Fenton Friday: Cowpeas Coming

The Iron & Clay Cowpeas (pictured above) are producing like crazy now. Note that Cowpeas are also known as Southern Peas or Black-eyed Peas, but they are actually a Bean (legume). You can eat them green and also eat the foliage. It is used for animal foraging too. Cowpeas are named that because the cows love them! I'm harvesting them when the pods are almost dry on the vine, then I'm drying them on screens in my sunroom. Then I plan to shell them and save them in glass jars. After all the rabbit trouble we had with these all season long, I'm just happy to get anything from these plants!

I'm cutting Dahlias daily. We escaped the frost last week that others were touched by in our region, but temps are supposed to drop again this weekend -- so fingers crossed that the Dahlias and other plants hang on for a bit more. We will soon pull out the last of the Basil, Tomatoes and Peppers. I yanked out the last of the Zucchini vines and put in more Cover Crop seeds in their place.

The Radish, Lettuce mix, Cilantro, and Cauliflower seedlings are both doing well. We will need to thin the Radishes soon and can harvest Cilantro any day now.

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 14th 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).

Fenton Friday: Peas Finally Flower

This week is a bit of a limbo time at the community garden plot as we transition from cool weather to warm weather crops, but the ground is so oversaturated from recent rains that I am holding off planting anything. There are areas of our garden that are a literal mud pit! Thank goodness for the woodchip paths around my plot that are keeping things fairly tidy.

I've been harvesting strawberries and weeding a tiny bit. I need to check if the scapes have formed on the garlic as they usually appear by now. The carrots seem to be increasing, but I will wait a few more weeks before pulling another one to check.

The big news is the flowers on the purple podded snap peas are finally blooming and that means peas aren't far behind!

Also, the thornless blackberry has really hit its stride. It is covered in green fruits and I suspect that as soon as it starts to ripen I'll need to move the netting off the strawberries over it.

I also found a few self-sown zinnia and celosia seedlings where I am prepping a bed for tomatoes. I'll transplant those to a better spot soon.

What are you growing and eating this week from your edible garden?

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 11th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Pass the Peas (and Carrots!)

Carrot 'Oxheart'

I decided to dig up some of the carrots we planted last fall. These 'Oxheart' are not even close to the "massive" roots that the seed packet described. Still, they will do for a snack, once I get done scrubbing them.

I harvested a few strawberries and asparagus spears, as well as snipping off all the garlic scapes.

The peas are really humming along now, the hard part is waiting until each is about 4-inches long before I pick them. Pictured are a few that made it to my kitchen, the rest I eat right there in the plot.

I managed to plant a few sweet potato slips as well as the "regular" white 'Satina' potatoes.

The heat and humidity have descended on us, so I'll have to be more diligent about watering and also weeding. I also need to start getting all my pepper and tomato seedlings in the ground now.

Peas 'Snak Hero'

Due to the heat now, most of the cool-season crops are bolting (setting flower, then seeds). I am going to let the last of the radishes do so, but hope the beets and other things hold off until they are at a decent size to harvest.



My next task is to go through all my warm-season seed packs this weekend and start direct-sowing the okra, beans, marigolds. etc.


Back in my home garden, I ripped out a bunch of mugwort, laid down cardboard, and applied a thick layer of leaf compost. I then cut a hole through the layers and planted some 'Amish Melon' seedlings, that I got from a fellow gardener. I'm not a big fan of muskmelon, but I'll give it a try and am happy to let the vine sprawl in the side yard where it can hopefully out-compete any returning mugwort.







What are you harvesting this week in your edible garden? 

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 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Holding Out for a 'Snak Hero'

'Snak Hero' pea flowers and pods forming

This week was another cool-ish one, but unlike prior weeks it was dry. It was also windy. So dry and windy in fact that I had to run over to the plot mid-week to throw some emergency water on the poor strawberry plants and greens.

The 'Snak Hero' Pea is covered in blossoms now and the pods are forming. I pulled out the seed pack and see that they are supposed to grow to "Slender 4″ long pods" that resemble green beans so I will let mine grow a bit more before harvesting them.

I dug some more Radishes -- they taste much sharper now that the sun and heat are moving in. I also had a few more Asparagus spears and Spinach to make a salad with.

The scapes (flower stalks) are forming on the hardneck Garlic and I will cut those off in the next day or two to use in a pasta dish.

Because it was so dry, I didn't plant the 'Satina' Potatoes yet, but that is next on my list along with clearing a spot to direct-sow my watermelon and squash seeds.

In a part-shade spot of my home garden, I have several tomato and pepper seedlings hangout out until the ground is warm enough to plant them. Looking at the forecast for the week ahead, that should be very soon!

What are you harvesting this month in your edible garden? 

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 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: You Look Radishing!

The last few days have been incredibly windy (with 50mph gusts), so I haven't gotten by the plot much this past week. Today, I weeded a bit and saw some nice progress in the lettuce, spinach, beet, and pea seedlings. All are on track to harvest in a few weeks.

Can you believe it? The kale and spinach are actually bolting after one day this week got above 80 degrees! I cut off their flower stalks and tucked the plants as best I could back under their cover cloth as there is a freeze warning for tonight. Yes, that is a typical spring in the Mid-Atlantic -- seesawing from one temperature extreme to another.

The radishes are developing nicely and I pulled a few to eat with Easter brunch on Sunday.

I didn't get a chance to start any new seeds outside, but I hope this week to get over and clear out another weedy section of the plot and to start some cutting garden flower seeds.

'Snak Hero' Peas

'Early Scarlet Globe' Radish

Viroplay Spinach Seedlings

What are you planting this month in your edible garden? 

