End of July Report

I have been staying ahead of the tomato blight by pulling leaves as they turn yellow, but I also purchased some copper spray from Home Depot to see if that will help to slow it down. It looks like we will have a great tomato harvest this year if I can put up the fencing before the squirrels start to work on them.

I have been picking a handful of raspberries every day. We have picked three zucchinis now and three cucumbers.

Yesterday, I moved the containers to be near the garden to get more sunshine and to ease the setup of the automatic watering system.

Saturday Harvest

It took half of the day to process all of these veggies. There is another large bowl not pictured.

Morning Glories Almost Blooming and our First Zucchini of the Year

The zucchini got away from me after a single day of not paying attention

Cutting Branches/Early Blight

This morning I finally got around to cutting branches that were shading the garden. However, I noted that the green beans in partial shade were growing more vigorously than those in full sun. Salad greens also do well in partial shade. I may have to suspend burlap shade cloth in the future in choice locations to make up for the lack of branches.

The new snap pea starts will be planted in the next day or two. The zucchini are almost picking size. There are lots of small cucumbers developing, lots of cherry and regular tomatoes. Green beans are flowering.

I will be proactively wrapping all of the tomatoes in chicken wire to deter the squirrels. Blight is appearing on the lower leaves of the tomatoes. This is being encouraged by the rain that we have been receiving. I read yesterday that there is a copper spray that can help to control the blight.

Branches before

Branches after

Zucchinis almost ready

Early blight on tomatoes

Second Basil Harvest

I made five cups of pesto this evening from the second basil harvest.

Basil after harvesting (12 plants)

Near garden with cucumbers and green beans climbing

Harvest

Kale, Chard and Carrots

I also made a second harvest of mint this weekend. A few of the mint were beginning to flower.

New frame

I needed a new frame to move some things out of the tomato frame. It finally arrived.

Fall peas started

Peas soaked and planted for fall crop. I planted about 210 Cascadia peas in soil blocks in the basement today. The photo is from the future (7/25).

Pea seedlings two weeks later

And More Peas (And Other Things)

The final big harvest of peas occurred yesterday (4 cups). I started soaking some Cascadian snap peas this morning for a fall harvest. Our first zucchini and pole beans will be ripening soon. It is definitely time to start more fall/winter crops.

This weekend I hope to finish building the two new garden frames and transplanting everything that needs to move. The next project will be setting up automatic irrigation for the entire backyard garden.

More peas

Our third large harvest of peas happened this morning. I gathered 4 cups and there are probably another 4 cups ripening on the vines.

The squash and tomatoes are flowering. I went to the stone supplier this weekend and picked up some #2 granite so am ready to build more frames. I want two more frames within the envelope of my greenhouse, one to transplant my garlic and lettuce into (to give the tomatoes elbow room) and one that will be used just for starting new plants for transplanting to other sections of the garden (a kind of nursery). I will also be building a frame for some new raspberries that were given to me.

Independence Day Update

I started a skeleton of a post a few days ago and will just flesh it out a little here.

I have been eating raspberries and peas here and there as they have ripened. This morning, I harvested about 1/2 C of raspberries and 1 1/2 C of snap peas. There is another large harvest of peas coming. I estimate that we will harvest about 24 C or 1.5 gallons of peas in total for the season (with about 20' of row double planted)
. The first basil harvest happened a couple of days ago and it went mostly to caprese salads. I have also been harvesting kale, lettuce, chard and parsley.

Lilies and clematis have finished flowering. Currently blooming are balloon flower, coral bells, hosta, daisy, and daylily. Almost blooming are echinacea, bee balm, and black-eyed susan.

We noticed the first cicadas this morning.

Here is a tabouli recipe that works well for us:
- 2-3 garlic cloves minced in food processor
- fill food processor with parsley crowns
- pulse to desired size
Mix in large bowl with:
 * 1-2 C quinoa
 * 1/2 can of organic diced tomatoes
 * 1 medium fresh tomato diced
 * juice of 1/2 lemon
 * sprinkles of ume plum vinegar

Cherokee Purple Tomato Blossom

Peas ripening

Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)

Harvest

Not shown: parsley and basil

A final look at the lily, loosestrife and
clematis before they disappear