Happy Summer Gardening Friends!
Just over a week ago we celebrated the Summer Solstice honoring the longest day of the year and the triumphant return of the summer season. And last week we had some epic thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. I saw so much lightening with the booming thunder. That was truly a splendid expression of mother nature's strength and power. I hope your gardens are intact and healthy after the weight of those downpours. Oregon has been in a drought for a couple of years, so I never complain when we receive heavy rainfall. Bring it on, I say!
As I took photos this morning for this blog post I grabbed handfuls of blueberries to snack on, sweet and warm in the sunshine. Even a few tiny 'Hood' strawberries were around. I love the tastes of summer and it does not get any better than picked from the garden and popped directly into my mouth. Everyone should enjoy this garden-to-mouth experience.
Several times a week I am harvesting bunches of rainbow chard, collards, and curly kale. The lacinato kale has been slow to produce and been the most troubled by caterpillars and aphids. I've harvested all of the florence fennel for the spring and will wait to replant until September, as it thrives in the cooler temperatures. The first round of spring-planted scallions is all harvested and the succession planting is growing. The second planting of butterhead and romaine lettuces are ready to harvest.
The tomato plants are huge, almost as tall as me! The potatoes will be ready in about one month. I've harvested the first cucumbers and they are delicious, crisp, and mild-tasting with very few seeds. What a treat! There is an abundance of patty pan and straight yellow varieties of summer squash. They should be harvestable in about one week. A few green winter squash fruits are developing. Exciting!
The yellow-podded pole beans are climbing. The green pole bean plants were munched on by something and remained stunted. Two weeks ago I replaced them with rattlesnake pole bean plants I purchased at the nursery and those have been slow to get going. It might be time to plant some more seeds for green pole beans and see if they will catch up!
The basil has been slow to grow due to lack of consistently warm temperatures. There was even a day last week when it was 49 degrees again in the morning. Wow, chilly, brrr.
Overall our new edible garden at our new home planted in April is doing fantastic and is prolific. Isn't it lovely that you can re-start a garden anew over and over each year and in each new home? Gardens are amazing and resilient.
How is your edible garden doing this summer? I'd love to hear from you with your stories, photos, and questions. Post them here! And please enjoy this pics I snapped in the garden this morning. Thank you for reading and sharing. Have an amazing day.
Happy Gardening,
Jolie