Last updated on July 17th, 2016
How’s your veggie patch progressing? Any problems to report? My own Kitchen Garden, above, got off to a later-than-usual start this year. But the tomatoes are climbing, the potatoes are vining, and…well, here’s my July “farm report,” followed, I hope, by yours:
I should probably mention that the garden is planted with flowers and veggies that are not attractive to varmints. After last year’s fiasco, when a woodchuck devoured my sweet potato vines and zinnias, I said “no mas.” And so far, I’ve had no pest problems at all. (((Knock on wood.)))
Wanna eat something while we stroll around the garden? I hope you like Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Fresh Mint (recipe here).
We can sip something, too. On hand today is a pitcher of cool, refreshing Limeade (recipe here).
What’s that you say?
You’d like a splash of vodka in your drink?
We’re on the same page, dear. Bottoms up!
Now click your heels three times, and…
SWOOSH! We are standing before the Kitchen Garden’s entrance gate, with a view of some just-starting-to-bloom snapdragons. Like all members of the sage family, these Antirrhinum majus are not attractive to woodchucks and rabbits.
Because I like to use snapdragons in cut-flower arrangements, I planted tall ‘Rocket’ varieties. Would you like to meet them?
Say “hello” to this ‘Rocket Yellow’…
And this ‘Rocket Bi-Color’ …
And this pinkish ‘Rocket Rose’…
And this dashing ‘Rocket Red.’
There. We’ve covered the garden’s 4 central 2×8 beds. Let’s meander clockwise to view the veggies:
Bed #5: Bell Peppers. These are flowering and fruiting now. I use the fruit — some green, some red, to make a profoundly delicious and utterly versatile Basque condiment called Piperade (recipe here).
Bed #6: Hard-Neck Garlic.The crop looks a little haggard just now, because the bulbs are approaching harvest-time. Hard-neck garlic produces the scapes required for the most delicious pesto in the world. Here’s the recipe. After harvest, I’ll replant the bed with some already-sprouted russet potatoes.
Not sure when to harvest garlic? See this post.
Bed #7: Bachelor Buttons, Scallions, and Lovage. Do you have Bachelor Buttons in your garden? This Centaurea cyanus is a happy magnet for honey bees, but it is ignored by pests. Alliums, which include garlic, scallions, and onions, are also immune to curious creatures. Lovage is loved by me, and loathed by wandering woodchucks and rabbits.
Have you tried my Lovage Pesto yet? Here’s the recipe.
Bachelor Buttons, up close. You can employ the blue blossoms the old-fashioned way: Poke a flower in the button-hole of your shirt pocket. In a bygone era, unmarried gentlemen did this very thing to indicate — and presumably to women — their availability for courtship. Hence centauria’s popular nickname, “Bachelor’s Button.”
Bed #8: Asparagus. I planted this crop two years ago, but it will need another year before stalks can be harvested. Mercifully the plants are repugnant to 4-legged vegetarians.
Beds 9 and 10: Potatoes. Unlike sweet potatoes, regular white (or red, or blue) spuds offer no appeal to Woody, Chippy, and Bugs Bunny. For the best harvest, the vines must be “hilled” as they grow. I hill mine with shredded leaves.
Bed #11: Tomatoes! I planted just 4 varieties this year, or enough to satisfy my cravings for Classic Tomato Pie (recipe here.) Yes, chipmunks and squirrels will sometimes eat the unpicked fruit. But they do not bother the foliage.
Bed #12: Onions. These, as I mentioned earlier, are members of the pest-proof Allium clan. I planted the ‘Copra’ variety because it stores well for winter use.
Well. We can check this garden’s progress in another month or so. Meanwhile, in the comments field below, let me know how your own veggie garden is coming along. Are you harvesting yet?
xKevin
Beverly, zone 6, eastern PA says
Bachelor Buttons in my garden draw brilliant yellow Goldfinches who, in endless fascination, bob up and down on the stem to pick out the oily seeds. I adore the blue shade of the petals and they self sowed very conveniently from last year’s stalks. They are just coming to an end now, but I will leave them in place awhile for the birds.
My spearmint cuttings of last month ended up in your Chocolate Chunk Cookies – VERY popular and disappeared fast. That photo makes me want to bake them all over again. So good.
I am experimenting with later plantings of cucumbers, two types, one Dragon’s Egg (round, white) and one traditional green, to see if I can reduce the wilt brought on by cucumber beetles. I read that the cause of the wilt can overwinter in the jaws of those dastardly little pests. Gourds, both the larger Birdhouse and smaller bicolor Winged types, went in late for the same reason. So far so good.
Carrots in four colors are looking wonderful and I am hoping for Swallowtail caterpillars to dine on their foliage. Last year there were 3 at once, big, fat and happy. Lettuces are on their fourth round, grown from seed, sited in half shade due to the intense heat of midsummer.
