My May Garden

The green, yellow, and purple beans have been put in the freezer; I made several batches of three bean salads; and I gave some of the purple beans away to a dear lady whom I thought might enjoy the color as well as the beans.  I was surprised at the abundance of the beans but enough is enough:  I finally had to cut down the spent plants with the lawn mower and turn it into the soil for green manure.

I also pulled up all the potatoes besides the beans.  They were the potatoes I had bought at the Farmer's Market some time ago and they had developed eyes.  Apparently the farmer did not use spray to inhibit the growth of the eyes.  They came out without blemishes but with a rather brown and tough skin.  It didn't matter because when cooked, they were delicious.

My husband and I prepared the soil where the beans and potatoes had been so that we could plant Silver Queen corn, our favorite white corn.  It is better for pollination purposes to plant corn in blocks of rows rather than long rows of one or two.  My husband prefers to add fertilizer to the soil at planting or sowing time while I rather wait until the plants have established themselves and grown a few inches.

I am also delighted at how well each of the nine plants of kale and mustards have done.  I am still picking or pulling kale but the mustards are blooming.  I am trying to attract the neighbor's bees but I have yet to see them.  If kale and mustard plants are available this fall, I will definitely use plants and not seeds.  I think "they" call this lessons learned.

I have also planted five eggplants near the greens and they are blooming.  Although eggplants are self-pollinating, it doesn't hurt to help them along by shaking them up a bit.  Just gently grab hold of the stem and shake, not too vigorously.

Happy gardening.

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