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| Baby peppers on potted pepper plant |
Sunday, July 7, 2019
We are harvesting eggplants, peppers, herbs, onions, cucumbers, carrots, Asian greens, and kale. We are getting steady amounts of rainfall on most weeks so only the pots are needing water consistently. Have not had to water the beds yet this summer. The flowers are very happy, too!
We have gotten more rain and heat than usual this year. Our grass is still green in late July! The plants greenery are full and tall. We started getting eggplants and peppers since the first of July. The cucumbers and winter squash have babies on them. The bumblebees love them! The vines are alive with buzzing with lots of bees every morning.
Both the hot and sweet pepper plants have peppers on them. Am getting ripe peppers consistently. Peppers are for every taste and garden
Tomatoes are way behind this year. I had issues after transplanting and had to replant. I have many flowers and some baby tomatoes but will be another couple of weeks before there are ripe tomatoes. Neighbors tomatoes are just starting to turn red.
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| Oregano in bloom |
I harvested our garlic a couple of weeks ago and is getting hardening in the shade on our outdoor, covered deck. Garlic harvest time is near!
Our basil has been off to the races. I took my first harvest last week end, cutting down to the first few sets of leaves. It will regrow to give me at least one more good harvest before fall. Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil
Oregano and marjoram is in full bloom. The bees love the purple flowers! I harvested most of the stems, but I love the flowers and left some for the bees. Harvest and preserve your herbs
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| Lettuce gone to seed |
I fertilized all the pots again as well as the veggies in the garden. It is good to fertilize pots biweekly and garden plants monthly during the growing season to give them the nutrition they need to produce well. Summer garden tips
The lettuce has gone to seed. When you see the white fuzzies, they are ready to save. I just pull the seed heads, break apart, put in a ziplock freezer bag, label with type and date, and store in the refrigerator. I also re-seeded our Earth boxes with some of the seeds. It will be a couple of weeks for them to be of baby lettuce size to harvest. Never ending salad from one packet of seeds Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver
In the greens department, summer is a hard time for most greens. Sprouting broccoli, different types of sorrel, arugula, dandelion greens, chard, corn salad and herbs are all available. The heat increases the sharpness of greens. Succession planting of lettuce and planting types that are resistant to bolting can keep your lettuce crop going. Plant them in the coolest part of the yard where they are not in full sun all day and get shade in the afternoon. Pots are a good option to be able to move them to the cooler part of the yard. Growing summer salads Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces
I added a couple of varieties of greens that have a similar taste to spinach a month ago. I've added Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, and strawberry spinach to my summer greens garden this year. They are not true spinach but have the flavor of spinach and are heat tolerant. I am harvesting them, chard and kale for steamed greens. I blanch and freeze the extras for winter eating. Freezing the extras for winter
Our zucchini plants have not kicked in yet. Once they do, you have to be creative to keep up with all the fruits they pump out. I just love grilled zucchini! I also found that using it as a substitute for pasta or lasagna is a great way to use them. You can also dry them to use in soups or roasts over the winter. What to do with all that zucchini?!
The annual flowers are really rocking in the garden right now. The daylilies, marigolds and zinnias are doing extremely well this summer. They attract all kinds of beautiful butterflies and moths as well as bees. I love watching all the bees and butterflies that are visiting the garden.
Summer garden is in full swing!
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