I have 17 tomato plants, some two to a cage, and the most attractive is ‘Velvet Red’, a cherry type with distinctive silvery, fuzzy foliage. Most of the tomatoes are heirloom plants and my dehydrator will be working overtime shortly.
Peas were just pulled, shelling and edible-podded, and both the bush and pole Beans are now coming in. I love how this reduces the bill at the grocery store.
PS: Almost time to look for your Primula seeds to save them for the winter sowing jugs. Mine this year yielded over 200 seedlings in one jug! I have told lots of friends about your Winter Sowing articles. You are so handy as a resource…xoxoxox
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Beverly – Boo-hiss. I’m not sure why, but the always-reliable Primula japonica disappeared from my woodland garden last year. Will have to seek out more of these “candelabra primroses” in time for winter-sowing. Enjoy your garden!
Myrtle Miller says
If you don’t use insecticides in your garden and woodchucks eat insects you could plant them their own little garden with their favorite things. Away from your own garden. Their stomachs can’t be that big.
Nancy says
Japanese Beetles – we are currently having a mini-invasion in eastern PA!
Shirley B. says
It’s WAY too hot for anything to be flourishing here in Southeast Texas! Just trying to keep what’s still hanging on…hanging on. WATERWATERWATER
Mary in Iowa says
Have been harvesting peppers, cabbage, kale, beets , lettuce, basil, zucchini and carrots. Onions and soft neck garlic are harvested and curing, and Magic Molly purple fingerling potatoes are beginning to get that bedraggled look prior to harvesting. The 27 tomatoes–6 varieties–are loaded with green fruits, none ripe yet. Self sown bachelor’s buttons, and pink and yellow rocket snaps are blooming their heads off. Cucumbers, cantaloupe and butternut squashes are vining, but are just now producing tiny fruits. It will be awhile before they’re ready to harvest. Like Beverly, I too tried late planting of these cucumber beetle victims, hoping for the best. Great flocks of sparrows attacked my second plantings of carrots, beets, spinach and lettuces, pecking the seeds right out of the soil. Will plant again and cover with my “mint green wedding party” netting tacked into the wooden frames of the raised beds. Wish I could find a seed house for the Japanese candleabra primroses without buying them from seed houses in England, where they are readily available.
Bonnie says
I’m harvesting loads of summer squash, my pepper plants( sprinkle Epsom salts around plant after putting in ground) all have at least three peppers growing, green beans should be ready for picking next week….the tomatoes….check out website – Seeds from Italy -Great prices and loads of seeds in a packet…. let’s just say I ended up with over 200 seedlings with more seeds left over for next year, the plants are all about 2 1/2 feet bushy tall, with flowers and fruit…My arm is already sore from the thoughts of grinding tomatoes into sauce….In my area winter sowing didn’t work for me, I grew lots of seedlings in a south window. Wish there was a way to send/ attach pictures…Warm Regards from a valley around Bath, NY (Valatie Native)
Deborah Goodman says
I also got a late start on the garden. I do both raised beds and bales. The bales are looking most awesome. I took last years bale and covered an unsightly stump, that because of its location among other things, I wasn’t able to remove and covered it with the loose straw and a large bag of garden dirt. I then planted pie pumpkins in it. The stump is now completely covered with beautiful pumpkin plants. My chives, lavender and sage have had a huge growth spurt and is growing all willy nilly. The only thing that is not growing well are my beans. I have a bug that for some reason only wants to eat the beans. Nothing else just the beans.
I do have one little project in the works though. After a year of whining the Hubby has finally got on board with chickens. We will be moving six pretty ladies( no roosters) soon into a coop that an Amish gentleman is making me. Some of my herbs will be divided and planted around the outside of the run as well as other herbs and flowers ( Roses!) for their and our enjoyment. Who said chicken coops can’t be pretty?
Liz says
We will probably have more tomatoes than ever this year! Last year was a flop! Eggplants are about 2 inches in size so this heat should really make eggplant parm a reality soon. Just picked a peck of lovely, large bell and hungarian peppers for dinner tonight. Our flowers are insane this year..so much color despite the crunchy grass! We live down the thruway a bit in Liverpool and those rainstorms keep missing us! Love your site Kevin, keep it up!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Mary – You’re harvesting already? I’m jealous!
Hi Bonnie – Thanks for turning me onto Seeds of Italy. They rock!
Hi Deborah – I’ve seen chicken coops that resemble Buckingham Palace. Good luck with flock!
HI Liz – Enjoy your “living supermarket.” Eggplant Parmesan — YUM.
Elizabeth says
My neighbour & I planted a vegetable garden in our apartment back yard this year. It is doing good except the radishes produced lot of big healthy leaves but no radishes. They were the watermelon radishes. Our zucchini is growing widely but the leaves started to turn yellow overnight. Not sure of the cause of either of these problems. Nothing is producing g harvest yet but my Kale could be used.
