It is time to take a look at the garden and what is happening. July is when the garden tends to go from steadily growing to exploding with life. Any plants that may have been struggling suddenly surge with vigor and take off in their growth. It is always interesting to go out from one day to the next because so much change happens on a daily basis, nevermind if you miss a day or two.

We had a bit of a busy week with visiting my grandma out at the lake, which took 2 attempts. The first night there was an accident that shut down the highway so we had to come home. The next night we made it out there and spent the evening with her. Both nights we didn’t come and do a look around. Fast forward to Thursday and we got our first look at the yard in a few days and wowza! There was so much happening all of a sudden.

Over the last few days, we have been out every day, checking in on plants. My vines are all taking off, hiding delicious goodies within their leafy clutches. Looking into the cucumber plants a few days ago, we realized we are going to have 8-10 cucumbers ready to go in the next few days. I actually nabbed one of smaller but decent length that day to make a greek salad. I did my best to direct the plants up the trellis so that they don’t move into the tomato and pepper area. So many little cucumbers started as well, it is going to be a good year for them.

In saying that though, one of my notes for next year, is to try starting them in the house again next year. I haven’t tried that in a few years because it didn’t really work out for me when I tried it before, but I think it is worth it. Those that I know who have either bought cucumber plants or started them in the house are harvesting cucumbers in the last few weeks of June. I know it isn’t a huge difference between when I start harvesting mine, but the sooner I can enjoy the fruits and veggies of our labour, the better!

My squash are just starting to really take off, though no flowers yet. I am very interested to see if I can manage a few female flowers and some actual squash this year. The last few years I have been cursed with only having male flowers, which unfortunately results in no squash. I did actually manage a few females in 2021, but it was right at the end of the season, so the squash didn’t get to grow to a decent size before frost came. This year is going to be different, I am sure of it. Hopefully I get some squash in time. I won’t even be greedy, just one. I just want one to know that squash can grow in our garden. We didn’t have a problem growing them back when we had just pulled the junipers out and were testing the soil by planting a bunch of plants to see what came of them. So I know it is possible.

Between the squash and the cucumbers are my celery plants. They were actually planted under the cucumber trellis, and then I thought it would be a good idea to add a squash plant in front of it. Whoops. They may end up being taken over by the 2 plants, but for now they are doing well. Hopefully I can harvest a bit of celery throughout the summer and keep them clear enough that they continue to produce.

I almost gave up on the cucamelons. They were an experiment this year to add a bit more fruit into the garden…if they are considered a fruit? Anyways, they have been painful to watch grow. It’s like watching paint dry….sooooo slow. They seem to be taking off now, but whether or not I will get any fruit? We will see. For now I will let them grow and then decide at the end of the summer if I will bother trying again. I’m hoping to at least try one to see if I even like them. If I do, then I will start them in the house next year so that we get a good head start on the slow pace of growth.

Due to some open space at the end of the garden bed, I plunked in some zucchini seeds very late in the season, on June 8. I guess that isn’t super late, but considering that is usually one of the first things I put into the ground in May…it feels late. Anyways, the plant is growing, but already has a white mildewy looks to the leaves, so we will see how it goes. If I don’t get any zucchini, it won’t be too much of a problem. My coworker has already said she will give me some of hers so that I can make more relish.

The cantaloupe at in the bottom bed are on fire. My intention was that they could continue vining through the space that the garlic was planted, which is still the plan. I just have to try to hold them back a tad right now because the garlic has at least 1 more week in the ground…possibly 2. The cantaloupe is impatient though and has grown much faster than I expected.

That being said, there are so many little cantaloupes started that I think it will be a great year. I may have gone overboard with the plants and put 5 in close proximity to one another, but it seems to be working. I do have to dig around a bit in the leaves and vines to see what is what, but there are so many fruits growing! Kurt actually spotted 2 medium sized cantaloupes that I hadn’t noticed in my re-arranging. It was a very lovely sight to see this morning.

The ground cherries, which I were told grow like weeds are living up to their name, despite a very difficult start. They may grown like weeds, but they don’t start like weeds. Again, I am not sure if the seeds I got were a bit of a dud based on what I have read, but I had to plant the seeds 3 times to finally get some plants growing. Out of 15-20 seeds, I managed to get 3 plants to grow. Now they are growing fast and there are so many beautiful little husks that I believe we will have a great harvest of ground cherries.

