Midsummer garden update

Well, so far, so good. After the scary appearance of blossom end rot on two of the heirloom plum tomatoes (Juliets, I think, but since my husband buried its name tag during planting, it’s anybody’s guess, really) that led to me wildly flinging them into the woods, no more have reared its ugly (and I do mean ugly) head. 

There are 3 varieties of eggplant planted in the garden: the large Italian kind, the slim Japanese, and the variegated slim purple and white. With the exception of that first Japanese one that had the hole burrowed through it, there has been no further defacement of them. Each plant has 2 or 3 eggplants growing on it, except one of the Japanese eggplants has 6! 

The peppers have (so far) been problem free. No mishaps, like last year, when I mistook the small pepper seedlings I had just planted for basil and snapped off the tops of all but one of them before I realized my mistake. Each plant still produced, but not much. Quelle let-down. This year, they look amazing. Now excuse me while I go knock on wood. 

I pulled up one of the beets to see if they were ready. They were not. The beet was so small I could barely see it at the bottom of the greens. I will take another peek at them, and at the carrots, to see if they are nearing pickable size. 

The peas are exhausted, so I pulled those out and threw them in the compost. A zucchini that was growing from seed in a pot took its place. The string beans are winding down but still producing. Speaking of zucchini, those plants are continually producing one or two zuccs per day. It’s to the point that I am grating it into my salads to use it up before it gets to the stage where it is chicken food, vs human food. The yellow squash is a little less prolific, maybe one or two offerings per week. 

The lettuce is doing okay, but looking a bit bedraggled. I’m not sure what kind of spinach we planted this season, but it had no appeal, and seemed to go right from sprouting to bolting without any edible, pickable stage in between. Note to self: write down names of types of vegetables planted! Don’t count on finding stake with name after husband is through planting! 

The potatoes and watermelon look pretty good, but that is no indication that they will produce anything edible. My fingers are crossed though. 

Now, if I could only get some time to pick the blueberries! I priced blueberry rakes, but they cost more than I am willing to pay, so I am resigned to only actually picking a fraction of the berries we have. 😦 There are some wild blackberries snaking a thorny route in and around my blueberry bushes, but no fruit on them yet. 

How are your gardens doing? 

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