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 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Peas Lessons Learned

by Johnny Moseman

During my time as an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine this spring, one of the things I was tasked with was growing various types of peas to compare how they would grow. After planting the peas in the third week of March, we would check on the progress of my peas each week to see how they were doing.

The three types of peas I chose to plant were ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’, ‘Little Marvel’, and ‘Progress #9’ peas. Coming into my semester at Washington Gardener, I had no gardening experience or any experience growing crops, so this was a first for me. With the guidance of our editor, Kathy Jentz, we planted the seeds about an inch deep and three inches apart from each other. Before planting the seeds in the ground I soaked all of them for about 24 hours before to let them germinate a bit so they would be a little ahead of schedule when we actually planted them. We also put wiring around the plots where the peas were to prevent animals from getting in and eating the plant while the peas were growing.

It took a little more than two weeks for us to finally see something sprout, but once we did, the emergence was quick and the first shoots were visible above the soil and straw we put on top to control weed growth.

Since it did not start to get warm up until the end of April, it took until then for me to see actual growth of the vines when they started to go vertical and starting growing up the supports I put them in front of. My first peas did not start to flower until the second week of May and soon after that the first edible pea pods formed by May 16.

The ‘Progress #9’ and ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ were the peas that grew the larger vines, while the ‘Little Marvel’ barely grew above ground and it was definitely noticeable that this type of pea did not grow huge vines like the other two. ‘Progress #9’ was the first vine to flower in early May while ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ was looking like it would flower any day after that.

About the author:

Johnny Moseman is a senior multi-platform journalism major at the University of Maryland from Columbia, MD. He is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener this spring.

Fenton Friday: Seedlings UP

Arugula

Peas

This week's weather started with snow flurries and freezing winds and ends with summertime temps and searing sun. At my community garden plot, we have several things coming up from seed and we threw a cover cloth over them last week - first to insulate them from the cold and now from the heat!

The seedlings that are up already seem okay. The lettuce and carrots have not germinated yet, I am wondering if I should wait or put out a new batch of each.

How is your vegetable garden growing 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. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 6th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)

Spinach

Radish

Fenton Friday: First Peas of the Season

The first Peas have formed and I can see many more flowers on the vines about to pop into pods. I am so excited to have my first fresh batch of the season.

We cut our second batch of Spinach and I harvested some more Asparagus. I am going to let the rest of the Asparagus go now though as it is starting to be that time in the season. The Mustard Greens are all done as well so I pulled that row out to make room for other greens. 

The Radish are coming right along and the Arugula and Cilantro can be harvested as baby greens right now, but I think I will leave them alone for another week so they grow a bit stronger.

I am still weeding out the Wheatgrass and Nutsedge and uncovering a few more baby Strawberry plants. They are forming fruit now and I should have a few handfuls for my morning cereal in a couple weeks. It sure won't be like previous years where I was overwhelmed with the Strawberry harvest!

How is your edible garden growing 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. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 5th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)   

Video Wednesday: Pea Planting Tips

 

After this long, harsh winter, we are all eager to get out and see anything green. Now is the perfect time to get acquainted with and grow the numerous early season crops we can cultivate in the Mid-Atlantic’s cool, wet spring months of March and April.

Many delectable edibles prefer the early spring mild weather days and practically melt when our hot, humid summers arrive. Tradition says to plant peas on St. Patrick’s Day and this week is a perfect time to set up a vegetable patch or planting boxes full of cool-season edibles. Watch this video for some easy pea planting tips to get you started.

Fenton Friday: Seedlings Up!

Arugula seedlings

This week at my community garden plot we had several days of rain and wind, so it was hard to get over and do too much. We are still awaiting our compost and mulch delivery so we can re-do our common pathways and add leaf compost to the raised beds, so I'm keeping the straw cover in place for now.

Most of the seeds I planted last week are now up including arugula and radish. I'm also seeing a hint of the carrots.

The pea seedlings are coming along nicely and are starting to form tendrils and reach out for their supports.

I was able to harvest another couple handfuls of asparagus spears as well.

Pea seedlings

Surprisingly, the kale from last fall has started to bolt (set flower). It has not been that warm or sunny, so I'm not sure what sparked that off.

I hope to get over this coming week and start thinning out the seedlings and maybe seed some annual flowers in also.

What is growing in YOUR edible garden now?

Bolted kale

Asparagus spears in strawberry patch

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. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 4th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)

Fenton Friday: The Bolted Blues

I knew I jinxed myself by talking about how much I love Arugula in my weekly community garden plot posting here last week! It bolted the next day and is now firey and sharp as hot pepper. I guess that is why they call it "rocket!" I should pull it all and compost it, but I don't have the heart yet. May let it go to seed and collect those to try again in the fall.

Elsewhere in my plot, the SugarSnap Peas appeared literally overnight! One day I had a few spindly vines, the next I had pea pods and nice-sized ones at that. I did not plant half as many vines as I did in the last few years so will just have a handful to add to my salad each day, unlike the quarts of them I am used to getting. This is good though as I'm so busy planting other things and harvesting strawberries, salad greens, broccoli, and herbs, that any more peas would be wasted.

I checked on my Turnips by pulling one out. It is still baby-sized. I took it home and cleaned it and shaved it to taste it. It was awful! Baby turnips are not like baby carrots or greens in that respect. Anyone grow turnips? This is my first time. When are they really ready to eat?





BTW, you'll find me at the Washington Gardener Magazine table tomorrow at Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville, MD, from 9am-3pm for their annual Garden Party. It is to benefit the Friends of Brookside Gardens and is a wonderful event for local gardeners to learn about local garden clubs, participate in a plant swap, enter the raffle, attend garden talks, and much more. I hope to see many of you there!