Sunday, July 27, 2025

August 2025 Edible Garden Planner

Sunday, July 27, 2025

August brings harvests of some of the favorites of the edible garden.  Sweet corn, tomatoes, summer squashes (like zucchini and yellow straight neck), peppers of all types (sweet and hot), Mediterranean herbs, cucumbers, okra, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, snap beans, melons, figs, eggplant, honey, artichokes, tomatillos are all in season this month.

At the same time, it is also the month to plant for fall and winter harvests.  It can be hard to make room for new seedlings, but your pantry will thank you in the cool days of fall that are coming.

A secret to maximizing your fruiting vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, snap beans, tomatillos, and summer squash is to harvest them continuously.  A plant’s driving force is to reproduce so by continuing to harvest, it causes the plant to put on more fruits.  There are many options to preserve the extras: Freezing the extras for winter, drying Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies, canning Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty, and pickling Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix.

We have many deer, raccoons, birds and squirrels in our yard; deer bed down in our yard at night.  To keep the critters from snacking on ripe tomatoes on the vine, I harvest them as they are turning red and let them finish ripening on the counter overnight.  Still taste great being picked so close to peak ripeness.

Continue to fertilize with a natural, organic fertilizer every month for veggies in the ground and semiweekly for those in containers.  When fertilizing, scratch the fertilizer into the soil around the plant.  Nitrogen is the one component of fertilizing that is most used during the season.  If you leave the fertilizer on top of the ground, you will need twice as much as the nitrogen will off gas into the atmosphere if not covered.  Summer garden tips

Keeping consistent moisture to your plants is key.  Irregular watering causes tomatoes to crack and blossom end rot to occur.  Make sure your garden is getting 1 inch of water weekly either from rain or watering, being sure to water deeply at the base of the plant and not on the leaves.  Many warm weather lovers like squash, tomatoes and cucumbers are susceptible to fungal diseases.  If your garden is susceptible to fungal diseases, you can continue using a natural preventative fungicide spray weekly to keep it at bay and boost your garden's production.

You can also start a second round of tomatoes and squash in July to have strong production from end of August through frost if you find your production is dropping off this time of year and you are keeping up with watering and fertilizing.  I have been trying different summer squash too, looking for one that keeps right on producing for the entire season.  Trombetta has done great in my garden for the last 4 years.  The production is steady, too, so you don't have zucchinis over running your counter.  The only potential drawback is that the vine is a rambler.  It grows to around 20' long in my garden on the north side of the house.  You can have it grow between other plants.  Just be sure to get it moving in the direction you want it to grow while it is small.
Summer peppers and tomatoes
If you had any lettuce from an earlier planting, they will have bolted by now.  Take the flower heads off and save the seed.  You can shake the seeds into your self watering pots to get your fall lettuce growing.  Lettuce will not sprout if the soil temperature is above 75 degrees F.  You can start your seeds indoors or in a cool, shady spot in the garden (if you have any this time of year!) and then move to its permanent spot.  The first seeds I sow are ones that are four season types.  As I succession plant my lettuce every 2-3 weeks, I will switch over to winter hardy varieties next month. 

Planting for fall and winter vegetables
I know it sounds crazy, but now is the time to start planting for fall and winter harvests.  You need to plant early enough for your veggies to be full size when frosts hit.  Add 14 days to the days to maturity listed on the seed packet and back it up from your last frost date for the time to plant your seeds. 

Daylight hours determine the growth rate of plants.  Since the days are getting shorter, it will take longer for the plants to come to full maturity in the waning daylight hours of fall than the lengthening hours of spring and with the cooling temperatures coming next month.  By the first of November, almost all growth has come to a full standstill until the beginning of January when daylight hours are back to 10+ hours per day.  

If you can't pick up transplants like broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, kale, and herbs at big box stores or a local nursery, you can get transplants from on-line nurseries if you want to go that route.  Farmers markets may also have them.  

