It has been an interesting week.  We have had more bug battles; cucumber beetle, flea beetle, whitefly, aphids, cabbage moth and slugs. I’m still on my Neem/ Pyganic spray which seems to be holding the populations of cucumber beetle, flea beetle down, but of course they and their damage are still evident in the garden.  I have also ordered 2000 green lace wing eggs to release in both of the greenhouses, and I am hoping they will take care of the last of the whiteflies and aphids. In the larval stage they are voracious eaters consuming more than 200 insects each before they mature. For the slugs I found an organic bait made by Espoma, which seems to be working, and a consistent spray regimen of Dipel (an organic Bt) is working well for the cabbage worms.  Organic gardening requires targeting individual insects with individual solutions, where as conventional agriculture takes a “kill em all” approach. Sevin, for example is something a lot of people use in their conventional gardens to great success, killing all pests in sight. Unfortunately they are also potentially killing earthworms, honey bees, bumble bees lady bugs as well as a plethora of other beneficial insects and soil microbes.

(cucumber beetles cleverly color coordinated on a squash blossom)

            Ok, enough about insects, lets talk about tomatoes. 

We put in our second generation of tomatoes this week, and the rain is watering them in nicely. I like to do two plantings in the garden because even though they are all indeterminate varieties (meaning they ripen over a period of time, as opposed to determinate varieties which all ripen at once) they still have a time of peak production which it is better to space out. For slicing tomatoes we went pretty basic this year with a few classic red heirloom varieties like Moskovich and Mule Team, and backed them up with a few hybrids such as Martha Washington and Orange Blossom.  I put in a sun drying variety as well called Principe Borghesi , which has a low water content so that the fruit can be sliced in half and dried in the greenhouse in just a few hours. For cherry tomatoes we have a wider variety; red and yellow pear, red, yellow and pink grape, a red round cherry and of course sun gold (voted as the sweetest cherry tomato).  The currant tomatoes have all been planted in hanging baskets to make them easier to pick.  Sweet Pea was the favorite last year so mostly I have planted those with a few Tess’s Land Race, and Red Delicious Currant. And last but certainly not least Husk Cherries, also known as Pineapple Tomatillos or Cape Gooseberries.  These little lanterned beauties are sweet and smoky, they make a great jam or even sauce for a nice fatty meat.

            This week we are harvesting lettuce, frisee, kohlrabi, beets, turnips, radishes, broccoli, swiss chard, pac choi, and strawberries.  Also keep your eye out for wild mulberry trees, the fruit is perfect right now, and very easy to pick. Hopefully next week when I check in I’ll still be winning my bug battles, and we will have a few more items on the harvest list such as sour cherries and fennel. See you then.

                                     (sage blossoms used to garnish our Rhubarb Tart)

                                    (baby broccoli growing away)

                                  (How the garden grows - it's remarkably tall for the end of May.)