This summer can go hang.
The extreme heat of the past couple of weeks has put a noticeable strain on a lot of vegetables in my garden and many of them have gone the way of chicken snacks. As disappointing as it is to pull up plants I’ve been fussing over since they were tiny seeds, full of potential….all has not been lost. When Mother Nature kicks you in the teeth, smile real big and say “Please, ma’am, may I have another?!” It’s all we gardeners can do. We’re at her mercy. In any case, to replace the shriveled, tender greens I lost I’ve decided to let the fickle bitch do most of the work from here on out.
I’ve been pulling edible weeds out of my garden beds and the gardens of my neighbors and planting them in containers above the chicken coop. Purslane & Lamb’s Quarters are mostly what seem to be growing in abundance around here and both happen to be really tasty! It’s been too hot for any of my delicate heirloom lettuces and mustards to thrive but these hardy, adapted weeds have this butt-hot Brooklyn weather on lockdown. It’s a risky move ( I could be picking weeds out of EVERYTHING next season), but one I’ve chosen to take. I need my salads…cooking this time of year is not an option. I’ll have to stay on top of cutting back flowers when they come, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue because I’ll probably gnaw it all down before it even produces buds.
Just as an aside, we pulled a ton of purslane up at Newton Farm and will be bringing it down to Brooklyn…if anyone has a need for weeds, get at me and I can be sure to harvest some and bring it to BK for pick up. Good weeds can be difficult to find around here these days, what with all of the voracious foragers flocking to parks to fill their shopping bags.
We’ve also got pastured eggs out of the wahzoo, so if you are interested in buying some from the farm, please do email me for info.
(Purslane growing next to the pea shoots I planted that fried in the heat. Purslane is still going strong.)
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