I have started doing more from seed.  I re-use 6 pack containers, peat pots or a rectangular self-watering pot, put starting mix in them, water well, then add seeds, covering with soil per packet instructions.  I just leave them on our covered deck so that I can keep them moist.  Seeds sprout super fast this time of year.  The other advantage for outdoor seed starting is that they are already acclimated to the summer temps so do well when transplanted.  

Fall planting guide for cool season crops
August is the month for starting greens (arugula, corn salad, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive, chard, lettuce), kohlrabi, onions, scallions, cabbage plants, radishes, peas, fava beans and turnips. 

In September, plant more greens, carrots, and radishes.  For our Zone 7a garden, the first 2 weeks of September are prime for planting lettuce.  Try sowing different cold hardy varieties at the same time.  Different varieties mature at different times, giving you an on-going harvest. 

October is the month to plant garlic for next year’s harvest.  Be sure to order now before they sell out!  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

For more details on varieties to plant, Cold season crops for your edible garden

Caring for your new seeds and transplants
Like in the spring, newly sown seeds need moisture to sprout.  Keep seeds and transplants moist but not wet until they get their first real set of leaves and are well established.  Then water as needed.  

Many crops can be harvested into December and beyond without any cover, depending on how cold fall is.  Some get sweeter with some frost, like carrots, chard, and lettuce.  With cover, you can harvest all the way through winter and get a jump start on spring!

Below is the portable greenhouse I use.  I can get 10 large pots under its cover.  Portable greenhouse covers like this could also be placed directly in the garden as well.  I use it to extend the fall and winter harvest for potted greens, broccoli and cabbage.   Prepare for hard freeze 
My portable greenhouse
A quick reminder, save the seeds from your best performers to plant next year!  You can replant seeds from any heirlooms or open pollinated plants.  Not only does it save you money, but it also gives you the plants that do the best under your garden and zone conditions.  

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Now is the time to start planting for the fall garden

Kale in the winter garden
Saturday, July 26, 2025

The great thing about fall and winter edible gardens is little to no pests!  The insects die off in fall so your harvest is safe from pest destruction.  Once you have spent the effort to get the plants established and cool weather is here, fall and winter gardening is very low maintenance.  As it gets cooler, the veggies will get sweeter, too.

For more on how to choose varieties to grow, starting seeds and transplanting, see this post.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!   You're targeting for your edibles to be full size by early November before daylight hours dwindle to less than 10.  The winter slow down  

Look at the germination temperatures of the cool season crops you are starting from seed as some will not germinate well in the hot summer temperatures and you may have better luck starting them in shade or indoors.  Lettuce is one that germinates best at temperatures below 70F.  I like to start my seeds in pots in the shade on our north covered patio.  It gets morning sun but is shaded all afternoon.  Being on the patio lets me keep a close eye on them, too.  Right now, it is in the mid to upper 70's at NIGHT so indoors is the best bet.  After they sprout and are a good size, I will move onto the covered patio to harden and then into their permanent spot.

Here is a by month schedule of what to plant for fall and winter harvests in a Midwest garden. 
 
July
Beets, carrots, Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi), cilantro, collard greens, endive, escarole, frisee, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, scallions, and Swiss chard.  Use transplants for broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage.

August
The rest of the greens (arugula, corn salad, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive), kohlrabi, onions, snap peas, scallions, cabbage plants, radishes, and turnips.  Peas and Fava beans can be planted in August for spring harvests in Zone 6 or higher.  

September
Plant more greens, carrots, and radishes.  September is also a great month for starting perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden
Greens in a portable greenhouse
October
The month to plant garlic for next year’s harvest and over-wintering onions.  Order your favorites early as many sell out quick.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

If you don’t want to start seeds, some big box stores and local nurseries have begun to have fall planting veggies.   If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

  Late August, early September is the best time to get transplants into the garden for fall and winter harvests.  Don't forget to fertilize when planting like you would in the spring.  Keep your transplants  watered for them to get established until the fall rains start.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

What we're harvesting in the July garden

July garden at sunset
Sunday, July 19, 2025

This July's garden is a bit behind for some summer vegetables.  We had a typical spring with cool days into May.  I planted most of the veggies in late April.  I had to resow beans and squash so they are behind.  Peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and okra are about normal.