Mary G says
In NC… everything doing great – lots of rain…I freeze green beans every day and also making 4 kinds of pickles. Freezing shredded zucchini for Zucchini Scones to enjoy over the winter. Something weird… no bugs this year! I had Japanese beatles all over my zinnias but not one on the veggies.
badger gardener says
My garden beds are directly in the ground with nice healthy soil from years of composting. However this is the year I think I need to face the music that the trees to the north of the beds are enjoying the nutrients at the expense of my vegetables. The tomatoes and zucchini have such stunted growth and the soil drys out so fast. So in the fall we are going to build some raised beds. I’m just not sure yet what I’m going to do with the bottom to try to keep the tree root invasion to a minimum. I don’t know if anything will really keep them out.
Peg says
Did you winter sow the rocket snaps? Do they need to be staked? Gorgeous!!
Marcia says
I opted for flowers for the fair this year. Only orange tomato plants but not even blooms yet. The neighbor has green tomatoes so it must be my tardiness. But the flowers! All the lilies will have bloomed out and there will be nothing for the fair. The glads have one bud–another miss. But like you the snapdragons will make it along with the marigolds and asters. Looks like I will give up on petunias and plant more marigolds next year. Love your stuff, Kevin. Your drinks always look refreshing.
Liz says
Kevin, I feel your woodchuck and rabbit pain. I do a great deal of my veggie gardening on the deck as (so far) the deer, woodchucks and rabbits don’t come up there. And, oh yes, that’s where the most reliable sun is on my property. However, I still have to deal with all the lovely songbirds who have their eyes on my nano-farm. I lost my entire pea crop to them one year before the seedlings were even up. Now my railing planters get bird netting clothes pinned on to protect newly seeded veggies. For pots that can hold cages, I criss cross sticks over each level till the seedlings are established. It does look a tad Game of Thrones out on the deck at times but, hey, it’s working. Kevin, thank you so much for your blog. I always get a big smile on my face when I see it in my e-mail inbox. Green blessings to you!
Marg says
In South eastern PA we had a great super sugar snap pea harvest. Our Swiss chard is the best ever. The beets are ready to pull. We are still waiting for red tomatoes.
Pamela says
Here in Florida we have just pulled all the old plants from our 600 pot hydroponic stacks. We’ll put down black weed matting (current matting is 10 years old), add new media and plant for our Fall and Winter harvest. I’ve been ill for several months and as my health improves I’m looking forward to spending time in the garden. Always a Zen place. Being housebound for the past several months I’ve enjoyed watching the butterflies, dragonflies and birds in the garden.
Michael says
There is a good reason they are referred to as hogs. They wiped out my broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cukes,melons and more. Unlike the 2 previous years I failed to plant the anti varmint plants Kevin referred to in his article.
Lori Savoie says
Deer, deer, deer—-got a motion sensor sprinkler and no more deer visits in my garden. Just have to remember to turn it off when I enter. Garden doing quite well this year.
Belinda says
I’m harvesting pole beans, spinach, lettuce, and chard in my Adirondack garden. Some tomatoes have been set for weeks, but like last year’s, are staying green for a long time. The cabbage are rallying to form heads. Squash and Japanese eggplants are starting to set. Cucumbers aren’t. I’m happy that my Zinnias haven’t attracted any varmints yet : )
Marjie T. says
Hi Kevin
I am really curious if your tomatoes cling to your teepee structures and stay upright. Mine seem to grow in every direction and I have employed prison quality cages to keep them in the raised beds. Your teepees look so pretty…if they work, they would be a great alternative.
Gardens are doing well but I lost my rather large crop of sweet cherries, again, to the birds. they did not leave e a single cherry. I had netted a few branches, but they figured out how to get the cherries there as well. I have too many trees too close to the orchard. LOL The peaches and pears are coming in well and I will get to harvest those.
Susan W says
Giid morning! We are harvesting tomatoes. Boy, are we ever! Wish I could include a photo because your mouth would be watering. This is the second year we have had a raised bed strictly for tomatoes.
Our favorite tomato is the Sun Sugar so we’ve grown it the last four years. The first couple years, we grew them in 5-gallon buckets. With the raised bed, we now grow the Sun Sugars plus two other varieties of tomatoes. This year we chose to grow Beefsteaks and Juliets. Still in the experimental stages of finding two meaty tomatoes that are full of flavor, the Beefsteak and Juliets have been a colorful addition to the Sun Sugars in my homemade salsa. So far this season I’ve canned 36 pints, 4 quarts, plus a jar or two to eat this week. Plus I have enough tomatoes on my dining room table to do 12 quarts of stewed tomatoes easy! (I’m water bathing by the way. Kevin, do you can? Would love a few of your favorite canning recipes!)
