Greens go swimming and green onion upgrades

It's pretty amazing to come back from a two-week vacation and see how much everything has grown!!  A huge thanks for my friends who stopped by to water and sample radishes.  You did excellent work!  But of course there is always much to do in the garden, so as soon as my suitcase was in the door I was out in the front doing some surveying.  The tomatoes had to be tied up, the weeds needed a lesson in humility, one giant sunflower seemed to have given up on life, and of course, harvest!

Harvesting is the best work, reaping the bounty of the labour.  I gathered a huge bag full of greens, most of which had bolted in my absence, so I had no choice but to pull the whole plant out.  Lettuce, arugula, pak choi, radishes - most of each crop came out (I need to seed more!).  My mustard greens had grown very big, but no signs of bolting so I just picked a few outer leaves from each plant to add some spiciness to the salad.  I had a nice harvest of snow peas which we tossed into stir fry that evening.  The swiss chard has made a fantastic recovery from the leaf miners (no neem oil was applied, but I did check daily for eggs and maggots before I left), and a few leaves can be harvested.  My 'multiplier green onions' seemed to be living up to their name and had not only grown to almost two feet tall, but the bulbs were expanding away from each other at the surface of the earth.  I cut off the greens just above the surface, then dug up and separated the bulbs and replanted them.  I'm not sure if that's what I'm supposed to do, but we'll see if that experiment works.  I had so many green onion trimmings I offered them to some neighbors in my building and across the street.  One of them offered me a beer in exchange for the fresh shoots.  Not a bad upgrade!

Greens go swimming

When harvesting greens, it's best to do it early in the morning before it gets too hot.  This way the plants haven't started to transpire too much and won't wilt as fast.  Later in the morning and throughout the day the leaves pump are pumping water (transpiring) through them from the roots and out through their pores (stomata).  When the leaves are picked they continue to transpire but their water source has been severed so they become dehydrated and wilt.  However, if you're like me, you won't be one of the first creatures moving about in the garden in the day and you'll find yourself harvesting in the heat.  Not to worry.  Simply bring a bucket of water with you into the garden and dunk the leaves in immediately after picking them.  This will both supply them with water and cool them off so they reduce their transpiration.  Ice water would be great but cool tap water works well too. Or you could just pick your produce and carry it into the kitchen when your done and soak them in the sink.  That works too.  However, it's best not to wait too long from the time of harvest till the leaves go swimming - you don't want the shriveling to go too far!