Summer's second crop is in the ground and rolling right along. Alas, the digital camera is still dead, which is a great disincentive to writing at all. But great gaps in the record mean it is no fun to check the record next year, so will try to keep up.The lettuce (ice berg, oak leaf) did well and provided salads all winter until we allowed several heads go to seed in June. Did not collect seeds soon enough, though, so we may have some volunteer heads next year. In any case, will try some starts from seed for the fall to see what happens.
Beans, Beans, Beans
Pole beans and bush beans, and flat-Italian pole beans all did nicely, but the yellow-wax beans didn't even sprout. The modest plots of so many varieties made it tough to have a meal's worth of one kind -- and they require various cooking times, another headache. But the experiment was helpful.
Have saved dried beans from the best ones -- the standard pole variety, from "Seeds of Change" -- and may also save some of the flat Italians. (Caught young, the flat beans were very tasty, but turn woody quickly if allowed to mature at all.) Next year, a larger planting of pole beans coupled with some edible marigolds and something shade tolerant in the row away from the fence are definitely in the plan.
This will be easier than it seems since the south-side chain link fence did indeed make an excellent "pole," and at our invitation, the neighbors enjoyed the beans on their side of the fence. White flies were a small problem, and (edible) marigolds planted late in the season have scaled the invasion back. Note to self: inter-plant the beans with marigolds at the outset!
The bush peas grew well, and we ate them for several weeks, then let the last of the crop go to seed. Almost enough planted this time to easily make a meal, but would work a little better with about double the planting. Seed dried and saved for next year.
Watermelon
Having had no success planting watermelon from commercial seeds, spent $3.99 on a flat of starts, and they are going great guns. This was a second crop for the summer, and the first flowers have just now appeared. But given the long, hot SoCal summer, we should be getting melons in August / September -- just right for around here! A couple of extra plants put down in the front-yard garden, since they were extras, and the possibility of vanishing watermelons less distressing.
Front Yard Garden
Last summer, received some Yacón from a member of the San Gabriel Valley Freecycle Network, and planted it in the newly expanded bed in the front yard. Anticipating a first crop this fall, and it seems to be quite healthy and growin' up a storm.
Added several varieties of potatoes. Seed, once again, from food items sprouted before we could eat them. (Now we have large white baking potatoes on one section, and replanted Russian fingerlings.) The post-freeze crop did not do so well, and they were dug early too. That six-foot plot currently has some struggling volunteers, but the other patches are going well.
Just for fun, tossed a handful of sunflower seeds from last year's volunteer flowers into the bed, and *zing* up they sprung. After only three or four weeks they are nearly 5 feet tall and ready to make an impressive block of flowers. Looks like we might get to roast a few seeds this year after all.
Apples. Oranges, and Berries
The boysenberries came in nicely, with this second year expansion bearing significant fruit . . . now we are nurturing the runners along to cover the fence line -- providing both berries and a natural anti-intruder fence. (Berry thorns are pernicious.)
The pole apples nearby are producing well enough, but have not been impressed with them. The dwarf apples have a significant crop, much better than last year, but at least half of our flower clusters did not set fruit.
Mandarin oranges set a modest crop, to be ready in December and January, but have had to water more than usual due to the mere 2 inches of rain last winter instead of the 11 or so we would expect (and certainly less than the record 39 inches the year before!)
Weird weather everywhere.