Wondering when I planted? I went back and looked at my journal and I planted on April 14th. That’s abnormally early for Missouri but we have had abnormally warm temperatures since the end of March. Since I have a raised bed, I kept watching the nightly temperatures in hopes it would stay above 50 degrees for a straight week. By April 12th, it had. Soooo I planted them all! I figured worse case scenario, we’d get a hard frost and I’d have to replant. Since I only plant 10 plants total, I was willing to take the chance. We lucked out!
I have a dilemma, Kevin. Since the Sun Sugars are SO sweet and flavorful, do you have a suggestion for a couple of red tomatoes that are meaty and extremely flavorful? (Indeterminate, please) We’ve tried Brandywine, Beefsteak, and now the Juliets. They are all nice and meaty, and give us an abundance of tomatoes but the flavor just isn’t there like the Sun Sugars. What varieties of tomatoes do you grow? Any suggestions for our dilemma? I’m a big fan and would appreciate any suggestions from you …and any other tomato lovers out there.
(Pssst! If you’ve never grown Sun Sugars, oh my god, you have to try growing them at least once. Sweet, full of flavor, energetic grower with an abundance of yellow-orange fruit the size of cherry tomatoes! Highly recommend.)
Susan W says
“Giid” morning? Don’t you love smartphones! Lol!
Laura Johmson says
Well, here in Georgia – my garden WAS abundant! Lots of yellow squash, zuccini and french green beans. BUT, a invasion of squash bugs and vine borers finished off the squash! We still had enough to get tired of eating it, freeze some and give some to squash less friends. It is HOT and DRY now. Only Eggplant and Okra are happy.
The tomatoes are pumping out Brandywines, Sungold and the Matt’s Wild cherries are everywhere. Since the chickens like the shade of the tomatoes AND like Brandywines – I pick all the lower ones when they are green and freeze them. This Winter, we will enjoy Chili Verde. Right now, Fried green Tomato, bacon and goat cheese sandwiches are on the menu. I have some new baby tomatoes, yellow squash and zucchini growing in pots to set out soon. Want to have some until frost.
My garden is fenced and has raised beds and obstacles like, tomato cages, bean poles, Shepard hooks. Deer do not want to jump into all that. Hawks don’t want to swoop into it either. Keeps my 3 hens safe. They are busy cleaning up the spent beds. I also have raised beds along the inside. Makes it a bit difficult for varmints to dig under the fence.
Needless to say – my garden is not the least bit orderly. Would only make the cover of a Permaculture Garden. There are lots of benefical insect plants blooming. And perennial flowers around. I think it is wonderful!
Abundant is beautiful. Need to start the Fall crops early next month.
Susan W says
Love your idea about the bale, the stump, and the pumpkins, Deborah! Our grandkids would love that as well.
Steph McCarthy says
I’m mid-Atlantic, Harpers Ferry, WV, and am soon to be harvesting wonderful tomatoes. The small corn patch looks marvelous. The eggplants were put in late, mulched with an old red sweater and some dry grass, dusted with diatomaceous Earth, so FINALLY looks like we will have eggplant for a change instead of flea beetle kills, a lovely one is already 2 inches in size. I found two spaghetti squash seedlings on my compost pile. My best find this year is Austrian Field peas. Grown on some decorative steampunk trellis, they are with standing heat well and are said to grow well in winter too! I love them raw, right from the pod! Wild raspberries and blue berries survived the snow and are so sweet. The usual problems of pests and weeds still being handled organically this year, 7th year in a row.
Celeste from Montana says
SO many gardeners already harvesting!!!!! I’m jealous!
Although my garden was planted at the usual time, it has poked along slowly.
Only yesterday did I notice three cucumbers that will be harvestable in a few days. I’m getting kale, swiss chard, and of course lettuce, arugula, field cress, lovage, borage, sorrel, robbing small potatoes …. wait a second, sounds as though I’m harvesting quite a bit doesn’t it? Until my zucchini and yellow squash start flowering and producing, I don’t consider my garden really giving me it’s bounty. My zucchini and yellow squash are no where near producing!
Did an experiment this year at the urging of a friend. I started corn seeds indoors. Well, I started them way too early and they out grew their little planting cells when the weather was still cold. I planted them outdoors anyway since no way was I going to transplant 70 seedlings into larger pots. At first they took a hit outdoors but soon recovered and looked darn right good. THEN, still only 1 1/2 feet high (and in June no less) they started to tassel… here in Montana they usually reach at least 5 feet high before tasseling and that’s usually in August!!! I am now growing 1 1/2 – 2 feet high corn stalks with ears of corn on them! Looks like I’m growing cornichons. Don’t know how I’ll know when to harvest the ears of corn or when. Ah, one never stops learning.
