The weather pattern is changing for the better and I’m taking advantage of it. First off we planted out a courgette plant and an augurk plant...complete with a little climbing trellis. Next was to harvest the spinach. The harvest was enough to fill this bag = 5 meals for two. There will not be a second or third harvest from this crop though, here’s why: It is shooting. Yes, to confound normals it was shooting. They had plenty of rain, unseasonably low temps...so why’d they shoot ? Perhaps it was the growing time. Maybe the growing cycle has ended in spite of the climatic conditions. Time waits for no man.....or woman......or spinach plant. So then, we pulled the spinach plants up weeded, tilthed and planted more spinach just to the side of the previous row. We finished planting- up the greenhouse. It is full and ready to grow now. Marigolds planted in the greenhouse and in between the broad beans. Too bad they are the dwarf ones, but perhaps they will help anyway. We shall see.
Looking good Sjoerd, just googled about growing spinach and it says that the longer days can make it go to seed.
Even after mine bolts I still get quite a bit of spinach from it ,,I usually pinch the tops back and keep on harvesting ! it doesn`t affect the flavor except a bit stronger ! I prefer a stronger flavor on most all greens !
Thanks loads, Loggie. Isn’t that interesting. I am going to have to calculate that in next time. Sorry to hear about that, Odif. That is a shame, but Swiss chard will do it there, won’t it? Hopefully you can substitute that , in spite of the taste difference. Thank you for that tip, Mart. I shall try that the next time. I do that with other plant types, no reason that it won’t work with spinach. Of course the Bride will have to go along with the stronger flavour. Does that mean, bitterer?
@Sjoerd I don’t need to plant Swiss chard anymore. It just pops up everywhere. I have a whole jar of chard seeds though.
Whoohoo! I spent a happy hour in the garden tying up tomatoes and cucumbers to their trellises (thank you Odif and Sojerd for the good advice!). Then I strolled over (trying not to step on my furry garden helper, Timi the Cat) to the squash bed and harvested a yellow crook neck and a zucchini. The zucchini surprised me since I wasn't expecting one this soon. I plant an old Italian variety that is slower to fruit, but the squash are really meaty and have a very small seed cavity. Anyone want to guess what tonight's dinner feature will be?
No Sjoerd,, just a bit more pronounced ! I prefer it ! MG,, how about stuffed zuchinni ! I am waiting on my squash but have picked three tomatoes !
Sjoerd, your garden is awesome! Color me jealous. Our Spinach bolted almost immediately. I planted in between the beautiful Kale plants and it only produced a few plants. The Kale has served us well as it reseeded it's self from last year's. Onions seem to be a problem this year. We will be buying at market no doubt, assuming the local farmers get production.
Thanks so much, GP. Good luck with your onions. Mine got really pummelled with serious hail this year. The leaves are all broken, so I wonder how they will turn out in the end.
Sjoerd, I hesitated about putting LIKE. How can I like what happened with your onions? Indeed, our onions didn't do well last year. I'm wondering if I've lost my touch.
Well, I know what you mean, GP...but I understood what you wanted to say. I do not know of any other way to acknowledge someone’s misfortune. I reckon most folks will understand the meaning. No worries.
