It hasn’t rained here for a while, and everything is starting to look positively yellow. This factor, in combination with some extremely hot weather, suddenly made my Wisconsin farm look like some place in Western Nebraska.
On the other hand, hot weather seems to make everything grow faster – the plants must be thinking, “if I’m gonna do it, I gotta do it now.” Same as with human reproduction, don’t you think? Trust me to look at a garden and think of babies rather than food.
Here is what everything looks like:
Like our homemade tomato cages?
The tomatoes actually don’t look bad (Jacob has been watering a little, too).
Eggplants on the background, peppers on the foreground.
I love eggplants. Got extra? Make some moussaka or this delicious Transcaucasian eggplant bruschetta.
Cukes!
Taters!
Have you ever seen anything like this? This is the so-called “walking onion” – it’s in its second year and is supposed to self-propagate (hence the tiny onion sets forming on top). Jacob claims that the regular onions don’t do that, or, at least, have this capacity bred out of them. Not that we are experts.
See the miniature onions on top? Neat, no?
This is actually a weed by the name of “lamb’s quarters.” Isn’t it a funny name? You can pick it and use it as spinach, but it tends to be tougher. It doesn’t taste like much, but some foragers swear by it.
Sunflowers! To us, these guys are decorative (plus, wild birds like them, and we like wild birds) – they plant themselves each year and Jacob weeds them back to the perimeter.
I love sunflowers, don’t you? In my mind, they are the ultimate symbol of country life.
And… raspberries! They are in. This year I am especially excited because I’ve been using them for this 5-minute food processor ice-cream, which requires no ice-cream maker (which I don’t have).
Click here to find out how this compares to the garden photos taken a couple of weeks ago.
And how is your garden?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
My garden is sad!! Only one box planted, and the store-bought tomatoes are making the from-seed tomatoes look veeeery bad. Hopefully we’ll get the other box done this weekend. Very late, but our first year trying this, so hey.
On a completely unrelated note, I made crock-pot yogurt this weekend! I am so excited to think that I will never have to throw away another plastic container, and that I can continue my yogurt habit without going into the poor house! (I also inadvertently made ricotta – lasagna tomorrow!)
Great site – thanks!
Ah, neat!
Oh, geez. So long as I water for an hour or two every morning, everything is limping along ok. Last count put us at .25″ of rain for the month of June over here – we’re 15 miles outside Whitewater, WI. My peppers and tomatoes from seed have mostly died off, but I lucked out and was able to get a bunch from the farmer’s market and a few volunteers from my mother-in-law’s garden. There’s what appears to be a family of woodchucks under the shed who are helping themselves to the strawberries. But the shell peas are producing better than usual and the rest of the plants are coming along nicely so far. Looks like we might have a bumper crop of broccoli and celery as well – weird considering the heat.
Doesn’t sound too bad, Kat! Crazy drought and heat, no?
Very crazy, although it did rain for about 5 minutes this morning – just enough to make it extra humid. Looks like I’ll end up at the grocery store eventually this year, at least for fruit. But we’re lucky that we don’t rely on my gardens to get us through the winter in the same way the settlers did so it’s less of a worry than it could be.
Yeah, here too.
I spoke too soon! Just got a bumper 1st green bean harvest and a nice final shell pea pile. No fruit to speak of at this point unless the melons produce well later on, but it could definitely be worse.
I really admire your mulch! And love the sunflowers, esp. because ours failed this year.
The heat has wrecked the last of the romaine & we have to eat the turnip greens now. The beets can’t make up their minds–some haven’t filled out and I don’t know why. The second planting of green beans and wax beans is almost finished & we’re swimming in them. I got heirloom tomatoes at Walmart this year (!?!) and they are going gangbusters. Both kinds are from Florida, heat and humidity tolerant.
Good luck with that! So far we’ve only eaten some lettuce and raspberries (and strawberries), and maybe some onions, and the potatoes are ready for digging. Otherwise – farmer’s market!
You should try gathering some sunflower seeds they are delicious.
I know they can be and I tried – pain to extract, dry and hull, not at all worth my valuable time. Plus, with so many kids around, the potential for mess is huge.
What kind of hay are you using for mulch? I have been wanting to try it, but not sure what kind or where to get it.
Any kind but straw is even better.
Great, thanks!