Mary W says
I’m so jealous – mine was a disaster between the deer, the rain, and cold snap. The cold eliminated my wild plum crop. The deer eliminated my peach crop. The rain eliminated all the veggies – just watery, black mold everywhere. In another bed I had tomatoes which some weird to me new black long legged bug devoured – tons of them on the top as the aphids do. I let the remains lay and grow weeds (they always flourish) and hoped the two remaining eggplants would be happy in this amazing hard heat. They didn’t. They dropped their eggs when they reached about 4 inches long. Now I see that even the crepe myrtle tree/shrub is dying. Something else must be going on. It is close to the driveway and I wonder if a certain someone that doesn’t know a blade of grass from a mushroom, has been dumping “cleaning” stuff out there. This was to be my final attempt back into gardening, so we know where I will be for the remainder of my years – watching Kevin work his magic and dreaming of by-gone days.
Kathy says
Hi Kevin, I was wondering if you hand water your raised beds or hooked up an automatic watering system? And how often do you water them? Everyday? Here in Colorado it is dry, dry, dry. I am an avid leaf bag collector in the fall which I grind up, so that helps my soil retain moisture. Thanks! ‘Would love to here how your readers handle watering raised beds with any tips and tricks.
Mary says
Hi Kevin,
I’m new to your newsletter and enjoying it. We are having big issues with deer this year. Wondering how you repel? We have a small raised bed with tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and eggplant. This spring we had lettuce and kale.
Kendra Sullivan says
I love love love when I see your posts pop up in my email! My favorite thing with my morning cup of tea. Your garden is beautiful. I have critter problems too but it comes with the territory I guess. My very first two Early Girl tomatoes which were almost perfectly red, and just about ready to pick, were MIA the other day. A really big Cherokee Purple tomato, still very green, was also ripped from the vine, laying on the ground covered with the little critters teeth marks, as if he left his little ‘I was here’ calling card, like the mark of Zoro. I had some old green plastic fencing in the shed, so I just twirled that around my stand of tomato plants and crossed my fingers. They look like they are in jail! My fantasy of having the cute little garden with the white picket fence is so far from my reality! Haha.
Trudi says
I began with zukes from a neighbors over abundant seedlings and have flowers . no fruit yet.. or not since I looked yesterday anyway. LOL..Glads planted late because I “lost” the bag are up and we will see what they produce. It has to be better than being left in a bag !. Zinnias in front of them . I have spent the last two weeks pulling out a forest of five foot tall ferns and dodging yellow jackets. I finally figured out that a buzzy fly-by was their warning to GIT. It took two stings for me to understand the warning. I’m kinda slow on the uptake but I’ve got it now! When the sun hits the flowers the bees will be there and I should NOT be. Ahh… So glad for summer. No more dog to kill the black snakes. but I still have not seen one. I kinda like them since they eat the critters I do NOT want. to see I like the Green Blessings post . .Me too !
Linda Carlson says
Wow! It’s so much fun reading all the gardening posts. We “downsized” this year and planted less and planted late. (4 Kale plants instead of 14; Last date for frost in MN is June 30th). I had planned to plant 3 tomato plants, but I kept finding interesting heirloom varieties to try so I now have 7 plants. The beets were just ready for thinning a few days ago, when some critter (deer I think) poked their head under the fence around the raised bed and dug up the first row! I replanted with alliums. Last fall I received 3 Fall Bearing raspberry plants. I don’t know anything about growing raspberries and discovered that when they came up this spring, they were all over the place! I now have about 10 shrubs. And, some of these fall bearing raspberries were ready to pick the first week of July! Everything is early even the Asiatic Lilies. I entered 11 stems in the Lily show yesterday and received 5 blue ribbons! Huge storms last week, and our river was flooded. We could not cross the bridge for three days! Thank goodness for pantry, freezer and vegetable gardens.
Elaine R says
Here in s.e. B.C. At 3000ft we had a hot early spring followed by a so far cool summer with a reasonable amount of rain. The peas have produced as never before, the beans are climbing, more salad greens tha n any family could eat,the zucchini are producing, the squashes are running ,and I also have dwarf corn (?) tasseling. But the tomatoes haven’t set yet,the peppers and the experimental eggplant are barely holding on, slightly better in tubs than in the garden. Snaps are blooming, petunias out of the world,and I have never had such wonderful roses! Morden Blush and Morden Centenial, super hardy ,taller than ever and with three times the usual amount of blooms. Although the veggie garden is fenced against deer and the tubs behind deer net, the deer have not been around as much to munch on the roses and lilies. Rain is way better than well water!
Sarah Crump says
What is the one vegetable/condiment/whatever I use daily yet is absent from my herb garden? Garlic! Thanks for reminding me to put it on next year’s list. Does garlic get along with herbs in the garden? Thanks for your wonderful column, Kevin.
