Summer Harvests Begin

Provider bush beans, 27 May 2015.

I took the pictures to the right yesterday morning, early, before the sun was fully up and before I drove to work. The lighting, as a result, is a little weird, but the idea comes across: The first of the summer crops are ready to harvest!

We still are eating lettuces and other spring crops from the garden, but three days this week my lunchbox has included home-grown green beans. Soon, our home-grown zucchini will join them, then raspberries, then cucumbers, onions, garlic, potatoes, blueberries...

In my mind, I can see our garden crops coming into the kitchen in sequence, like waves rolling to shore. 

Meanwhile, I am still planting warm season crops. The okra and nasturtiums went into the ground just this past weekend.

Raven zucchini, 27 May 2015.

Yet-to-be-planted are the sweet potatoes, peanuts, second crops of green beans and tomatoes, Southern peas, and probably more.

The zucchini to the right is one of two that survived an early fit of planting. The seeds went into the ground way too soon; it was April, but barely, and the weather was quite cool. I have a second planting of zucchini coming along behind these, planted about three weeks later.

Much of the rest of the summer planting is waiting for spaces to open in the garden, as spring crops are harvested and removed. This succession planting helps make sure that crops keep coming in and the garden stays productive over as long a time as I can manage.