July Garden Update

It's July, when the garden starts producing the fruits of our labor and the plants still look good. It's the peak of the garden.

Tomatoes

We have tomatoes! Delicious little red ones to start. And there are a ton of green ones on each plant. They are so tall that they've outgrown the towers. Most surprisingly is how green they are considering how much rain we've had recently, usually with wet weather comes blight and that's the beginning of the end. Fingers crossed it's a good year!

Herbs, Beans, Greens

The green beans went NUTS. I only planted them in a couple of spots but they have taken over the tower in a couple of short weeks. I actually had to cut them back to give the vine spinach more room. Lots of blooms but no beans yet. The vine spinach is really cool - these thick trunks reaching upwards on the strings with green leaves. We've only had a small harvest because I want to give it plenty of time to get established.

The herbs are going crazy, they are so big they are crowding each other out. And the swiss chard is massive and beautiful. The carrots are slowly growing.

Vines

Okay so I totally over-planted the pumpkins and spaghetti squash on the obelisk. One vine of each would have been enough. It's a monster, I'm so glad that I built a sturdy tower that can hold the weight. I've harvested two squashes already and there are about 5 more large ones growing. There aren't any pumpkins yet but those should set soon, there are tons of blooms.

We went from having no cucumbers to 5 big ones seemingly overnight. Plenty more little ones growing and there are several little melons growing on the opposite end.

Flowers

Zinnias are so dependable. Once they get past the sprout stage they just need a little water and they continue to fill my vases. I love it. And the other wildflower mixes are creating some surprises too.

Overall I would say it's been a very good summer so far!

Elsewhere
The raspberries were great. We had a lot this year, even with the birds and Oliver loved harvesting them.

We're just starting blackberry season now and there's a ton. Both Oliver and Matt love to pick them.

No sign of any figs yet, but the season this year was so late I don't know if we'll even get any this year.

The strawberry plants are really happy in their new bed, spreading out now - next year should be a great harvest if I can keep Morgan away. She also continues to eat every stalk of asparagus that comes up. My citrus trees were also stripped bare by chipmunks and Morgan (are you noticing a theme? Naughty puppies are terrible for gardens!).


The blueberries have not had a good summer between Morgan and a bird that ripped a hole in my netting... The bushes are also struggling from Morgan's excitement along the fence to see our neighbors' dogs... those patio pavers are blocking holes she's attempting to dig.