Tuesday, July 5, 2011

4th of July at the Garden

It was a hot, long day at the garden but since it was being reclaimed by the earth (slight exaggeration but everything was going to seed) it was time to get things back in order.

Here is what it looked like when we got there. All the tall stuff at the back of the picture is our lettuce that went to seed. The bottom left is what is left of our turnips after two new mystery beetles ate a good portion of the turnip greens. Picture of one is below. The other was smaller and blue and yellow. Both are yet to be identified.

Despite the fact that these beetles were everywhere, we still had a pretty good turnip haul. We were able to fill an entire orange bag! They ranged in size from the really small (where I did not thin the seedlings well enough) to the big mama-jamma like I'm holding in this picture. I have such a hard time thinning healthy plants, but I just have to keep reminding myself that its necessary in order to get big gems like this one.

 


We also got two parsnips (or yummy white gold as I like to think of them), but I left the rest in for a bit longer. I think any parsnip after the biggin will be a little disappointing but then again, that one was in the ground for almost 9 months.  I also planted a whole new parsnip bed where the turnips were. Hopefully the mystery beetles don't like parsnips : fingers crossed :


 And lastly, the tower o' lettuce. This is what Simpson's Elite looks like when it bolts.