What's happening in the early July edible garden

Marigold and tomato in July garden

Monday, July 5, 2021

This year has been a slow start to summer loving vegetables.  The only ripe summer lovers we have gotten so far are cucumbers.  The rest are flowering and have baby fruits, but usually I would have been harvesting peppers and summer squash throughout June.  This is the first time in memory that I did not have a ripe tomato on the Fourth of July.  It should be soon!

We are harvesting lettuce, New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, herbs, onions, cucumbers, carrots, Asian greens, and kale.   Flowers that are blooming are daylilies, petunias, hollyhocks, gladiolus, hostas, jasmine, lantana, gardenia, zinnias, carrots (look like Queen Ann's Lace).  My red and variegated Cock's Comb and red Chinese Woolflower have small flowers on them but will get much larger this month.  

We had a normal spring this year.  Summer so far has had cool days and hot days.  Rainfall has been typical this summer.  I have had to water the beds on weeks with no rainfall and I am watering the pots about every 3 days.  

Both the new hot and sweet pepper plants have flowers and baby peppers on them.  I planted a couple of sweet peppers for snacking and a few Ancho pepper plants for drying and making chili powder.  My two hot pepper plants I overwintered have had ripe peppers for a month now.  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Tomatoes are way behind again this year.  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.  I am having a lot of vole issues this year tunneling all around my tomato and summer squash plants.  It looks like I will need to re-sow my zucchini after the latest attack.

My first ripe eggplant, besides the one I overwintered, will be the Turkish Orange.  It has some fruits that are about full size and should be turning orange soon.  I love the taste of this eggplant.  It has a smoky flavor; plus the orange fruits are pretty!

I have one green bean growing.  I am usually harvesting them steadily this time of year.  Shouldn't be long now, though.  Lots of flowers going.  

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!

I got basil planted late this year.  There is enough to harvest fresh leaves for cooking but will be another 2-3 weeks before cutting back to make pesto.  My husband just loves pesto.  I make big batches of it and freeze for using the rest of the year.  I should get at least two good harvests for pesto making.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Oregano and thyme is in full bloom.  The bees love the purple and lavender flowers!  I can harvest any time now, but I love the flowers and so do the bees.  Harvest and preserve your herbs

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

  

My second round of 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.  The third round is bolting.  I do have a fourth round growing.  I sowed those seeds a month ago.  They have just really started filling out.  It will be a couple more 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, amaranth, Asian greens, orach, chard and herbs are all available.  The heat increases the sharpness of most greens.  Succession planting of lettuce every 3 weeks 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.  Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

I sowed a couple of varieties of greens that have a similar taste to spinach two month ago.  I grow Malabar spinach and New Zealand spinach each summer now.  They love the heat and have a juicy leaf.   They have been growing rapidly for the last month.  For lettuce leaf substitutes, I always grow sprouting broccoli.  New standbys are Chinese Hilton cabbage, Chinese multi-colored amaranth and different colors of orach.  All three do well in the heat and have sweet leaves similar in taste and texture to lettuce.  Growing summer salads  

Chard, dandelion greens, sprouting broccoli, mustard greens and kale can all be harvested for steamed greens if the leaves aren't prime for salads.  The smallest leaves are the sweetest.  I blanch and freeze the larger leaves for winter eating.  Freezing the extras for winter

I have some volunteer vines in the cucurbit family.  One has small green fruits and another has small yellow fruits.  Think one is a watermelon and the other a squash.  Will know soon!

It looks like I will have to re-sow my zucchini that the vole attacked.  Zucchini is such a great producer!  There are so many different ways to use it.  My favorites are for grilling with fresh and then making spaghetti noodles with any additional we can't eat.  Really healthy substitute for pasta.  You can also dry them to use in soups or roasts over the winter.  What to do with all that zucchini?!

Summer garden is close to being in full swing!