Fresh Beans

There is nothing better than fresh vegetables from the garden. Yesterday we harvested the first beans. Purple and yellow ones. We ate some of the yellow ones with sour cream and freshly cut dill, accompanied by sliced potatoes and barbequed chicken breasts. Delicious. My wife drank white wine and I had a bottle of beer. Life is great when you have a wonderful meal like that.

Everything in the garden is growing great. There is no sign of the dreaded Blight (yellowing of leaves) on the tomatoes. I’ve been spraying faithfully once a week with Bordo, a copper spray. It works. Also mulching with grass seems to do the trick. There are plenty of nice-sized tomatoes already on the vines, but it will be a while before they turn red. The peppers are also growing, especially the Hungarian (hot) ones, and the Banana and Gypsy. Most plants have many blooms. I haven’t seen any bees to do the pollinating, but I saw a bumble bee zooming around on the tomato plants. I sprayed my peppers today again with a solution of Epsom salt. It provides the plants with magnesium.

We’ve been eating lettuce from the garden every day for the last week or so. I cut it in the morning when it is still wet and fresh looking. I have two kinds: A Mesclun mix and Butterchrunch. Tomorrow we’ll be eating Rhubarb Swiss Chard. My wife chops it real fine and boils it. We eat it with mashed potatoes, fried eggs, and sausages. We also add a generous amount of ‘Maggi’ to the mush of Swiss Chard. Gives it a nice taste. I used to grow Spinach, but the problem with Spinach is that it goes to seed too quickly, especially when the weather is hot. Swiss Chard doesn’t do that.

We’ve also been eating new cucumbers. They aren’t as plentiful as some other years, but we have enough for the two of us. The dill is everywhere, even though we've pulled most of it when it was small. At that stage it is at its best. We freeze it for the winter. Now the plants are tall and are beginning to bloom and go to seed. They aren't as green anymore either, but still good to eat.

The red beets are growing nicely, but I have no luck with Kohlrabi. Last year I bought 6 plants but this year nobody carried them so I seeded myself. There are plenty of plants, but they look pathetic and won’t form any heads. Too bad. We like fresh Kohlrabi.

This year I seeded some Corn in the basement. It sprouted within 3 days. When I transplanted it into the garden it was about 6 inches tall. That was June 7th. Today it is already 5 feet tall and the tops are growing out of it. It sure grows fast. A friend of mine told me that if you listen carefully you can hear it grow. Well, I’ve been listening and I haven’t heard anything. Then, of course, I’m a little hard of hearing anyway. Can’t wait to see the first cobs forming. Maybe we’ll have our own corn this year. The variety I planted is Peaches and Cream. I’m looking forward to it.

As long as we don’t get any hail or strong winds we should have a great harvest. Now all I have to do is keep the rabbits and crows out of the garden.