Summertime crops are surging!

The summer solstice has passed and the ‘supermoon’ has shown itself and our summer crops are growing very well. All of the usual suspects are thriving now that it is hot. Corn, potatoes, melons, peppers, and tomatoes. Our first picking of tomatillos is about to happen!

The sweet corn has tasseled and they are head high. This is the best looking corn I have ever grown. Almost all of the stalks have 2 to 3 ears emerging. I plan to control earworms with spray of some sort. I have some Bt and oil, but, if I can find some, I want to use a more powerful control and have nice ears.

The tomatillos are nearly ready to begin picking. Once we begin, we will pick them for 8 weeks (or so). They are adapting to our new trellis system. Here we used the same material as we used for peas. For tomatillos and peppers we will stretch our the mesh flat (horizontally). The mesh is about 18 – 24 inches above the ground and the tomatillos have grown through the trellis which will hold them above ground, making for easier cultivation and harvesting.

Most of the red potatoes are growing well too. Last week we harvested 35-40 pounds of new potatoes. I think the variety was Red Norland. Of the remaining 4 rows, the red potatoes look best. The plants are waist high and the ground is cracking where the spuds are growing large. We also have some Yukon Gold potatoes which are not as vigorous. The French Fingerlings look almost as good as the reds.

Marking the end of spring are the last of the onions. Mary Arbuckle requested some red onion. For some reason red onions have been difficult to raise for me. I get lots of small onions. This year is no big difference from past efforts – they are very modest in size.

Onions have been a moderate success this spring. We planted three 50 feet rows where onions were planted 4 across the rows. The wide rows made weeding and cultivation difficult. We havested 150 pounds or so, which is less than I had hoped. Next year maybe we have single plant rows spaced 30 inches apart – wide enough for rotor-tiller to cultivate next to plants and to clear rows of weeds.

It would be nice to have a late fall onion seed bed. We could start onions from seed and transplant these seedlings in late winter into rows. I saw a Cajun do this with great result. I will try to get this done when garlic is planted.

The rapid growth brought on by summertime is very gratifying. It may be my favorite time to be in the garden. Each walk around reveals new surprises.