Six on Saturday: June 27, 2020

For this Six on Saturday, we’re focusing on the food!

Finally, the peppers are appearing!

It’s nearly the end of June, but the potager seems more like Mid-May in some ways. The crops are lagging behind “normal.” In checking past journals, “normally” by now I’m harvesting a variety of peppers but this year most varieties are just now blooming. Only the jalapenas are showing fruit.

The Minnesota Midget melons have finally reached the top of their cages.

This week the tops of these melon vines were clipped as they reached the top of the cage to encourage fruit development. “Normally” there would be softball-sized melons already, but this year due to my slowness in planting and the weather (related, of course!) there are just marble-sized spheres hidden among the leaves. But, at least there is the promise of fruit to come. Fortunately, some plants have pushed through the dubious weather, and become welcome additions to our menu.

“Blue Wind” broccoli has done exceptionally well.

The broccoli crop has been abundant, and many lovely heads have been given away. The largest (11″) was not photographed, but many have been in the 8-10″ range. I try to harvest before any yellow flowers open, while the heads are still relatively tight. This year’s cauliflower has been the best in the potager’s short history.

“Minuteman” cauliflower.

This year the cauliflower was grown in the bed closest to the greenhouse, which meant I walked by it constantly. The result was that it was watered more often with a diluted fertilizer. I suspect in past years it just wasn’t watered & fed enough. This year it’s luscious and we’ve already enjoyed our favorite cauliflower salad and “Cook This Not That” cauliflower curry. I won’t be giving any of the eight plants’ bounty away, but I’ll definitely grow more next year and maybe try a fall crop if I can find the space.

Spinach “Summer Perfection.”

One might think that after all the spinach eaten and given away in March, April & May it might not even sound good, but since in recent weeks we’ve had a glut of lettuces, a nice spinach salad seems appealing again, and this “Summer Perfection” has performed amazingly well in the heat wave we’ve been experiencing. Usually spinach planted this late just bolts, but this variety really lives up to its name. I’ll definitely be planting it again and again as a summer crop. And this week, the first cabbages were harvested.

“Katarina” cabbage.

The cabbages are beautiful this year, and this small-headed variety is perfect for two people and small spaces. The nice thing about cabbage and cauliflower is that when the head is harvested, the entire plant comes out, and a pepper or a squash or a pumpkin can go into that space! Not so with broccoli, if one wants all those delicious side shoots. D loves slaws of all types, and I’ll be canning one batch of sauerkraut so one of the two beds of cabbages will empty out quickly! That’s a good thing, since it’s already time to get the winter squashes in the ground and all the potager’s beds are currently full! Wishing the first peas were finished, and the garlic ready to dig but they aren’t ready, so I’ll have to be patient for another week.

The first of the “Royal Burgundy” beans were also picked this week, but since we are limited to six, they didn’t make the cut! To see other selections from other gardeners, visit The Propagator, who hosts this meme. May you find it easy to spot six good or interesting things in your gardens, and share them with others! Blessings!

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