Carrots and Basil
Last week I started pulling up carrots. I planted these three months ago, and will pull them up as I need them.
I read something this spring that I wanted to try, but got too lazy. I planted my first carrot seeds at the beginning of March. If I continued planting some more seeds every three weeks through Spring and Summer, I will continuously have carrots up until the first frost. First off, I didn't have the room in the garden this spring, but more importantly, even though carrots are easy to grow, they are hard to get started. Carrot seedlings need to have damp soil all the time. This is easy in the spring, but gets difficult in the summer when it is hot and dry... the soil dries out quickly. I got around this by planting carrots a few weeks ago next to my green bean bushes. This is keeping the seedlings in the shade, and keeping the soil moist.
I also chopped down my basil this week. It is important to harvest basil before the plant flowers so it does not get bitter. Once the plant is at least 10 inches tall, cut it back, leaving two rows of leaves at the bottom. The plant will quickly bounce back and will likely be ready for another cutting in a couple weeks. I use the basil in salads, or if it a large crop I'll make a batch of pesto and put it in the freezer. After a summer of basil growing, I usually have enough pesto to last through the winter.
Also in the garden, I pulled up the rest of my onions this week. They quickly got big and started to flop over. I easily ended up with 15 pounds of onions this year. I am excited to grow onions again next winter.
Last fall I planted a peach tree. This spring I got one peach off the small tree, and I ate it this morning. Best peach I ever had. I look forward to years of delicious peaches from the back yard!
Finally, my tomatoes are turning red, and I picked the first two this morning. I planted some fast growing hybrids (Big Boy & Better Boy), and these are the first ones to ripen. I also have some interesting heirloom tomatoes that take longer to ripen, but they will make for some interesting tomatoes in a few weeks. The recent tomato recall should turn more people on to enjoying fresh garden tomatoes.
Posted by on 06/10 at 05:52 PM
What else did you plant in your garden? Just curious, because from reading your gardening posts I’ve realized we’ve planted many of the same items. (I even have a single fruit ripening on my peach tree, too.)
I’ve picked my first blueberries, and I’m still picking strawberries here and there from the small patch I planted last year.
I’m about to harvest my first batch of Hungarian wax and chili peppers of the summer, and I’m psyched that I’ll be able to take some of them (along with some basil, rosemary, tarragon, lemon balm and garlic chives) to my folks this weekend.