The garden is off to a slow start, considering that I had most of it planted by mid May. Instead of being too cold, the weather was too blazing hot and sunny, and while I thought I'd hardened the starts off well enough, I was thinking they were strong enough to survive the cool nights, and had not thought I'd have the opposite problem. The brassicas especially, had it rough, but even the tomatoes, cucumbers and basil looked weary from the intense sun and heat. This last week as brought more seasonably reasonable temperatures in addition to some rainy days- which the plants have loved.
I picked a bag of bok choy the other day. We should be eating our first salad soon and it is about time!
Heirloom celery - something red? and snap peas
Beets and shelling peas. I've succession planted beets. This is the first crop made up of Detroit Dark Red and Detroit Golden, which are suppose to be more bolt resistant to our long daylight hours.
Hard neck Garlic, planted in the fall and risen from deep slumber.
Zucchini. I can't take credit for these. I started three types of zucchini indoors and then again by direct seeding and none of the seeds germinated. So I bought some starts at the farmer's market. However, all my other squash; Sweet Mama, Spaghetti, Early Butternut, Yellow Crookneck, Acorn and Sweet Meat, all came up fine and are growing.
Bush Beans.
Perennial Comfrey. I've got big plans for the comfrey - mostly medicinal, but I have looked up some culinary recipes and if I ever have an abundance I'll make garden tea with it.
My squash.
And Strawberries!
The geese are next to the garden - they would love to be in it. As it is, they get lots of weeds. So far, the geese are very mellow, and not jumpy, skittish or afraid of us as our previous ducks have been. So far, I love the geese.
Cauliflower, I think.
And carrots! These are our summer carrots for fresh eating. They are purple, red, yellow, white and orange. I planted a couple varieties of storage carrots just the other day for late fall harvest.
While it seems as though the garden is growing slowly, I have to remind myself that it is early in the season still. There is plenty of summer left. And yet our seasons are so short. Frost is only a couple months away, September if we are lucky. We get three months of eating fresh out of the garden, peas, zucchini, broccoli, beans, greens and herbs. I am ready for the bounty to begin.
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