Fenton Friday: Cilantro Turns Into Coriander

The Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplant we planted last week are settling in and starting to put on some growth.

I continued to harvest a small bucket full of Blackberries every other day and made a cobbler, a crisp, and sauce with them all -- plus gave a few quarts away to family and friends. In my haste to beat the birds and other berry-loving critters, I realized I am picking them a few days early as they are fully black and shiny, but slightly tart still. They need to mellow to deep black and a matte/dull finish to be really sweet and almost over-ripe. The tart ones are still great for these recipes - though not the best for snacking on out of hand. 

The pollinator/herb garden area is recovering remarkably from the bus crash a few weeks ago. I'm really surprised that the Calendula is blooming so well in this heat and I see several Borage seedlings popping up in the spot where the mother plants had been run over. 

I cut some Dahlia flowers and watered the Zinnia seedlings. I still need to plant several cutting-garden seed packs I have, but might wait out the current heat wave.

The pot of Cilantro had bolted and the seeds are nearly dry on their stems (see pic above), so I cut those off to collect for Coriander use in the kitchen and to plant a few this fall.

What are you growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 13th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).