New England, July 2016

Happy Fourth of July weekend, New England! The warm weather has finally hit the Cape as it does around this time every year. The cucumber's now have more than two leaves as do the squash. The tomatoes are real troopers and getting huge.

It's also a plentiful harvest month. I'm starting to blanch and freeze collards, kale, chard and beet greens, as I'm bringing them in by the baskets full.



The Scarlet runner beans and Kentucky pole beans are climbing the trellises.  Lettuces are mostly bolted except for some Grand Rapids that are hiding under some kale.  I can still eat most of them though as they are not bitter.

The sugar snap peas almost finished, but we can still munch on a few while out gardening. Same with the strawberries . I'll be cutting the peas down probably next weekend.
Ended up with 1 1/2 bags frzn berries.


The beets are delicious. See my avatar.
Lots of garlic scapes still waiting to be picked as I planted dozens of garlic in the spring around the fruit trees and amongst the hostas to ward of slugs. It didn't work.

What's happening in your garden?

Mmmmm.... Looking really good CC!

I haven't put much out lately, I got a summer cold/flu/crud/allergy/blah or whatever you want to call it. I have been in bed, not much else unless I had to do something. My wonderful daughter watered for me, talk about a real life saver. I missed the high point of my purple clematis, they are all but gone by, but I bet they were excellent.
I was pleased to smell and see the Mock Orange bushes, they smell heavenly, and the flowers are gorgeous. I just happened to be lucky enough to catch the Swallow tail in the pic.


I have a bunch of new stuff to share, but have to get some things done. I wll be writing soon. Rock

Oh, Rock -- that pic is so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

This is our first year for mock orange and it didn't smell at all -- very disappointing. Maybe next year -- it's still just a baby.

You made my day Suz, thank you. I wish I could send you the aroma, I am sure it will be one in heaven, right along with fresh bread, chocolate, mint, and vanilla. Rock

Great pic, Rock! So glad to see that gorgeous butterfly enjoying a snack! My milkweed as bloomed, but the bumbles are the only thing I have seen on it!

Garden chores for July. 

http://awaytogarden.com/july-garden-chores


http://awaytogarden.com/declaring-it-throw-in-the-trowel-week/

camprn wrote:Garden chores for July. 

http://awaytogarden.com/july-garden-chores


http://awaytogarden.com/declaring-it-throw-in-the-trowel-week/

Love that first one. I can relate!

After reading this I pulled out my sugar snap peas (after eating the last 6) and will now be planting Melting Sugar Snow Peas, a new one for me.  Not sure if it's too early but it's an experiment.

What a perfect summer day here!!!


Country, hang in there with the mock orange.  Mine didn't smell the first year then smelled retched the next, but this year it's lovely...and right outside my open bedroom window!

Oooooh, I just love the pictures of the veggies.  Thank you gardeners.
I'm missing my veggie garden this year.  The flowers have been lovely tho and the asparagus was divine.  It pays to grow your own.
Enjoy gardeners.

quiltbea wrote:Oooooh, I just love the pictures of the veggies.  Thank you gardeners.
I'm missing my veggie garden this year.  The flowers have been lovely tho and the asparagus was divine.  It pays to grow your own.
Enjoy gardeners.

QUILTBEA! Hey! My next bed is Paramus. Then strawberries.

QB,

Rock, Time to shake off this crud/cold. Bless your daughter for helping out.

Crud it's HOT!  90.9 a few minutes ago at my house, and I'm not there to cover the maters.  Oh well, bet the peppers, squash and cukes are loving it!

CC

I am still rebounding from that summer flu, energy is in short supply. It was all I could do to water yesterday. I did start a trellis for my green beans two days ago, everything is made from materials I have around the property. I ran the strings for the pole beans to climb and they did, fast, 21 inches in two days!. I will get a pic out soon.
I found and squashed the first Japanese Beetle Monday. Now I will break out the jar and put some dish soap to drown them in.
The heat and sunlight are kicking the plants in gear and they are taking off. I just have to keep up the watering. We did get 1 1/2" of rain last Thursday night! Not a lot of thunder, but plenty of lightning and rain. Not much wind either.
Today was hot! 96 with humidity in the high 70s. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little cooler, we will see. I am finally starting to feel up to snuff, summer flu sucks.
My beets are finally starting to grow-they get my standing ovation! Everything is doing well except the lettuce. I don't have a pic, but I had a moose and a bear in the yard, they stayed out of the garden. If it isn't the turkeys...
I will be putting up another trellis tomorrow, for the cucs, they are loving the heat.
Time for a shower and then to bed. Rock

 QB!  Nice of you stop by!  We miss you, and your wisdom.

So glad you're on the mend, Rock.  Being down yet knowing you have things to do can be so hard sometimes.  Whenever I feel something coming on I smash a clove of garlic, from my SFG of course, and swallow it like a gold fish every 2 hours or so.  Knocks whatever thought it might like to live with me for a while right out of the ball park.
 
