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Cucumber, snow peas, and balsamic dressing.
This week I noticed two tiny Suyo Long cucumbers on the ground, right at the base of the two plants. I harvested them right away, in hopes this will allow the plants to devote more energy to growing up on their trellis - they were slow to start, possibly due to insect damage. There are several flowers on both plants now, and they are beginning to climb. I'm hoping for lots of cucumbers as the summer goes on. These are the only variety I planted this year, and I could happily eat Suyos every day.
Snow peas are a new venture for me, and these have been hit with constant very hot weather from the day they germinated. It seemed doubtful they would survive. The plants look very frail and some are already withering, but last week they began producing flowers and pods. So pretty! And tasty. Next year I will plant more, and try to start them earlier. I'd like to have enough to freeze, as they would be quite a delicate treat in the middle of Winter.
A request: do any of you gardeners have a tried-and-true recipe for a plant spray that will protect plants from destructive bugs without harming the good bugs? I've found many online recipes (of course) but there seem to be a lot of "I tried that and it killed all my plants!" stories also. And lots of people don't seem to realize that diatomaceous earth does not discriminate. I grow organically, and generally overplant to try to offset losses due to bugs and other problems, but many of my plants are struggling this year so I've got to try something. If you've had success with a homemade solution, please share in the comments or an email - thank you!
We had a huge downpour yesterday, really a series of downpours, with thunder that shook the house. The rainfall meant I didn't need to water the gardens last night. Thank goodness. I had an appointment in the morning which left me fairly dozy and fizzled out later in the day. In fact I was half asleep when I heard the first roll of thunder and had to hasten outside to get the hay covered just as the raindrops began to fall. Thank goodness again!
Here's to the weekend ahead -
I hope we all have a good one.
Here's a little Hesperis matronalis to get us off to a good start:
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