We are harvesting eggplant, cucumbers, hot peppers, sweet peppers, sprouting broccoli, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, dill, summer greens, herbs, garlic, onions, blackberries, raspberries, goji berries, aronia berries and tomatoes.  The flowers are very happy, too!  

We are getting rain a few times a week even into July.  The grass is green and growing like crazy.  If I don't get at least 1" of rain during the week, I do a deep watering with a drip hose.  I have only had to water the garden beds once this season.  Summer garden tips

I need to dig the garlic.  Garlic harvest is here!  I'll pickle the smaller cloves and save the larger cloves for fall planting.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!  I've found this is the best way to preserve garlic for using year round.  I tried keeping the whole cloves, but most would disintegrate by early winter.

I just started getting ripe tomatoes at the end of June.  Most look good, but a Cherokee Purple produced a prolific flush of tomatoes and then died.  The production is really slowing down right now.  We are back into the 90's.  Tomatoes will drop flowers when it gets too hot.  For what we can't eat, I freeze to save for making soups, sauces, roasts, and salsa all winter.  Preserving your extra tomatoes

Cucumbers started producing at the end of last month.  I had to do a second planting this year as one variety didn't make it from the seeds sown in late April.  I just direct sowed seed in the garden in mid-June and it is doing well now.  I planted Bush Champion and Beit Alpha.  The Bush Champion are ready for picking.  The Beit Alpha is blooming so won't be long!  

If you have more cucumbers than you can eat, make pickles!  Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix

I planted a Trombetta zucchini in our new berry bed and it hasn't grown more than 6".  I started another that I will transplant into an existing bed in the next couple of days.  I'll need to add a good layer of compost on the berry bed to make it more productive next season.  Everything you need to know to grow squash 

 Only the Turkish Orange eggplant has produced so far.  The other varieties I planted, Bianca Rosa and Amadeo are large, but have not started blooming.  I have been using diatomaceous earth on the eggplant and orach greenery to keep the flea beetle population in check on the eggplants.  They just decimate the leaves in our garden.  All my eggplant are grown in pots.  I tried letting them "come in balance" for the last 5 years, but no luck.  Just be sure to not put de powder on the flowers.  Even though de is an organic use, it does not differentiate between good and bad insects.  We don't typically have many extra eggplant to preserve.  I have tried the freezing route in the past, but have not been impressed with the taste.  The best preservation method I have found is to make baba ganoush. Everything you need to know to grow eggplant, in a pot or garden bed

  I freeze the extra strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, blanching is not needed for these fruits to preserve the flavor.  I dry the goji berries.  

I am using purple and green orach, Hilton Chinese cabbage, kale, sprouting broccoli, New Zealand spinach, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, herbs, chijimisai and cultivated dandelions for salads.   For kale, sprouting broccoli, mustard and other summer greens extras, I will blanch and freeze them.  Freezing the extras for winter

For hot peppers, I am harvesting Jigsaw, Chiltepin, and Tunisian Baklouti.  The Poblano plants have many peppers but are not turning yet.  For sweet peppers, so far on the Tricked You Jalapeño has ripened.  The chocolate sweet pepper and Habanada have lots of peppers but are not turning yet.  Everything you need to know to grow peppers, in a pot or garden  

For all my herbs, there is plenty to use fresh with extras to harvest.  I will dry them. I have thyme, basil, oregano, winter savory, tarragon, rosemary, sage, and lavender to preserve.   Harvest and preserve your herbs  This year, I don't need to preserve basil as I have lots of pesto left from the last couple of years in the freezer.  Pesto is my favorite way of preserving basil.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil  

Oregano, basil, thyme, and lavender is in full bloom.  The bees love the flowers!  It could be cut and dried now, but I love the flowers and will wait until fall.