I started some lettuce - Marvel and Grand Rapid - and some Burpless Beauty cukes inside today.  Yesterday I planted out a trellis row of Sugar Snap peas & a couple of Dunja zuke seeds.  I know I say I'll never do zucchini again, but then I always think I can thwart the SVB THIS YEAR and I plant again.     Then I pulled up all the lettuces except the Rouge d' Hiver since it still tastes fine when bolted.  Filled my weekly lettuce box right up to bulging.

I also keep thinking the asparagus is done but then more fat ones come up.  Ate 4 for dins last night chopped up into in my salad. YUM! I like them raw better than cooked.

Hey rest of New England...hows about some photos of your gardens?

Today was not as hot as yesterday, but the humidity was still up there. It made it hard to have any kind of enthusiasm for the garden. I wanted to finish the trellis for the cucs, but I only got the vertical poles with a brace to each one done. Since I am so frugal, another name for CHEAP, I like to use the materials I have here at the house. So I have made some sturdy trellis out of oak, ash, and maple saplings. I will have pics when I get it done. The heat made everything a chore in the sun, so I will finish it tomorrow. Besides, I noticed a big rise in the number of grass hoppers. I was thinking of John P in Colorado, I feel bad for him. There were maybe 50 or so and I was wondering if I was going to have a problem. It just added to the oppressive heat, so I had to call it quits and get ready to go to town.  After I got back in the house, while getting caught up on things needed to be done on the computer, before I went to town, I noticed the turkeys all around my gardens. I counted 5 big hens and about a dozen melon sized chicks. At first I thought they had found a spot IN MY GARDEN again to dust themselves off. They were not dusting though, they came to the "Turkey fast food parlor", they were catching the fast food. I think they stayed until EVERY grass hopper was gone, or lunch so to speak. SO, maybe I won't be tripping them any more. I see they had made a dust bath a short distance from the garden, and I am going to make sure it stays there for them to use. Now I am inviting them back...  I could not find a single hopper after they left.
I would have finished the trellis tonight but we are getting a much needed rain from the chain of storms the radar is showing me. All the girls went in early, so I closed the coup, then closed up the barn. I might even watch TV tonight. Right now it is 8:10PM, and after round 3 of the storms, we have 1/2" of rain, no gully washers yet, but there are more cells coming at us.
My best wishes and prayers go out to JohnP, that is tough stuff he is up against.

We haven't had an inch of rain since April. I keep hoping it will rain, but the storms seem to part and miss us altogether.

Hey Camp, not sure about your neck of the woods, but we are about to get a "Round 4" in the next hour or so. The radar shows another small one behind it, that was like this one, small, but it built up as it came towards us. We'll see. We all ready have 1/2", hope we don't get a wash out. Rock

It rained very little overnight.

We ended up getting a half inch on Thursday night, and it has drizzled and rained off and on since yesterday afternoon a total of .3 of an inch. Everything is getting a nice gentle soaking. I can't say the chickens care for this, but they come out from under the cover of the bushes to chase down snacks occasionally. I have been putting them in early, at their request . I am glad I got the "touch-up" weeding done yesterday, the weeds would have taken off with all this.
I have my garden bucket (a green five gallon bucket that has a good handle, it holds most of the things I need when I go out to the gardens away from the house, like a trowels, scissors, string, etc.) at the ready if there is a break in the drizzle soup today. Rock

No rain for us until maybe tomorrow, a third of an inch expected. After mowing the Meadow plants growing between the dormant lawn I headed over to the SFG to check things out.

Todays photos for QB...
Protected Green Box. The slugs are coming up from underneath to have a little nosh but that's okay because there's enough for all of us.

The sugar snow peas sprouted but I see that the pill bugs are after them so I sprinked DE.

The Yukon Gold potatoes are dying, Pak choi seeds are about ready to harvest  and the red onions are leaning over.

I covered a crookneck squash with netting to help protect it from SVB... I hope.

Garlic is 3 leaves dead.

Blue Lake bush beans are flowering.

Cherry tomatoes have lots of blossoms and fruit. Sun gold is blushing up. Yea!


Cukes and tromboncini are having a growth spurt from hot weather last week.

As always the banana pepper in the pot on the back patio is starting to flower long before the other peppers in the sfg have even grown at all. I swear my backyard is a different zone.

Gilbertie's are forming. No fruit on the experimental direct seeded Roma yet.

Nice pics CC!

Beautiful CC.  Let me know if the netting on the bottom of the squash works.  I just pulled my 4 summer squash because of SVB.  I guess I did not get the tulle up before the eggs were laid on the stems.  The SVB's visited my garden early this year.  Next year I will put the tulle up when they are planted.

Nice, CC!

Beautiful CC, just beautiful!  A dose of pure inspiration... 

yolos wrote:Beautiful CC.  Let me know if the netting on the bottom of the squash works.  I just pulled my 4 summer squash because of SVB.  I guess I did not get the tulle up before the eggs were laid on the stems.  The SVB's visited my garden early this year.  Next year I will put the tulle up when they are planted.

Grrrrrr... it's so aggravating when they get hit. Mark your calendar! I marked mine but didn't get the netting up in time either so it may be too late for me also. I think I should have put mine up mid June. We'll see.