More planting and harvesting

Work in the garden continues to keep me busy. Even though I am keeping a daily written journal of what I'm doing, I'm behind on my blog entries. I am trying to write too much and I'm getting bogged down. My goal is to post shorter, more frequent entries. I  need to get into the habit of typing my lists right onto the blog rather than writing everything down in my planner. I appreciate all of you who are still reading! I'm hoping that my blog will be more current and fun to read, so stay tuned!

I finished planting the dahlias, 165 total. I sent the remainder to my sister Kathy in Chicago. I wonder how long it will take her to become a crazy dahlia person like me! The plants are doing well and this morning I saw buds on some of the larger plants which means I should start seeing flowers in a couple of weeks. I read that I should cut the central stem to encourage fuller plants, however, I am hesitant to cut a flower bud when it is so close to flowering. I know I have to do it though to have healthier fuller plants later in the season.

Photo of dahlia stem and bud

 

I picked the rest of the broccoli raab and cooked it for lunch and dinner for almost a week! Broccoli raab tastes great sauteed with chicken or sausage, garlic, tomatoes, and cheese. Broccoli raab and sausage pizza is one of my favorites! I have been chosen to be part of a 3 month food study and was keeping a food journal last week. Broccoli raab everything and lots of chocolate chip cookies in between.  Not your average diet. The good news is just when I was getting sick of eating broccoli raab, the bok choy is ready to harvest.  This really is the best part of eating right out of the garden. Just when you start to get tired of one thing, something else is ready to pick.

photo of bok choy

I filled in the area where the broccoli raab was with more eggplant and peppers. I planted fennel where a block of  arugula was. It is hard to believe that I am already planting the second crop of the season.

I went to the home depot and bought 8 foot 1 x 2's that I cut in half to use for the tomato stakes. I planted 45 tomato plants. And then the next day I planted 20 more.- That's it, I think! I still have some nice looking tomato plants growing in the poly house. Perhaps some of my gardening buddies will want them to take home - hint hint... 

I want to make a correction to one of my recent posts. Last week I commented that some of the plants in the garden were yellowing.  I thought the nitrogen was being tied up because of too much organic matter in the soil. Nancy questioned my reasoning and I'm glad she did. Organic matter provides nitrogen. The reason that it may not be available to the plants in my garden is that too much organic matter has raised the soil PH which is most likely what is making the nitrogen unavailable to the plants. I spread sulphur on the garden to lower the PH, but I have learned that I did not spread the correct type. I think another reason some of the plants are yellowing is because it has been drier than normal and the plants are thirsty! I've had the sprinklers on the past couple of days and everything has perked up. So thank you Nancy! It just goes to show you that you shouldn't believe everything you read!