We are harvesting the vegetables and fruits that are synonymous with a backyard garden.  Soon it will be time to plant for continuing the harvest into fall and winter.  The garden keeps me busy year round.  It is so nice to be able to watch things grow and have fresh produce all year.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Preserving your extra tomatoes


Saturday, July 19, 2025


In July, we go from famine to feast in the tomato department.  At the beginning of the month, we are searching for our first ripe tomato.  Two weeks later, we have a bounty of them!  The tomato plants are producing faster than we can eat them right now.  There are so many recipes that fresh tomatoes can be used in-salsa, salads, bruschetta, cucumber/tomato/onion salad, on burgers, on sandwiches, on pasta, the list goes on.  So, what to do when you are eating tomatoes at every meal and still have them coming?  It is time to preserve them!

 

I freeze, dry and can my excess tomatoes.  Mainly freeze and can.  This year, I may get extra productive and dry some in the oven.  They do take a while to dry but the intensification of flavor really makes a dish.  

 

Be sure to put the date and description on each freezer bag and jar that you put up.  You may think you will remember the date they were frozen or canned, but to be on the safe side write the type and date you processed them.  For frozen and dried, use the oldest first and all within a year for optimal flavor.

Tomatoes sliced and in quart freezer bag

During peak season for any produce, you can get the lowest prices at your neighborhood farm or farmers market for fresh tomatoes, too.  In many cases you can get a huge discount for any bruised or blemished tomatoes.  These are great to use for preserving, just be sure to remove any soft spots.

Right now, I prefer to freeze because it is so hot that I don’t want to turn on any heat generators inside the house.  For cherry type tomatoes, I just half them and throw them in a quart freezer bag and put in the freezer.  For larger tomatoes, I slice then put them in freezer bags.  They thaw much quicker this way.  They will have a fresh taste when thawed and used for salsa, sauces, soups or chili.  Freezing the extras for winter

When it cools, I start drying and canning.  I take all the tomatoes still left from last year and can those in the fall.  I dry fresh ones on the patio when it gets cool, too.


I just love “sun dried” tomatoes right out of my own dehydrator.  You can dry them in the oven too if your oven temp goes down low enough. 150-200 degrees F is recommended and the lower the temp, the redder the dried tomato.  The higher temps will cause the dried fruit to darken.  It will take 6-10 hours for the tomato to dry.  You want to make sure they are completely dry or they will mold in the jar.  Store your dried tomatoes in a quart jar or ziplock to use until next year.  
Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies

Chocolate and black tomatoes oven dried

Only a water bath is needed for canning tomatoes because they are acidic.  Make sure you follow a sauce recipe exactly as it is critical for keeping to the right acid level.  I use Weck's canning jars and antique canning jars with glass lids.  They are all glass, including the lid, so no worries about what is in the lining of the lids.  Weck's are a really pretty shape and stack wonderfully if you want to store the most in your space.  They are made in Germany.  I haven't found any all glass canning jars made in the USA, unless you purchase antique jars.  


All you need to can tomato sauce is a large pot, canning jars, a metal funnel, and tongs.  A pressure canner is not needed for acidic foods like tomatoes.  Always follow the recipe as written to insure food safety.  For more on canning, see  Water bath canning versus pressure canning

I throw the entire tomato (without the stem) into the food processor.  Most recipes say to remove the peel and seeds because they can impart a bitter taste.  I have not had any bitterness in my sauces and there are lots of nutrition in the seeds and peels so I make use of the entire fruit.  I also use all types of tomatoes and not just the paste tomatoes.  You will likely have more juice in non-paste tomatoes so cooking them down will take a bit longer to get a thick sauce.

 

Paste tomatoes are meatier and make a silkier sauce which is nice for soups.  I always have a paste tomato in my garden and try to have one per bag when I freeze them.  My favorite paste is the heirloom Italian Pear Paste.  It provides lots of huge, red tomatoes.

This is a good time to save the seeds from the best, biggest, tastiest tomatoes for your garden next year.  Only save seeds from plants that do not have a disease.  I take the seeds and put them in water to let them ferment.  Those that float are not viable.  I remove these, lay the good seeds on a paper towel to dry thoroughly, then place in a zip lock bag with the date and variety to use in next year's garden.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Sauce in Weck canning jars

Here is the recipe from Ball’s “Complete Book of Home Preserving” for tomato paste:

9 cups of pureed tomatoes, 1½ cups of chopped sweet bell peppers, 2 bay leaves, 1 teas salt, 1 clove of garlic.  I'll also toss in some of my dried mixed herbs for flavor.  About a tablespoon or two per batch.

 

I put it all into a large pot and let simmer until it is the consistency and taste I like, about 2.5 hours.  Remove the bay leaves and garlic.  Boil the jars, lids, and seals as the sauce is close to done.

 

Add 3 teas of lemon juice to each hot pint jar, fill with the hot tomato sauce to within ½ inch of the top, and seal the lid, following the instructions for the type of jar you are using.  Place all the filled jars in a large pot, insuring they are fully covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 45 minutes.  Remove from canner.  Let cool.  Follow the instructions for the type of jar and lid you are using on how to test the seal without breaking the seal.  For any that the seal did not hold, you can put in the fridge and use in the next week or so.  That’s it!  


I will can any frozen tomatoes I have left over from last season in the fall when it is cooler.  It takes about 12 quarts of frozen tomatoes yesterday to make 1 gallon (4 liters) of sauce.  I use the half liter Weck's tulip jars which is almost the exact size of a pint jar and are pretty to boot.

 

Other high acid foods you can use a water bath for canning are jams, jellies, condiments, salsas (Quick, homemade salsa), pickles (Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix), and relishes.  Consult with a canning book for more tips and always be sure to follow the recipe exactly to ensure they safely keep.

Monday, July 14, 2025

Time to harvest garlic, shallots and onions

Garlic in foreground, starting to die back
Monday, July 14, 2025

Garlic is rich in lore.  This allium has been around for thousands of years.  It originated in Asia, was cultivated in Egypt and has been a Mediterranean cooking staple for centuries. Over the ages, garlic has been reputed to repel vampires, clear the blood, cure baldness, aid digestion.  Onions and shallots also have a long history of health and a staple in cooking.  

Today’s studies have shown garlic has antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral properties. And, it tastes great!  It is easy to grow and has little pest issues.  All you do is put them in the ground in the fall and by early to mid summer, they are ready to harvest.

Most onions are planted in the spring.  Potato onions and shallots I planted in the fall.
Garlic puts out roots in the fall.  Depending on how warm the winter is, there can be green shoots showing through the cold months.  Garlic will be some of the first greenery to start growing in early spring.  The stems resemble onion greens.  The hard neck garlic flower, or scape, has a cute little curl in it.  They are great in salads.  Harvesting them also gives you bigger bulbs.
For more on fall planting and growing garlic, Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

Soft neck and hard neck garlic are slightly different in telling you when to harvest.  For soft neck garlic, you wait until the tops fall over and die off.  Onions are the same.  They are ready to harvest about a week later.  Typically this is mid-summer.  Hard neck garlic is ready to harvest when about half of their lower leaves have turned brown.  Try digging one up and see if the bulb is large and firm.  If it's not ready, just wait another week or two.

                                               Garlic ready to harvest           Freshly harvested garlic
It is best to dig your garlic, onions or shallots when the ground is dry.  When you go to dig up your garlic, proceed carefully.  If you cut the bulb, it will not keep and needs to eaten soon.  Alliums should be left in dry shade for 2-3 weeks or brought inside and stored in a cool, dry location with good air circulation.  They can be hung or placed in a perforated bin or paper bag to dry and store.  I keep mine in a paper bag on the covered deck.

