Oh, summer slow down just a little bit, would you? Late July in the garden is so delightful and I am soaking it up as best I can. Enjoying the early evening stroll through the garden beds, putting together a dinner with this and that, with so many options these days.
I harvested our garlic yesterday, and that's drying now under the roof of the garden shed. I didn't grow quite enough to save any for planting this fall, so I'll have to buy it again. Maybe next year I'll manage to grow enough for saving. But still - I think I grew enough to last us well into the winter and maybe even until spring.
The tomatoes are just at the very beginning of their time, and we've brought a few in to enjoy. But soon, we'll be swimming in them and I'll be spending a lot more time in the kitchen preserving them. Beans, cucumbers (just a few), summer squash, lots of greens, and the last of the shelling peas are all coming in these days. And the flowers, oh how I'm enjoying those flowers.
Steve says my love for the garden keeps me focused on what's going well, and sometimes I gloss over (even to myself) the trouble spots. I must confess this is true of the potatoes this year - we planted so many, and are struggling right now with potato bugs. The handpicking is hard to keep up with, and we worry about the damage that will be done to the plants before it's harvesting time. Steve says the potatoes are a challenge every year (and again, my memory fails me on this), for one reason or another. But we live in Maine!, I say. We must grow potatoes! (And they store so well!) So we'll see what comes of this year's crop and what we do differently next year.
Just outside of the garden, the raspberries are flourishing and giving us lots of snacks, jams, and treats to enjoy now and for later in the year. A few blueberries are ready, and the blackberries are looking so good! Soon, soon.
I hope you too are enjoying the end of July in your garden!
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If you're keeping garden notes and photographs and want to share it with the rest of us, do leave a comment with a link so that we may take a stroll through your garden too! It's a delight to see what and how things are growing all over, and to read the comments with such great gardening wisdom! Thank you all for continuing to share in this little project.
