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Celery, Corn, & Carrots

Posted on July 12, 2009 at 7:15 PM

Yesterday's hot muggy weather ended rather abruptly last night with thunder and lightening.   The storm brought cool and overcast weather today, but very little by way of rain.   So after I wrapped up some needed grocery shopping, I spent just a little time this afternoon finishing up the watering that I largely completed yesterday.           

                  

While I was watering, I noticed a little bird that was flitting in and out of the celery and swiss chard plantings.   It appears he was eating insects off of the plants, so this little fellow is quite welcome to hang out in my garden.    

 

The swiss chard plants are just about ready for another hard harvest. They are in the older vertical grow bed with a "Sunset" runner beans growing up the vertical support structure behind them.            

          

   

                    

I really like "Bright Lights" swiss chard because not only is it quite pretty to look at with the magenta, red, yellow, and orange stalks - but it is also very good tasting.                                    

    

The celery is mature enough now to use for fresh eating and also can be harvested anytime for freezing too. I may tackle slicing up and freezing some celery next weekend.   This year's crop is not quite as nice as last year's, but it is still respectable looking.                         

              

           

  

The corn patch is getting some size on it and the "Bodacious" corn plants are starting to tassel already.                                  

   

        

  

Along with tassels, they are also starting to form the beginnings of ears of corn too.                             

                  

              

  

Earlier today I harvested some strawberries for our Sunday brunch and some onion, parsley, and basil to make Italian Bean Salad - preparing it early so that it would have sufficient time to marinate/chill in the refrigerator.   This afternoon I harvested some carrots to also go with the dinner meal.       

 

    

 

The Sunday dinner menu is crisp roasted split chicken breasts (free range local chicken - seasoned with garlic and a little salt), Italian Bean Salad, and steamed carrot slices with a little butter/salt.                  

    

I hope you had a good weekend and enjoyed some time in your food production garden.

Categories: Vegetables, Watering, Weather

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9 Comments

Reply Annie's Granny
08:08 PM on July 12, 2009 
Your garden is looking lovely this time of year....actually, your garden looks lovely the entire season, but especially nice right now, when mine is all droopy from the heat. I've never tried growing celery, I doubt it would do well with our high temps.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:56 PM on July 12, 2009 
AG - Celery is one of the most challenging crops I have ever grown. It definitely does not like to be too hot or too dry - and it loves lots of water and fertilizer. Getting it "just right" is a bit of a challenge. Thank you for the nice compliment on the garden but it get's droopy during hot days too. Just happens that today was cool and overcast and I had watered everything well yesterday - so perky today for these pictures.
Reply Sandy
11:08 PM on July 12, 2009 
So, how do I know when my celery is ready to harvest?

Your carrots look great! Mine keep getting plucked by short people from the ground before they can mature. :-(
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
12:29 AM on July 13, 2009 
Sandy - Celery is pretty much ready to harvest from the point that the stalks are12 inches or taller. I have several that are that big which I am thinking I will harvest and just chop up and freeze. The smaller ones will be left to keep on growing (given more room by the harvesting of the bigger ones) and used for fresh eating needs. You can harvest the outer stalks and keep the inner core growing, but I have found this makes the plant vulnerable to bolting. I still do it but know that the plant will not go too much longer due to the stress.

I hear you on the carrots. My family tends to snack on carrots, strawberries, and sugar snap peas. I plant a lot of carrots as a result because we go through a lot of them.
Reply Dan
05:34 PM on July 13, 2009 
Your crops look very happy. The chard is so clean looking, do you ever have leaf miner problems? My chard has been infested with leaf miner and I have not been able to eat any yet because of them. The celery has grown very well also. I am a little concerned that the red celery I started will not have enough time to grow, it seems to be taking ages. Last year I grew some great green celery from nursery grown transplants:

http://veggiegardenblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/out-with-flowers-in-
with-vegetable.html
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
09:20 PM on July 13, 2009 
Dan - I do get an occassional bit of leaf miner damage on the swiss chard and beets too. What I have found works is to cut away the damaged leaf as soon as I notice it and to then water the plants well with a kelp or fish emulsion tea. Essentially, a really healthy plant in really good soil tends to be less vulnerable to really debilitating bug infestations - not immune but better able to bounce back. Nipping the spread early by leaf removal helps in limiting damage too. I think it also helps that I regularly harvest from these plants. Since I eat from the garden on a regular basis - the plants are subjected to some pretty significant "haircuts" throughout their lives. I think this keeps new growth coming and takes away the opportunity for leaf miners to get a real foothold.

I just cut a bunch of that chard tonight and we had it (along with sugar snap peas and an onion) in a beef/rice noodle stir fry. Most yum!

That celery you grew last year was awesome! I see you blanched yours. I have never troubled to do that so mine is green and slightly stronger flavored as a result.
Reply Sustainable Eats
02:27 AM on July 14, 2009 
Your carrots are beautiful! They are making my mouth water. My 5 year old is picking at least one or two a day right now and I didn't plant that many so needless to say we are planting a TON of carrots for fall/winter.
Reply hsheather
08:00 AM on July 14, 2009 
Your carrots are beautiful. That is one thing I've never had much luck with. I've never tried celery, but my neighbors are growing it for the first time. With the cool, wet summer we're having this year, it's doing beautifully.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:36 AM on July 14, 2009 
Sustainable Eats - We eat alot of carrots (fresh and cooked) so they take up a fair amount of real estate. I have four plantings of them so far, and intend to plant one more section late in the year as an spring overwintered seed crop. I overwinter harvestable carrots, but I have never tried to overwinter a baby crop to then grow on in very early spring. Thought I would give that a try this year to get a jump on carrots in 2010.

hsheather - Carrots can be a challenge to get started successfully (weak little seedlings that take forever to emerge). I think they are worth it though!