After they are hardened, I will cut off the dry stalks above the clove/bulb and trim the roots.  Onions and shallots I put in the basement in a cardboard box in a dark area.  Garlic I'll keep them in a bag with good air circulation indoors until I am ready to peel them.

If you planted a combo of elephant garlic (which is actually a type of leek), hard neck and soft neck garlic and are wondering how to tell them apart now.

Leek flower
Garlic scape
You can tell the difference in the two by looking at the flowers.  Leeks have a onion type flower while hard neck garlic has a curly scape flower.

Your soft neck garlic will have a much smaller stem than the elephant garlic does.



For the longest storage, soft neck garlic is the ticket.  It is also the strongest flavored.  Hard necked is milder and easier to peel.  I like elephant garlic because you get so much from each plant.

My garlic and shallots did well this year.  I put in many different types of onions this spring and they did not do that great.  The bulbs stayed small.  Most of my potato onions that I planted last fall disappeared.  I'll dig where they were at to confirm if I lost them or they have just gone dormant.

For onions, make sure you are getting the right type of onion based on the amount of daylight you get.  Long day onions are for northern states, short day onions for southern states and intermediate onions for the center of the country where I live.  I only did one long day onion and the rest were intermediate.  

To preserve my garlic, I peel them and put them in apple cider vinegar with a few hot peppers for pickled garlic.  A trick I saw recently for quick peeling is to just stab the clove with a paring knife and pull out of the skin.  I keep my pickled garlic in the frig and they have stayed firm for me for two years.  I had tried keeping the dried, fresh cloves in years past, but always lost some.  This way, I don't lose a single clove!

I use my garlic for garlic cheese bread, cooking, and salsa.  Quick, homemade salsa

Everyone knows of garlic in sauces and on cheese bread.  A few years back, we tried roasted garlic.  It dramatically mellows the flavor.  I just put a few heads in a small baking dish, add chicken stock to just about level to the cut heads, and let bake covered at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until soft.  It is a great spread on french bread!

For those on keto diets or have gluten issues, I found a recipe for bread that takes about 3 minutes to make with almond flour.  I mix in a small pyrex storage bowl, 3 tablespoons of almond flour, 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 egg.  Microwave for 90 seconds and you have instant, hot bread!  You can use butter or coconut oil as a substitute for olive oil.  I also add about a teaspoon of dried herbs and mix in with the other ingredients for a more savory bread.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

What's happening in the mid July edible garden

Butterfly on zinnias in the garden
Sunday, July 13, 2025

We are harvesting eggplants, peppers, sprouting broccoli, herbs, okra, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, summer greens, fruits and tomatoes.   We are getting steady amounts of rainfall on most weeks so only the pots are needing water consistently.  Have had to water the beds twice so far this summer.  The flowers are very happy, too! 

We started getting tomatoes, cucumbers, husk cherries, Aronia berries, raspberries, blackberries, and overwintered hot peppers at the end of June.  Lettuce bolted at the end of May and there are new volunteers up here and there to harvest from. Okra, some more peppers and one eggplant started producing this month.  I am getting most of my salads from summer greens. 

Both the hot and sweet pepper plants have been producing for a few weeks.  The Ancho peppers, chocolate sweet peppers, and sweet banana peppers have not started ripening yet.  Surprisingly the sweet banana pepper doesn't even have flowers yet.  It is in a pot that is pretty shady.  I may need to move it to more sun.  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Tomatoes are producing decent this year.  We have gotten more rain and heat than usual this year.  Our grass is still green in late July!  The small tomatoes have produced quite a few.  The larger tomatoes are not breaking records but are getting a couple a week from each plant.  The Cherokee Purple in the garden bed has died back. 

Herbs are doing great.  Thyme, oregano, and basil are covered in tiny flowers.  The bumblebees love the herb flowers!  They are alive with buzzing with lots of bees every morning.

