Harvesting Candy onions and Cylindrica beets

I looked at the radar this morning about 8 and saw a big thunderstorm about a half hour away, so I drank a quick cup of coffee and headed out to the garden.
The onion tops began flopping over last  week, a sign they were getting ready for dormancy and harvest. Last night, just before dark, I gently loosened them with a pitchfork and then pulled  and laid them out on the bed.  Theses onions are a new (to my garden) variety called Candy, a sweet  'day neutral' onion, which means it grows equally well in the South and North.
I am really happy with Candy-- the onion seedlings I got in February grew into massive round globes, and produced by far the best yield I've ever gotten from either sets or seedlings.
Here's a picture of the onions laid out in the bed:

This morning I loaded the onions into the wheelbarrow, and headed to the beet patch. The Cylindrica beets are a new variety for me this year, and though they did not make as many greens as some varieties, the strangely shaped (like squat carrots) roots yielded well and prep easily for cooking.
Here's the wheelbarrow loaded for a run to the garage -- besides the onions and beets I picked three cups of Heritage raspberries and some Burgundy bush beans.
Sol stole beans out of the wheelbarrow when my back was turned picking berries-- that dog does love his legumes.

And here's a close up of a Cylindrica beet:

I got the wheelbarrow into the garage, and laid out the onions to dry on a tarp-- and then the skies let loose.  It's been a very wet summer, but I'm learning to roll with it.

Red, White, and blue... potato salad

Red leaf lettuce is the red, not red potatoes. It self seeded from last year, and has held up to the heat (90 degrees plus today). Yukon Gold and Adirondack Blue pots, and a sherry vinegar olive oil dressing with my own red and white onions,  fresh garlic and snow peas for some crunch. And no, I did not make the cottage cheese, but most of the meal is from the garden. And to continue the theme, I am going to have yogurt with rhubarb and blueberries for dessert!

July 1 Video Tour

Here's a tour I recorded yesterday. There was a tornado watch north of us, outside Boston.  All the fierce weather this year has reminded me, yet again, of how important it is to treasure what you have when you have it, including a thriving garden.

Everything's coming up blue-- potatoes and berries, that is.

I am so happy about my blueberries! Until two years ago, my 20 bushes ( a wonderful mix of early, mid and late season varieties I got from White Flower Farms) were productive and carefree. But then the winter moth caterpillars descended and ate the flowers before they had a chance to bloom.

I researched methods of controlling the worms, and decided to use Bt. Unfortunately, my overgrow bushes were so tall that is was tough to get the spray to reach the foliage, even when I stood precariously on a ladder.

Next I researched pruning blueberries and gave them a major overhaul, removing old woody stems and trimming back suckers. 

This spring the Bt worked, the bumble bees bumbled from flower to flower, and the branches are bent to the ground with ripening berries.

I don't cover the bushes to keep the birds away-- instead I planted another ten bushes out among the perennials for them, and I pick all the ripe berries every day, morning and night. I can't bring myself to net and hurt even one of the friendly birds that eat so many insect pests in my garden, and sing to me all day.

When I was picking this morning a cat bird sat nearby and argued loudly that they were his berries...

The first harvest:

I also snuck a few new blue potatoes out of the edges of the planting, and made a colorful salad also featuring Oregon giant peapods, radish pods, and red scallion -- it was colorful and delicious. Here are the ingredients before chopping and mixing:

Peas, strawberries, and a young wanderer

It's feeling like summer in my kitchen garden, and I'm enjoying the long warm evenings.
I have heard other gardeners complain of the tedium of picking peas and beans, but I enjoy the treasure hunt through the foliage, and the triumph of a bowl full of peas ready to shell.  Though I must admit I like my purple and yellow beans because they are easy to find. But that's next month's harvest.
Right now it is all about peas, and I am happy that my varied trellis structures are holding up under the weight of a lot of vines-- here's the fullest one, with 'Alaska' :

'Miragreen' was planted a bit more thinly, and shares a bed with radishes I have let go to seed so I can harvest the spicy green pods:

I like to sit and watch a DVD  (I get them from the library) on my portable player while I shell -- recently I watched the 'Rosemary and Thyme' british mystery series about two middle aged professional gardeners.  I tend to sample as I shell, and my taste test confirmed that 'Miragreen' is a supersweet pea best eaten raw, while 'Alaska' is more of a traditionally mealy pea best  eaten cooked, preferably with potatoes and lots of butter!

I also have been picking strawberries -- my 20  'Seascape' plants have been producing about 2 cups of berries a day. While I was searching for strawberries yesterday, Sol starting bouncing around a spot on the lawn behind me. I went over to investigate and found a six inch long snapping turtle. Since it was too young to be looking for a place to lay eggs, I picked it up by the tail and took it to the pond across the road. The fierce little thing would have bitten me if I'd held it any other way.  Here it is-- so prehistoric!

And here's a look at the total harvest that day:

Next up for harvest: beans, early potatoes and blueberries.

Happy Rhubarb!

It's been really wet lately, and some plants in the garden have suffered, especially the ones prone to slugs and fungus. But the rhubarb is really happy with this weather. Here's a pic of Sol in front of the rhubarb patch. He's eating  a radish flower.

Broccoli rabe and strawberries

I harvested a crop of broccoli rabe last week. Here's the plants before harvest:

and a closeup of the flower heads:

Unlike it's cousin broccoli, which takes much longer to mature, rabe is ready in about 30 days, and nearly the whole plant is tender enough to eat.

Sol likes it raw:

But I like to saute it with olive oil, lots of garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper, then add a little water, and cook until the water evaporates and the rabe is tender ( about 5 minutes for me-- I don't like it too soft):

Delicious as a vegetable, or great with angel hair pasta.

I'm also getting a handful of strawberries every day from my patch of seascape-- just enough to add to my  cereal or yogurt:

And here's the flower of the week-- my self sown coriander patch by the deck: