Fun Fact #1 - Broccoli

This week we got our first broccoli harvest. The heads are much smaller than you find in the store, but I went ahead and harvested some of our biggest ones before the weather turned hot (it got above 90). If it gets too hot, broccoli will bolt, which means it will look like this:

Doesn't even remotely look like broccoli anymore. The good thing about this veggie is that after you harvest the first head, smaller heads will develop around the perimeter of where you made the cut.

This means the plant will keep producing yummy broccoli all summer long, and even into the fall I'm told. We don't end up with huge heads here because our cool growing season isn't very long. Broccoli can actually freeze solid and be perfectly fine once it thaws out. The champion of all veggies!

Y

Yum!

By the way, we ate the broccoli raw and it was delicious.

Critter control and summer veggies

This weekend we put up netting over the spinach, lettuce, and peas to keep the critters out. I couldn't find any bird-squirrel-bunny-deer netting so I hope this will work. My next-door neighbor actually offered to “assist” with the critter control using his bee-bee gun, but I don't think I want to be responsible for ordering a mass squirrel execution.

Now that the weather is finally warming up, we planted squash (acorn and butternut, compliments of my coworker - thanks Sherri!), zucchini, two types of tomatoes, jalapeno and sweet peppers, and carrots. These veggies can't tolerate cold temperatures or frosts or they'll keel right over. On the other hand, the broccoli, spinach and peas can't tolerate hot temperatures. So now I can’t decide if I want it to be warm or cold outside. Luckily springtime in Colorado can give us both, sometimes in the same day.

Kyle enjoys the summer-like weather after a hard day's work in the garden

Uh-Oh

Something is snacking on my garden. It could be birds, squirrels, or bunnies. Notice the teeth marks below.

Bunnies are cute and all, but I would like to eat my spinach too. They are gnawing away at everything, it's like a bunny bistro back there. Time for desperate measures...

It's arrived

We have broccoli! The florets are beginning to show themselves.

Who knew this is what broccoli looks like before it's chopped off and shipped to the supermarket?

Peas are coming along nicely. And the potatoes - I've never seen anything grow this fast! Seems all that wet spring snow did them good.

Snow peas

 Potatoes

Whew

Everything seemed to survive the spring snowstorm. Next time I'll quit worrying, stay inside with a cup of hot cocoa and leave them to play in the snow.