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| Zinnias, basil and tomatoes planted in garden bed |
Saturday, June 13, 2026
Most of my summer edibles have gotten off to a good start this year. All of the pepper and tomato plants are flowering and most have baby fruits. The large tomato that we bought from a local greenhouse two months ago has several ripe fruits. The bean, okra, eggplant and cucumber plants are growing.
My garden is planted. Tasks now are fertilizing, watering, pest and weed control. There are a few seeds that didn't sprout that have been resown. Soon enjoying the lush growth and harvesting of the summer veggies will be the biggest "task" in the garden.
This last week, I fertilized all my plants. It is good to fertilize when your edibles start flowering. My peppers, tomatoes, blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries and tamarillo were flowering and fruiting. To keep it simple, I just did them all. Fertilize about monthly in the growing season. Water when you are getting less than inch of rain during the week. Pots need 2-3" per week.
Squash-Both the summer and winter squash seeds were sown in peat pots and transplanted in the garden. They are all green and growing. Growing squash 101
Melons-I started both my melon varieties, Kajari and Prescott Fond Blanc, in peat pots and have transplanted them to the garden. Melons like it when it's hot so if you sow seeds and it stays cool, they can rot before they sprout. Growing melons 101
Eggplant-I started them all from seed this year. I moved them to their large pot summer home about a month ago. I have Rotanda Bianca, AO Daimaru, and Shiromaru transplanted. The AO Daimaru is quite large but no flowers yet. Should be soon! Growing eggplant 101
Beans-I started vining types from seed in peat pots and transplanted last month into the garden. I have Christmas Speckles lima, 1500 Year Old Cave bean, and 3 varieties of yard long beans. All you need know to grow green (or purple or yellow) beans
Cucumber-I am growing all vining cucumber in the ground this year on trellises-Aonaga Jibai, White Heron, Shintokiwa and Poinsett 76. All are disease resistant. Growing cucumbers 101
Tomatoes-I planted all my tomatoes in a new bed my husband put in, except for a large Better Boy we bought at a local greenhouse in April which is in a large pot. The Better Boy has ripe tomatoes for the last 3 weeks. I just picked 2 Chocolate Pear tomatoes today. The rest all are flowering and have baby tomatoes-Italian Red Pear paste, Cherokee Purple, 3 different Brandywines OTV, Pink and Purple, Long Keeper storage tomato and 2 disease resistant varieties Tropic VFN and Mannon Majesty. Tomatoes 101, How to Grow Great Tomatoes
Snow peas-I only had 1 vine germinate. I did get several pods but they are winding down. They love cool temperatures and lots of moisture. When heat moves in, they give it up. Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer
Greens-All the chard, spinach, mustards, sprouting broccoli and lettuce that overwintered and those planted in March has bolted. I found some volunteer lettuces and sprouting broccoli in the yard that I dug and transplanted into the garden bed. I should sow some more lettuce seed. In warm weather, harvest first thing in the morning or after a rain for best tasting, juiciest leaves. Put in a bowl of water to plump up the leaves.
The amaranth and orach volunteers have sprouted. They will remain sweet all summer long. There are volunteer sprouting broccoli in a range of sizes. They will stay sweet all summer, too. Volunteer Red Malabar and New Zealand spinach love the hot temperatures and are growing quickly. Their leaves can be harvested all summer long as spinach substitutes. Carefree summer salad greens
Herbs-The herbs are growing well-dill, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, horseradish, onions, and basil. Dill, Egyptian walking onions, sage and thyme have put on flower heads. All do well right to winter except for basil; it dies as soon as the first frost comes. Most winters in our Zone 7 garden, the sage, thyme, oregano, onions can be harvested throughout the winter. I am growing papalo to use as a cilantro substitute. It loves warm weather and is doing great! Start a kitchen herb garden!
Fruits-We got a few quarts of strawberries last month. They are ever bloomers so should get fruits throughout the summer. All my potted blueberry bushes had some berries. Blackberries are producing right now. Have gotten about 3 quarts so far off our 2 bushes. One raspberry bush has had a few fruits. The red goji berry bush is loaded with green fruits and I have gotten many red berries. It will produce until fall. I have a few potted huckleberry plants and they all have ripe berries. This is my first year trying them so not sure how long their season will be. Husk cherry has several green fruits on them. They will also produce until frost. The dwarf tamarillo is blooming. It doesn't produce a lot in its pot. It would be more productive in the ground but I bring it indoors for the winter so I just keep it in a pot for convenience.
Flowers-Celosia, daylilies, hydrangeas, petunias, spiderworts, blue morning glory, Sweet William, purple and Amadeo echinacea, lavender, lantana, jasmine, mums and zinnias are all blooming in my garden. Many carrots have bolted, creating tall white flowers that look like Queen Ann's Lace. Pollinators just love the small flowers on herbs and carrot flowers. Bee balm, blunt mountain mint, sunflowers, glads, Jerusalem artichokes, basil and oregano flowers should be coming soon.
My pollinator bed has filled in nicely. It took 4 years to get it full. It gets a good deal of shade so natives don't grow as quickly as they would if it was a full sun location. Most of the flowers I started from a pollinator mix. I'd sow a few seeds in a pot and when they got big, I'd transplant them. I'd get in 1-2 sowings sowings each summer. Since the seeds were free, it only cost me time and patience.
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