The Garden in Early July

Peas are prolific in late-June and early July. These are sugar snap peas, planted from seed. The nasturtium leaves on the left are very tasty in a salad, as are the slightly spicy flowers.

Arugula can be planted every three or four weeks from April through August for a continual crop. We not only put this in salad, but add it to pesto and toss it on the top of a hot pizza when we take the pizza out of the oven.

Here is the chard growing in the raised bed at Country Garden. It can get added to any dish that you’d use spinach in. One of our favorites is to slice chard into ribbons and briefly cook it with scallions, garlic, and olive oil. (Hot pepper flakes too if you like spicy.) Then toss with pasta and serve with grated parm.

Don’t wait for “supermarket size” heads on your broccoli. Homegrown broccoli crowns are smaller. Harvest when they look like this! These plants will continue to make new small heads of broccoli for the rest of the summer and fall.

Thin kale at this time of year and eat what you pull out! Kale is great in a “grass salad.” (Not really grass – that’s just the name of the dish.) Slice kale leaves, and any other salad lettuce or greens, into ribbons. Toss with a lemon vinaigrette and sprinkle the top with toasted almonds. YUM.