After spending an entire day in the garden Friday, most of it weeding carrots, I've gained a new insight into how the crops are progressing after being hit twice with frost in the month of June.

In a nustshell, I can say that most everything is behind schedule, but is coming along nicely.  Recent heat has really helped boost growth, but up until Friday (June 26), it  was getting really dry. A late afternoon thunderstorm that dropped about a quarter inch of rain has once again rejuvenated the crops.

Back to the progress. I was worried about the tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peanuts and vines such as cantaloupe and cucumbers. 

But, they've all emerged and are growing like they should be. We do have radishes that are ready to pick, as well as some small potatoes and spinach. (I think we picked a good year to grow potatoes - they look great). In addition, I noticed today (Friday) that garlic scapes are forming on some of the garlic plants. 

I actually cut the scapes off the Belarus variety and put some on a meal of nachos when I got in the house. The next hot day we get, those scapes are going to be all over the place. The idea is to cut them off with a scissor so the plant sends energy to the bulb, making it larger. 

And since the scapes taste just like garlic, they make an excellent addition to stir fry, omelets or soups. Two years ago we threw the scapes into the compost pile and last year we sold about 1,000 of them at the farmers' market. This year, I want to keep some for myself as I like the taste. Ilene says it's a cross between garlic and a green onion.

Taking a look today, I still think we can make our first delivery to our CSA shareholders on July 10. Our original target date was today (June 26), but an unusually cold early June pushed everything back a couple of weeks. 

For our CSA shareholders, stay tuned to this blog for updates on crop progress as I will use this space on the Web site as an expositor of information for your interest.