June activities

Now we can direct sow most vegetable seeds including, lettuce, cucumbers, squash, and corn. Arugula lovers will want to make a last spring sowing of the standard rocket and plant the narrow leaved Italian wild Arugula for summer use. Chop and add a generous handful of either arugula to tomato based pasta sauces. The flavors mellow for a delicious sauce.

Basil has been transplanted to both ground and containers. My main crop of basil comes from direct sowing in July when the soil is nice and warm. The seedlings take off quickly and I just have to remember to space my seeds at least an inch apart and then thin the plants so they're spaced 6" to 8" apart. These plants are for pesto, slurries of leaves frozen into ice cube trays, used in summer sandwiches instead of lettuce. They never reach maximum size because we steadily harvest.