Laura says
The Pacific Northwest had brief periods of heat in May and June, otherwise unusually chilly and rainy. Early crops were quite early. I’ve been in an out of hospital so seeds would get planted then not watered; things would not get harvested and go to seed. I just planted another row of green beans, hoping we will have an extended summer. Tomato plants are huge and lots of green fruit. Lettuce and peas keep giving. Kale and chard are happy. Herbs are always reliable. Tried a new veg this year– spigarello. Kind of like a kale/broccoli cross, the leaves are eaten. I’m blanching and freezing. Haven’t found much info about it. Are any of your readers familiar with it?
Sandy Martinez says
Hi Kevin and good morning from Forbestown, CA!
We garden in raised beds also. We have harvested a bed full of big lovely onions. My mouth drools as I think of all the wonderful yummy goodness that will come of them. First and foremost-french onion soup. (Especially in light of the horrid news)
I’ve already made (twice) a lovely pesto pasta salad from basil from the garden. Our tomatoes are not red yet but the bushes are loaded. I’ll try your tomato recipe. We had a big beautiful patch of delphiniums. They’re blue color is ethereal! We also had lovely big red poppies. No matter how many years they come up, I’m always in awe of them. Now the cosmos and sunflowers are swaying in the warm breeze.
The best gardening news so far this summer is my 3-1/2 year old daughter has planted carrots on her own and then harvested them a week ago! She brought them into the kitchen, got her stool and washed them in the sink. She planted them for the Easter bunny!
Well, back to a new garden I’m planting…a potted cactus garden!
Thanks Kevin for being YOU! I love you! -Sandy Martinez
Troy says
We have a vine squash vine borer army infesting the squash! I’ve tried everything possible to fight them and have taken to injecting BT or Spinosad directly into the stems of vulnerable squash cultivars! Oh and the cabbage worms are feasting on all of the cole crops so its BT for them also. Other than that everything is growing like crazy!
Anne Marie says
You give so much helpful information! i take notes as I read. Thank you for that.
This year we have volunteer cucumbers all over the place, thanks to our compost…and tomatoes. I couldn’t be happier, since we will use all of the crop here or for friends. I’ve given lots of little plants away.
Everything looks happy…celery, basils, lettuce, chard, melons, pumpkin, peppers, rosemary, chives, carrots, parsley….Keep up the moderate heat and necessary rain, and we’ll keep on troopin’.
Don Ross says
Super dry summer here but watering lots with our good well and 10 rain barrels for when we do get some precious rainfall. Just harvested over 400 bulbs of garlic and hung to dry….best crop yet. Have been eating Kale, lettuce,golden purslane, beans, peas, swiss chard, chives, onions, fingerling potatoes, asstd herbs, zucchini for a while now. Tomatoes and peppers forming well, as are asstd squash. Overall pleased with how it is going, given the extremely hot and dry spring and summer we have had. Only disappointment was my attempt at sweet potatoes ….followed your advice to sprout them, got some to grow and planted them but nothing happened so not sure I will bother trying again next year.
Samantha Gray says
Kevin, every year I plant Rocket snapdragons all over the place. They are so elegant! I particularly loved the variety called “Bronze Rocket” – a bronzy, deep pinkish-gold mixture of colours like a sunset on a stem, with dark reddish leaves. I can’t seem to find them anymore, but they look very much like your Bi-colour rockets. Would you know about the bronze strain and whether or not they are still being bred? I’ve googled with no results, but “real” gardeners sometimes know of off-beat sources. I’d appreciate any information you might have or any leads. Thanks in advance for any possibilities you could suggest. Meanwhile I’ll enjoy looking at yours and also at mine (red, yellow, rose), just beginning to blossom along with my green beans.
Elke Pfliegl-Richard says
Bumper crop of lettuces, Swiss chard and kale. Lots of tomatoes but not a red one in sight. I’ve got zucchini coming out of my ears! Pole beans are coming as are the cukes. I’ve got tons of hot peppers and some cubanelles. Cabbage heads are forming but my cauliflower is just sitting there, headless :(. I think the heat must have done them in. The herbs are all glorious (I’m a lovage-aholic too)! Kohlrabi, carrots and stielmuss (my mom wanted it so I had a German friend send some seed over) all coming along. My only loss this year were the peas…too hot and humid for them.
Joanne says
Thanks, Lori, for your motion sensor sprinkler tip; I just ordered one. The deer are the bane of my existence in the garden, though I love seeing them out on the trail.
I am also wondering about whether you w/s’ed your snaps, Kevin.
Thanks!
Susan says
Kevin, a couple years ago we moved into a townhouse that has a nice patio and 20′ x 100′ fenced backyard. The main plant attractions in this bowling alley are two gorgeous winter king hawthorne trees (which unfortunately provide shade in the wrong spot) and some winter gem boxwood, lilac shrubs and an azalea, all planted parallel to the wood fence. The previous owner was not much of a gardener and there was a lot of basic work needed to make the yard presentable, but now we have the beginnings of an established lawn and have added more shrubs and plants.
