Summer has Arrived

Here in the Northwest we had an amazing run of beautiful weather from mid May up until last week. Summer Solstice arrives and of course the clouds and cooler temperatures return. I can't remember a late spring that I enjoyed more. As a transplanted Californian, my notions of what June should feel like were finally met in the usually wet and cool Northwest.

And of course the gardens flourished – with the exception of my new beds. I am very disappointed with Pacific Topsoil for delivering 8 yards of poor soil. "3-WAY TOPSOIL: Loam soil, peat, and compost processed through a 1/2" screen. Excellent for seeding lawns, sod, flower beds, and vegetable gardens." No, I don't think so. There is quite a bit of gravel in this "excellent soil" and its compost content is extremely low. I've had to amend it already. Sigh.

On the up side – the soil is amendable and new seedlings have appeared.

New Additions:

Hutterite Soup Beans (dry shelling bean from Seed Savers Exchange and delicious)
Weinlanderin Bush Bean (Purple mottling, Swiss heirloom from Abundant Life Seeds)
Lettuce – Super gourmet blend from Territorial Seeds
Mesclun Salad Blend – Abundant Life Seeds
Small Sugar Pumpkins – Territorial Seeds
Henderson Bush Lima Beans – Seed Savers Exchange
Sugar Pearl Tablesweet Corn – Territorial Seeds
Bodacious Hybrid Corn – Territorial Seeds
Evergreen bunching White Onions – Ed Hume seeds
Cucumbers – Spacemaster from Botancial Interests.
Black Beauty Summer Squash – Abundant Life Seeds
Super Rapini Broccoli Raab – from Renee's Garden seeds
Basil of some variety.

Notes on other plantings:

The Cimarron Romaine is very delicate – large leaves with a slightly bitter taste. Not my favorite romaine due to its thin and easily bruised leaves. It is hard to match up these greens with salad fixings that want that stronger flavor. The Galena pea pods are starting to plump out on vines that topped out about three feet whereas the Sugar Snap peas have gone upwards of six feet and are finally putting out pods. I planted way too much Kale, Collard greens and Swiss Chard for a spring crop. First of all, I'm about the only one that eats these greens and secondly, these greens are something that I want in the early winter. There is too much variety right now and I don't feel like cooking the way I do in the fall where these greens would be put to more use. It's an interesting observation for myself and so I'll try some smaller plantings in August to see how these greens act as a fall crop.

Cooking Note:
I had dinner at a friend's house and she made a great pasta dish using swiss chard:

4-5 cups swiss chard, chopped sautéed with ½ white onion and some garlic.
Add in some cream, salt and pepper, parmesan cheese and mix until ingredients are incorporated. Serve over pasta.