Despite the difficulties of getting them started, they are definitely going to be a staple moving forward. I just have to try to get them to start properly, earlier, so that I can enjoy the berries sooner.

The broccoli and cauliflower are coming along. I am in a war with the cabbage moth once again, as well as some other kind of caterpillar. I am winning the battle though, despite some somewhat holey leaves. My coworker has been harvesting her broccoli in the past weeks, but thanks to some dud seeds or poor soil (I have no idea which so I am changing both up next year), I am about a month behind her. I have some nice crowns of broccoli forming, but have yet to see anything with the cauliflower. Honestly, if it doesn’t work out for me again this year, I may forego cauliflower next year. We enjoy it, but we don’t eat a lot of it, so I can always use the space for something we consume more of.

Our tomatoes are growing tall as usual and are jam packed with tomatoes. Clusters and clusters of beautiful tomatoes. We just cut a bunch of branches off to open up the plants to more light because they have yet to start turning red. We’ve had a few cherry tomatoes, but the romas and big beef need to turn so that I can start making some delicious salsa! I think now that Kurt has worked his magic on the branches, we will see more colour coming. Already, the morning after, 2 of our tomatoes have started to turn orange.

The pepper plants, as predicted, have not grown much in size. I am sure we will not be getting cayenne peppers this year as the plants are still so small. We do however, have some bell peppers started. So far they look like they will be thick skinned, and hopefully of a decent size. Our largest plants are the ones producing as of right now. Hopefully this heat will encourage all the plants to grow a bit more then start pumping out peppers.

The corn is doing very well. They are packed in a bit tighter and all of them have some seeds peaking out the top now. A few days and they should start dropping and growing some nice cobs of corn. All the plants look healthy and happy. If it works out and we get a decent haul of corn, then I already know where I will put them next year.

I’m not sure what to do about our potatoes. I have only ever grown them in the towers, which somewhat contained them. This year they are wild and taking over. Not that it is a bad thing, but I feel I am going to need to put some sort of divider in next year to hopefully wrangle the green leaves somewhat. They have taken over half of the onion patch, not that it seems to be a problem for the onions. They are continuing to grow under the foliage of the potatoes.

I have mounded them multiple times, probably about 2.5′ – 3′ high, which was all I could do without it toppling. Since then, I have just let the plants grow. I did snip all the flowers, just in case it makes a difference to growing potatoes.

We will keep them in the raised beds, but I think I will need to build a bit of a frame around them for better mounding. We will see how this harvest goes. I did the same mix of straw and soil that we did in our towers, which always lead to a decent if not successful harvest. Hopefully it works out in this style of growing potatoes as well.

The strawberries are very happy. We regularly have to trim runners to keep them focussed on growing berries, but that is easy enough, especially with the landscaping fabric keeping them from rooting before we can get to them. Each plant is getting thicker and more well established, creating a beautiful strawberry patch.

The rhubarb took well to being transplanted into it’s permanent home beside the strawberries, though I do tend to harvest more-so from the strawberry side since they are a little close together now that all the plants have grown. Not a problem though, just forces me to use more rhubarb.

The top most bed on the left side has been a bit of a disappointment. The ants took out all my cabbage this year, so part of that bed has sat empty, despite numerous attempts at re-planting cabbage. I will likely try one more time for a fall harvest of cabbage since the ants seem to have moved on. Those seeds will need to get into the ground fairly soon.

The beets have been growing phenomenally. I have been enjoying beets from the garden for a few weeks now. When I plant the cabbage, I will likely start filling in gaps with some new beets so that I have them well into the fall. As usual the touchstone golds are delicious, and I forgot how much I like the red beets from the beet blend mix. The ones that threw me off at first were the white beets. I thought maybe they were meant to be yellow, but I don’t think they were. They are just as delicious as the other two once roasted up.

The carrots are coming along, though I feel like we should have put them in earlier. Unfortunately, building the last few walls delayed our planting a bit, so next year we should be a little further ahead. This is also the first year that we haven’t covered them for the first few weeks, so I may have to go back to that and build myself a little cover to get them really going early in the season.

Last, but certainly not least, the herb planter is doing amazing. I am hoping that some of the herbs will come back again next year. If not, I am happy to re-plant to enjoy their deliciousness. It is so nice having a solid herb garden that you can regularly pull from.

Overall it is a great growing season as usual, with a few ups and downs, also as usual.