Yesterday I spent much of the morning planting and then mulching the bush squashes. I planted 16 of them in a 40 by 4 foot bed. That is a lot of squash, but I also have some vining types yet to plant. I gave them the same treatment I usually do, mixing in a shovelful of compost and about a cup of organic fertilizer for each plant. I like to start the plants inside, which I did about 3 weeks ago. That gives them a head start plus I get near 100% germination that way and use less seeds than if I sowed them directly in the ground.
bush squashes after planting
After planting I laid down sheets of newspaper and then covered them with straw. That should keep the weeds down and also keep the fruit off the ground. The straw and paper also add organic material to the soil when I work them in at the end of the season. Our silty soil benefits from the additional organic matter, but then what soil doesn’t? You can barely see the squash plants in the below photo, but before long they will be vining all over the straw.
squash after mulching with paper and straw
The garlic is planted right next door to the squash, and as I was working on the squash bed I happened to notice the first garlic scapes coming on. The Asiatic/Turban types are the ones with scapes right now, but the rest of the hardneck types won’t be far behind. I can see a harvest of garlic scapes in my near future. And some of Daphne’s Garlic Scape Salad Dressing. Yum!
garlic scape on hardneck garlic
The overwintered parsley in the greenhouse was flowering so it was time to pull it up and then look for ways to use it. The first thing I did was make a double batch of Pesto Amalfitana. Some of that wound up in a pasta and asparagus dish I made, and some is going on a pizza tomorrow night. I also used some of the parsley to make Quinoa Tabbouleh.
Quinoa Tabbouleh
I loosely followed a recipe at Epicurious, and the proportions were pretty much to taste. I love tabbouleh, and I’m wild about quinoa too so the combination works well for me. I harvested almost 8 ounces of parsley, which is a lot. I do have some new planted but it will be awhile before there’s enough to make pesto or tabbouleh again. That in the below photo is what’s left after making pesto and tabbouleh, which is still quite a lot. It was a mix of flat and curly leaf types.
leftover parsley after making pesto and tabbouleh
I’ll close with one last image of the baby bluebirds. I captured this when they were eight days old. They are starting to look a little bit like bluebirds. They all seem to be doing fine, and they should fledge sometime next week.
baby bluebirds at day 8
I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend and I will be back soon with more happenings from HA!
Scapes already? There is no sign of scapes on my garlic, but then I only grow one type so I don’t get a harvest over time, they come in all at once. And I wish I had some parsley about now. I want to expand out on salad dressings this year. I made a blue cheese dressing yesterday for the first time, but what I wanted to try was a green goddess dressing. I’ve got the tarragon and chives, but this year’s parsley is too small.
Wow – 16 squash plants – that is a lot of squash! I’m trying a couple of new varieties this year, including a winter squash which is something I haven’t grown before. I start them indoors as well, but I’ve been a bit behind schedule and only sown them a few days ago. Hopefully the winter squash has time to actually develop. BTW – that quinoa tabbouleh looks amazing. I love quinoa so this is definitely a recipe that I will be trying.
No garlic appearing on my plants yet but hopefully soon. Thanks for the baby bluebirds update.
I meant no garlic scape appearing ….