Apres Moi, Le Deluge?

Broccoli, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, chard

I harvested yesterday - a much bigger haul than I expected.

I knew I had to harvest the continuing sprouting of side shoots from the broccoli - this is much more broccoli than I ever expected. My first venture into broccoli - highly successful! But when I unzipped my crop cage on the raised bed to go in there, I realized it was time to perform some basic hygiene on all the veggies.

Cherry tomato post pruning

I only have a couple of cherry tomato plants in pots this year, because my plants in the raised bed last year succumbed to what I decided was a virus. I was really sad to see my plants in pots also had yellowing leaves, primarily on the bottom. The internet assured me it was probably the virus, and suggested cutting off all the apparently infected leaves. I suspect the virus got there because I am using plant supports from last year, without actually washing them. I never have, but my books recommend a wipe with bleach at the start of the season, for this specific reason. Tools as well. It's too late for the supports, but I can clean up the tools. I spent a pleasant several minutes pruning and carefully tossing ugly leaves. As always, with pruning the trick is knowing when to stop. Let's hope the plants pull through.

My raised bed is planted very thickly, and the plants are all on top of each other, and there were many yellow leaves at the bottom. Inspired by my tomato pruning, I decided to tackle the whole bed. This would also allow me to really examine what is there, because with it all zipped up, and all of the thick foliage, it's hard to tell what is actually going on as far as blooming and producing is concerned. So I unzipped and raised the sides of the covering, got on my hands and knees, and cleaned and harvested. The chard was almost completely overshadowed by the zucchini foliage, so I decided to take all of the outer leaves and see what happens to the residual plants.

I'm really happy with the way the clean-up went, though I started out planning on spending 15 minutes and ended up spending three hours. There is a specific warning against handling wet foliage (especially bean plants) and it has been very rainy and damp most mornings. Yesterday, Friday, dawned drier and I went to town. Now, there is less rot and better airflow. It can only help.

Broc in the foreground, zucchini in the middle,
cuke on the left, beans on the far end.

My zucchini plants have almost all male flowers. Some years, those are the only flowers I ever have, never any fruit. I have a bad history with zucchini - never have I drowned in them. A large part of that is because of a pest called "squash vine borer" - a butterfly lays eggs in the main thick vine of the plant, the caterpillars eat their way out, and the plants wither. I think the mesh around the bed may prevent that by being a bit too fine for their wings. So could this be the year I have the classic over-supply of squash?

I bought plants and seeds late, and I was stuck with what they had. Zucchini was easy - but then I also bought packets of beans, both pole and bush. I had noted a bean or two, from outside the bed, but when I was down into the details I ended up with a whole pound! Sadly, I'm not so wild for fresh green beans. I'll cook and eat them, since they are mine. But fresh beans are one of the foods where the hassle of tip-and-tailing them, versus pulling a bag out of the freezer, hasn't generally shown me to be worth the effort. What are your favorite bean recipes? I have a feeling there may be a lot of them. 

Prickly climbing cucumber

I never eat a lot of cucumbers, but I bought a couple of plants and they are climbing up. The plant is attractive, but the fruits are funny and spiky. There was a cuke recipe in yesterday's paper (basically cukes with egg salad and dill) and I'll give that a try for the one edible one I've got already. I'm eating a lot of salads, so if the cukes are coming I may be able to keep up with them.

Of the haul in the photo at the top, so far I've eaten the cherry tomatoes (snarfed like candy), broccoli (roasted), zucchini (tossed into a chicken saute), and the chard (sauteed with breakfast sausage this morning). I'm doing a salad for lunch (cuke, I'm looking at you) and will think about the beans tomorrow.

I would have to say none of these, except the tomatoes, are head and shoulders better than the usual vegetables I get at Whole Foods. It's still fun, though.