I like monochromatic Italian gardens but don’t have the skill to establish one and so I simply kept to a couple color choices in the area that can be seen from windows. Two limelight hydrangeas are reliable and fresh looking on the dog days of summer in zone 6b. Wine/roses weigela and purple royal smokebush lend reddish-purple color to the overall green palette. Then I’ve got purplish heuchera, Francis Williams hostas and potted flowers (from seed overwintered in milk jugs!) and a couple container tomato plants. At one end, where there’s afternoon sun, I’ve taken liberty with color to plant whatever I have and like (sky blue delphinium, red salvia, mauve hemerocallis, feather reed grass).
Fussing over this little yard and seeing what grows (or not) has been a joy but no small work. So I’m impressed at your accomplishments over such a vast space. Bet you don’t sleep much.
Amy says
July Farm Report from Franklin, TN
So that thing about planting Yellow Crook Neck too close to Zucchini, it happened to me this year! I had beautiful bright yellow, zucchini straight squash. They tasted amazing only looked weird. I am harvesting San Marzano Tomatoes daily also the first of the Bradley slicers. Two many cucs to count, jalapeños and particularly lovely Poblanos also are happening. We are supposed to have a hot dry week so I plan to do a lot of watering to try to keep my lovelies going…Kevin, I love your blog and have been so inspired by your many details and handy tips! I wish you could be transported to Franklin for a mini tour of my little patch as I feel like I have been to yours each time you give an update!
Stay cool,
Amy
Dorothy says
We have been eating young onions, radishes. Just tested a hill of each kind of potato and gave them to our son who doesn’t have the space for a veggie garden. They are progressing nicely, except we are disappointed in the size of the “purple” potatoes we tried for the first time this year. The tomatoes and green peppers seem to be setting plenty of fruit and the cucumbers are blooming. Green beans are just starting to bud. Carrots and beets are awesome, but very small yet. We have enjoyed and enjoyed giving away our few cabbages as all but one split after the heavy rain earlier last week. I am happy with my garden!!
renojean says
I tried to leave a photo of my tomato trellis which is quite like yours. It looks like I can’t share a photo with you. Anyway, it’s a terrific trellis for tomatoes, especially for varieties that grow really tall. My lettuce is bolting, my cabbage is looking sad, the garlic looks great and is ready to harvest as well as the onions. My potatoes should be dug up pretty soon. My carrot, bean, and marigold seeds have all been dug up and eaten by the quail. After last year’s drought I didn’t get too carried away with planting too much. Last year was really scary!
Lois in CT. Zone 6b says
I love when I see I have an email from Kevin! I always learn something new, or I am inspired!
Everything in my garden this year has done well. And then the critters came Lots of voles, and bunny rabbits. Took out 3 plantings of radishes, carrots, Swiss chard, beets, bok choi, and kohlrabi. Grrrrr! Bunnies are now starting on the cantaloupe vines, the pole beans and the bush beans. Fortunately, my husband took out three of the bunnies in the past three days. As far as I can tell there is one left. I buried one and almost danced on his grave. I didn’t of course, but I was rejoicing! I did get in early planting of lettuce in abundance, peas, and a few radishes. I have planted 12 varieties of tomatoes which seem to be doing well and are beginning to produce. I have some that are a good size already. I grow dahlias and have loads of fun creating arrangements with them and sharing them. We have an abundance of deer passing through our yard, so when I heard that deer don’t like dahlias, I decided to plant the dahlias all around the outside perimeter of the vegetable garden. Been doing it for years. So far, so good. The voles took out my small patch of low growing orange lilies, but I have an abundance of tall pink lilies just finishing their bloom. I had an earlier lily that is tall and the blooms are quite large. The color is hard to describe, sort of an orangey mauve. The patch is 3’x8′ and it was spectacular. I wish you could’ve seen it.
Keep doing what you do, Kevin, sharing your garden and your kitchen with us!
Central Iowa Susan says
Hot and humid here in Iowa and things are going crazy! Just harvested my garlic. Snapdragons and bachelor buttons look alot like yours. Man do the BBs need alot of dead-heading!
Tried a tomatillo for the first time this year and thought it was just going to bloom and never set fruit. Read that I needed 2 plants for fruit but not so! As soon as it got hot it set afore mentioned fruit. Now it is taking over an entire raised bed!!!
Any good recipes for green salsa?
Regina says
Well, I will have to try your recipe for the tomato pie. I just made my 1st one yesterday, by another chef’s and it called for pie crust and 2 cups of cheese, which I think did make it a little too salty. Put lots of peaches and green beans in the freezer, several quarts of blueberries and just eating the blackberries; lots of good cobblers; still getting lots of tomatoes and potatoes. May get a cantaloupe or watermelon. And just ordered some oxblood lilies that I have wanted for awhile, so broke my vow to not buy any flowers or bulbs this year!!