I have an apple tree, raspberries, blackberries, Aronia berries, Goji berries, husk cherries, blackberries and a tamarillo for fruit this year.  I have gotten fruit off all but the Goji berry and tamarillo so far this season.  The Goji berry bush just started flowering so it shouldn't be long now for it.  The tamarillo started flowering a couple of weeks ago and has green fruits on it so it should be soon for it as well.  I'm trying to grow enough fruits that I can eat in my homemade cereal in the morning year round.  The husk cherries and tamarillo plants are both annuals.  I may be able to overwinter the tamarillo so it produces earlier next year.  The blackberry, raspberry and blueberry bushes were all transplanted last year so it will be a couple of years before I get much production off of them.

I am getting about 2 cucumbers every 3-4 days which is plenty for me to eat fresh and make pickles for my husband.  I am only getting Turkish Orange eggplant.  So far the other three varieties AO Daimaru, Amadeo, and Listada de Gandia have not fruited.  All do well in our heat and humidity and don't turn bitter like other varieties do.  I have 4 plants so getting 2 per week when they all start producing.  I have them growing in partial shade in pots.  I could likely double the production if I sat them out in full sun.   

I planted two okra, Red Burgundy, this year as I am the only one that eats it and two plants are all I need to put up enough okra for me for the year.  It has beautiful burgundy stems and fruits and large, creamy hibiscus looking flowers.  It is a beautiful plant but very short this year.  Not sure why.  It is producing on both 2' tall plants.
Oregano in bloo

For basil, they are bushy and I can take my first harvest anytime.  You should take no more than a third of the plant at a time.  It will regrow to give me at least one more good harvest before fall.  If you wait to harvest, if you pinch the flowers off, it will keep the stems from getting woody.  Cardinal basil seems to not have this woody habit and it has a strong flavor to boot.  I grow the sweet basil and let it flower because the bees love it and harvest the Cardinal basil for pesto.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

I think the garlic and shallots are close to ready to be harvested.  It doesn't look like the onions have bulbed, but I need to brush back the dirt and verify.  After harvesting, I will harden in the shade on our outdoor, covered deck for a couple of weeks before bringing indoors and putting it in a dry, dark place to store until I am ready to pickle it and take cloves to replant in the fall.  Garlic harvest time is near!

Oregano is in full bloom.  The bees love the purple flowers!  It could be cut and dried now, but I love the flowers and will wait until fall.  Harvest and preserve your herbs

Lettuce gone to seed
I fertilized all the pots again as well as some of 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
  
Most of my typical lettuce has gone to seed.  When you see the white fuzzies, they are ready to remove the seeds.  I just pull the seed heads, break apart, put in a ziplock freezer bag, label with type and date, and store in the refrigerator.  It is time to get more seedlings going for the fall harvests.  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, orach, amaranth, chard and herbs are all available.  The heat increases the sharpness of most 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.  The greens that do not get bitter that I grow for summer salads are sprouting broccoli, New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, orach and amaranth.  Giant Blue Feather lettuce is not too sharp in taste and is a prolific self-seeder.  Growing summer salads  Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

I am not growing zucchini this year.  They produce more than we can eat at once.  You can use it as a substitute for pasta or lasagna to use up the extras.  You can also dry them to use in soups or roasts over the winter.  What to do with all that zucchini?!

I am growing Trombetta squash which can be used either as a summer or winter squash.  It is much less susceptible to diseases and it does not over produce.  It's the summer squash I am growing every year now.  I put it in a new bed and it hasn't grown over 6".  I have started another one that I will put in an existing bed.  The pole beans that I started in this new bed have not grown much either.  I'll need to add compost to this new bed this fall to get it up to snuff for next year.  

I have a butternut squash that did well last year in an existing bed, but seems to be struggling this year which is a bummer because I love using them for pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie!

The annual flowers are really rocking in the garden right now.  The daylilies, marigolds, zinnias, and celosias 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!