My Vegetable Gardens in Mid-July
It's going to be another dry, humid day here at my Bedford, New York farm with temperatures in the high 80s. We haven't had any rain at all for at least two weeks - hopefully we'll get some soon.
Despite the uncomfortable summer weather and lack of precipitation, the vegetables are thriving, and the gardens are looking excellent. It's so much fun to visit right now because of all the growing produce - there’s something new popping up every day. We have broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, lettuce, peas, fava beans, Swiss chard, peppers, cilantro, and so much more.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Here is one side of my vegetable garden down by the chicken coops. The vegetable gardens are entirely fenced in to protect the crops from hungry creatures. I try different configurations every year to see which ones work best for what we are growing. I like to use the most amount of space possible for planting.
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- Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color. This year, the Swiss chard is near the front entrance of this garden.
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- We’ve already harvested many beans. Bush beans are second only to tomatoes as the most popular vegetables in home gardens. Bush beans, or snap beans, are eaten when the seeds are small. They are also called string beans because of a fibrous string running the length of the pod, but most varieties grown now do not have that fibrous string. Purple beans are so pretty – violet-purple outside and bright green inside with great flavor.
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- We’re always growing lettuce. Lettuce, Lactuca sativa, is a cultivated plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70-degrees Fahrenheit. We always grow several varieties.
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- In one garden along the fence we have lots of peas – one section for shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and another for edible pods, which can be eaten whole, such as our snap peas. They are best grown on supports to keep them off the ground and away from pests and diseases.
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- By early July every year, these peas are plump, and ready to be picked. The pea, Pisum sativum, is an annual herbaceous legume in the family Fabaceae. The pods can range in size from four to 15-centimeters long and about one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half centimeters wide. Each pod contains between two and 10-peas.
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- The onions look wonderful too. We planted a lot of white, yellow and red onions. Onions are harvested later in the summer when the underground bulbs are mature and flavorful. I always look forward to the onion harvest!
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- Kale or leaf cabbage is a group of vegetable cultivars within the plant species Brassica oleracea. They have purple or green leaves, in which the central leaves do not form a head.
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- Look at our bed of kale – very pretty with ruffled leaves and a purple-green color. One cup of chopped kale has 134-percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin-C – that’s more than a medium orange, which only has 113-percent of the daily C requirement.
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- Broccoli is a hardy vegetable of the cabbage family that is high in vitamins A and D. And, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, the average American eats more than four-pounds of broccoli a year. Because broccoli is a cold weather crop. The recent warmer weather causes it to bolt, or go to flower sooner, but these heads are looking terrific.
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- Cauliflower is filled with nutrients. They hold plenty of vitamins, such as C, B, and K. Cauliflower is ready to harvest when the heads are six to eight inches in diameter. When picking, cut the stalk just below the head, leaving a stem of about two inches long.
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- Our cabbages are growing nicely. To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. Savoy cabbage leaves are ruffled and a bit yellowish in color.
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- Here’s a perfect artichoke ready to pick. Globe artichokes, Cynara scolymus, are popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.
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- See how it grows on its stem? When harvesting, always use sharp pruners and carefully cut them from the plant leaving an inch or two of stem. Artichokes have very good keeping qualities and can remain fresh for at least a week.
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- There is also a lot of fresh and fragrant cilantro. Often known in the United Kingdom as coriander, cilantro comes from the plant Coriandrum sativum. In the United States, the leaves of the plant are referred to as cilantro and the seeds are called coriander. Cilantro is also commonly known as Chinese parsley.
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- Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean or fava bean is an ancient member of the pea family. They have a nutty taste and buttery texture. I always grow lots of fava beans. We used many fava beans from my garden at my 20-year plus party last week here at the farm.
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- Basil, also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. Basil is native to tropical regions from central Africa to Southeast Asia. It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. Since basil grows in tropical climates, it grows well in hot weather. Actually, this plant can thrive in very warm temperatures, and it grows amazingly well up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
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- Also always growing here – parsley. This will find its way into my morning green juice. Parsley is rich in vitamins K, C, and other antioxidants. It has a bright, herbaceous, and slightly bitter taste.
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- This is curly parsley. This comes from the same family, but curly parsley leaves are thicker and ruffled. Some also say its flavor is a bit stronger in curly parsley than in the flat-leaf varieties.
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- Our herbs are planted in the center of the garden. Thyme is an herb whose small leaves grow on clusters of thin stems. It is a Mediterranean herb with dietary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. Fragrant variegated thyme is green with white leaves. It is delicious with fish or poultry and imparts a lemony flavor.
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- And here is Moises weeding the areas beneath our tomato plants. I like to use bamboo canes for my tomatoes. They’re easy to buy in bulk, and can be found in a variety of sizes. They should be seven to eight foot tall stakes that are at least an inch in diameter. Staking is the best way to ensure the plants get the support they need for the many vegetables they will produce this season.
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- Look at these beautiful young tomatoes. There are already so many growing. Most tomatoes are red, but other colors are possible, including green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, white and purple. We’ll be harvesting a lot of tomatoes later this summer.
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- We always extend the harvest season by re-planting in two-week successions. Succession planting is the practice of following one crop with another to maximize a garden’s yield. It is an efficient use of gardening space and time. Everyone always asks what I do with all the vegetables I grow. I share them with my family, but I also love sharing the bounty with friends, colleagues, and my hardworking crew here at the farm. I provide fruits, vegetables, and eggs for magazine and video shoots. And, of course, all my birds get vegetables too. I hope your gardens are doing well – share their progress with me in the section below.
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