Janet Metzger says
Kevin,
From the first year of vegetables in Dallas: Kale and swiss chard are starting their second round; tomatoes (3 different heritage varieties in cherry, roma, and large) and an Iranian squash and cucumber are doing fine; sweet potatoes are growing. I am not sure when to check those for harvest. My neighbors are helping us eat the abundance!
Kay says
Lovely garden again Kevin and thank you for the drink suggestion. With our triple digit heat index this week, it will hit the spot come Friday evening.
Here on the Prairie, the gardening has been interesting this year. We had an unusual hot & windy June that did in the potatoes. The two rows I planted barely harvested as much as the 4-5 individual volunteer plants. All in all about 2 5-gallon buckets worth of medium to small potatoes. We will harvest the white & red onions this week and then The Farmer can till up those areas or I will cover completely with more mulch. This spring I heavily mulched with spent hay & straw and am so glad. The spots I did not (like right in the rows of onions & potatoes, are full of grasses. The tomatoes (Sweet 100, a nameless German variety, Romas & 2 large slicers) are full of green fruit, but showing signs of ripening. Several volunteer tomato plants amongst the onion & potato rows. I’m eager to see what variety they are. I’m guessing cherry or Romas. 2 Jalepeno peppers are setting fruit for salsa canning. I’m down to the last 2 pints on the shelf. We moved the yellow summer squash a few years ago to the Day Lily berm to thwart the squash bugs and so far seem to prevailed. This year I could only find the Crook Neck variety. They will be ready to harvest in a day to two. The cucumbers were suppose to go by the tomatoes in the main garden but The Farmer wanted that area kept open so he could work on eradicating the weeds & stumps there. So I planted 2 bush slicing and 1 vining pickling in the peony-lily bed. I’ve been harvesting for 2 weeks and now it’s getting out of hand. Time to can sweet pickle relish! The volunteer acorn squash were attacked by the squash bore as always, even with me moving every praying mantis I could find, to those plants. The herbs are loving the hot & humid weather. I have one eggplant in a large crock with the thyme and oregano. It is setting fruit now, so in another week or so it should be ready. The cilantro is spent & I need to reseed it. The rosemary is very happy. The volunteer dill is setting seed heads. Since I moved it to the bed on the north side of the patio, I only had one butterfly caterpiller. I may have to reseed to the south bed again. And then there is the basil! 4 plants that I need to harvest now. I saw a method of keeping it by layering the washed & dried leaves with kosher salt and EVOO. I thought I’d try a couple of pint jars and then I will dry the rest. My failures this year (again due to the hot & dry in June), were the cole crops. One very small cutting of broccoli and the cabbage were eaten by cabbage moth worms before I could take care of them. I’ve heard of covering the heads with old nylons which would expand as the head of cabbage grew. I may have to try that next year.
The grasshoppers have invaded the lawn/gardens after The Farmer shredded the weeds in the pasture behind the house this past weekend. I’m not happy about that but he was more unhappy about the hemp and sticker bushes so it’s a compromise.
Final thoughts, the strawberries were a partial failure as we had a very wet end of May/first of June and they mostly molded on the plants. But I harvested enough to make a batch or two of jam this winter. The asparagus needs to be moved from within the peony bed, hopefully next spring. The peonies were spectacular with all the rain early on. The day lilies & tiger lilies have been wonderful. Someone got a little herbicide happy in my flowerbed and only a small stand of larkspur (my birth month flower) survived. But because he did spray, I had a spot for the cucumbers, so I guess it worked out.
While humans may not like this hot & humid spell, the corn is loving it. Looking forward to a sweet corn supper very soon. That is gardening report from the Heartland. 🙂
Johnnie Senn-Graves says
My garden is doing terrible. The tomatoes plants have not grown hardly at all and no tomatoes yet. I think I’m going to give up!
Laura Swieton says
Across the village, I have no problems with varmints: my property doesn’t quite link to the Pachaquack and I have four roving mousers. Great harvest of sugar snap peas this year, finally pulled them out last weekend. Strawberries and blueberries are over, and we’re hungrily awaiting tons of blackberries. Ate a handful of cherry tomatoes last night, so they’re finally ripening and have plenty of green slicing tomatoes. Picked a colander of bush beans, too. Cucumbers are odd: planted the same seeds in two beds, one set is happy and the others are stunted. Bell peppers too, wish I could remember which set I got from a catalog and which from Hewitt’s. Mini cantaloupe and watermelon vines covered with flowers and baby fruit. Huge single mini-pumpkin vine that I’m cutting back to keep from taking over. Squash is taking off quite slow this year.
Patti LAW-POGGI says
Dear Kevin, I’m planning to plant a whole bed of mixed colored zinnias. Is it better to just broadcast them and thin them later or to grow them into small plants and transplant them?
Just for interest, I ordered my seeds from Parks and on the packet it says they originated in GERMANY! I’ve never seen that before.