  We continue to plant in the cleared spaces as the time has come to start the fall plantings of our favorites such as peas, spinach, and other cold-tolerant species.  Ummmmm… fall, hard to believe that it is time to start using that word again in our daily vocabulary.  But nonetheless the time has come for fall plantings.  May the rest of the growing season go as well as the first part has!

Wow - this week saw the greatest variety to date!!  As always there was some form of lettuce and onions.  More carrots were ready for harvest.   Firsts for the year are cucumbers, green beans, and beets.  A few summer squashes were ready to be picked.  Every member will recieve either a crookneck, golden or zucchini.

Next week will be an off week for deliveries.  After that look out as more produce becomes ready for harvesting!

How much is there? That is something I have a hard time figuring out in advance. Last week it was the amount of peas (way more than I thought). This week it was the opposite with the radishes. I thought there were tons ready to go but instead as I delved into the plants, I was hoping there were be enough to give everyone at least a couple. Seems the grown ones were on the edges but not so much in the middle….

So this week’s box ended up containing a few radishes, Rocky Mountain Lettuce mix, lots of Red Romaine, onions, hot yellow peppers, and broccoli.

Did you know that bees like lettuce?  Nope?  Me neither… But there was one hanging out in the lettuce when I picked it this morning. And as I was separating the lettuce in to the individual boxes, it made its presence known – forcefully, painfully. I have not had a bee sting in years and I can truthfully say I will be ecstatic to go another several years before the next one!

This week’s box saw a new addtion from the garden – Danvers Carrots.  These mid-sized carrots are very sweet and tasty.  There were also a mess of garden peas – the type you shell to eat – along with the sugar snap peas, Rocky Mountain lettuce blend, and green onions. Next week will see a greater variety of items as more produce matures.

This week’s delivery included more of the standard lettuces and green onions. More edible snow pea pods were included. A new variety of peas came boxed up as well. The peas are called sugar snap peas and are edible both shelled or still in the pods.

This week saw more lettuces and onions. A greater variety of vegetables is coming soon. Next up are the peas. The varieties include garden peas, sugar snap peas, and edible sugar pods. Carrots are growing at a fast rate and will be forthcoming soon as well. Other lettuce blends have been sown in the garden along with a more heat tolerant spinach to keep those salads fresh and exciting!

The first of May has arrived and we are beginning to see signs of life in the garden.  The rain that fell last week along with the sunshine and warmer temperatures throughout the following week really kicked the growth spurts of the plants into high gear.

The first to pop out of the ground a few weeks ago were the lettuce mix plants and spinach.  The spinach has begun to develop the leaves that will be harvested for food.

The next to follow were the peas and garlic (pictured below).  The garlic will be left to grow all summer and harvested in the latter part of fall.  The cloves used as seed are from bulbs that were grown last summer.  I purchased the original bulbs several yeas ago and have continued to use cloves from the previous year’s bulbs to start the next cycle.

Yesterday I transplanted into the garden cabbage that were started indoors a few weeks ago. They are tranplanted once the plants have 2 to four true leaves.  These are a new vegetable for to be grown in our garden.  I’m excited by their prospects thus far.

We are off to a good start to the garden so far this year. May it continue!