gardening - june & july 2019 {enjoying}

little lime hydrangea

 cosmos

 black-eyed susan

 purple prince zinnia

zinnia persian carpet

butterfly bush

 chinese red noodle bean

cherry tomatoes

The summer is moving along at such a rate that I didn't write an update for the June garden. At the end of that month we had just returned from being away 10 days on vacation. We were thankful that the garden survived both severe thunderstorms and intense heat while we were away.

We are enjoying so much fresh produce for meals and cut flowers for decorating. I almost feel like I'm harvesting more blooms than food this year! The past couple of years we have hit the 500 pound mark for total produce harvested. I don't know if we will make it to that number this year. We have many potatoes and carrots to still harvest as well as, hopefully, more squash and tomatoes, and all those vegetables weigh a lot, so we'll see.

Of course what we most enjoy is eating fresh and then putting aside the extra for winter. Already I have strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, and snow peas in the freezer and have dehydrated many herbs and kale. Today, I actually need to process some beets for freezing and dehydrate more parsley.

We are stil enjoyig kale and chard for salads, herbs for seasoning meat and vegetable dips, sliced tomatoes for BLTs, sauteed beans, peas, squash and beets for rice dishes, and roasted romas for sauces.

Somehow, some way, the garden is not a jungle this year. So easily this can happen! I have truly tried to be diligent with trimming away excess leaves, branches and I do think it helped that we didn't overplant on tomatoes, whose growth can really overtake a garden.

We have had our traditional Midwest heat, but frequent rain showers, so even the grass has stayed green. The yard and garden is so lovely and a treat to enjoy.

2019 Produce Totals ~ 192 pounds 8 ounces
Strawberries ~ 72 pounds
Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard ~ 6 pounds 8 ounces
Snow Peas ~ 10 pounds
Green Beans ~ 14 pounds
Beets ~ 7 pounds
Cucumbers ~ 9 pounds
Cherry Tomatoes ~ 3 pounds 13 ounces
Sweet Peppeters ~ 7 ounces
Garlic ~ 1 pound 5 ounces
Roma Tomatoes ~ 21 pounds
Beef Steak Tomatoes ~ 7 pounds 6 ounces
Onions ~ 3 pounds
Blackberries ~ 3 ounces
Carrots ~ 6 ounces
Squash ~ 13 ounces
Potatoes ~ 15 pounds 11 ounces