Root vegetables are ready

Root vegetables - onions and potatoes

The persistent rain and cooler weather are behind us, so it is very important to be watering your garden daily. A good long soak in the early morning is best. If that is not possible, water later in the day. Watering at high noon means that much of the water will be lost to evaporation.

Slugs have started to become problematic as well. Hunt them down in the evening by looking on the underside of leaves and remove them from the garden. You can also dig a small yogurt container into the garden in a couple of key locations and fill with beer to drown the slugs. Empty regularly. If your slug population is out of control, you may have to resort to a product like Safer’s Slug and Snail Bait. These ferric sodium granules are very effective are approved for organic gardening.

The time has come to start harvesting beets and carrots. To know if they are ready start by investigating the size of the root with your finger in the soil, if they large enough to your taste, pull them up. Continue to harvest them as needed. Don’t forget that the green tops of beets, carrots and onion are all edible and delicious.

Onions and garlic are ready to harvest when the leaves start to yellow and fall over. Pull them up, brush off the soil and lie them out in the sun for 1 to 2 weeks to let them cure for storage. Store in a cool, dark place or eat them right away. Potatoes are also ready for harvest. Dig up the tubers to make space for some more leafy greens to plant in a couple of weeks.

Carrot tops have a taste reminiscent of parsley and can be eaten raw in salads, sautéd with garlic, olive oil along with your beet tops, kale and Swiss chard. You can also or cook carrot greens into a soup or a stock now that the weather seems to be cooling off.

Beets greens taste a bit like beets and Swiss chard. Harvest them as you need them, and remember that beet greens are absolutely delicious in a sauté, in a quiche, or raw in a salad.

The very rainy and mostly cold weather has been hard on the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplants.

Come and learn how to transform those tasty vegetables into delicious fermented treats. Join us on August 25 for a fermentation workshop at the Verdun Greenhouses. Make your first jar of sauerkraut and lean master recipes to get you started on your home fermentation journey! Sign up by clicking here and learn more about this great workshop.