It’s the beginning of July and time to start our July Garden Update! Let me take you around the garden!
Here the squash and cucumbers are up but many did not sprout. I seeded them again a couple weeks ago, so we will see if they grow. It is getting a bit late in the growing season here in Alberta to plant more seeds that will develop squash or cucumbers on them. It has been quite hot and the garden here gets full sun all day.
The cilantro has grown like crazy and has all flowered. The cilantro’s leaves do not taste like young cilantro, so we decided to let it grow to collect the seeds for next year. The rhubarb has grown a bit and the mint has as well. The strawberries have not grown a lot as they do take a bit to get rooted, but are already producing strawberries!
Oh those weeds!! It seems we weed every other day to stay on top of it. There’s nothing worse than a garden out of control from all the pesky weeds! But, the mint is doing well and tastes lovely. We picked a bunch of mint to toss into our water with ice, lime juice or even raspberries – perfect for these hot summer days! It has such a great, minty flavor. It’s refreshing. It also tastes great to just eat the mint leaves, and helps to ease an upset stomach.
The lettuce is doing great. We have started to eat a little of the larger leaves but we are mostly waiting for it to grow a bit larger. The lettuce that we planted again in the open spots is coming up now.
The beans are definitely not doing that well this year. We have replanted them a few times, but nothing has come up yet. Looks like we may not have much for soup or to preserve either. Hopefully when we replant them again, they’ll come up. I am attributing it to the cold spring we had and hot summer days. The dirt has been so hot that it may be scorching the seeds before they have a chance to sprout.
Some of our herbs are doing great – the dill is growing well and the onions are doing exceptionally well!
Our onions are looking like this from the bit of hail we got which luckily, only damaged the onions.
Here are the potatoes.
I love the potato flowers – they are so pretty! Red potatoes produce a purple/pink blossom and white potatoes produce a white blossom. Once done blooming, we should be able to start eating them!
By mid-July the tomatoes have grown really quite well! The beefy tomatoes are quite large and are producing many. I clipped back part of the plant so it stops growing tall and the plant can put its energy towards growing larger tomatoes. We are lucky in that the tomatoes get the morning sun and afternoon shade!
The beans are now flowering. It is amazing how in just a couple weeks from the last I shared how much they have grown! The flowers will turn into beans — I planted yellow wax beans and green bush beans. It has been quite dry, and extremely hot for us — +30C/86F to +35C/95F so in the evenings we give the plants a good drinking otherwise the water evaporates before it can soak into the ground.
The lettuce is doing wonderful and we have been eating lots! It is tender and sweet right now, so we are definitely delighting in it! Our skinny pigs are especially enjoying their daily greens!
I simply love gardening. Homegrown tastes so much better than store bought. I miss homegrown veggies all winter long so we are savoring the delicious lettuce! We have an assorted lettuce mix, buttercrunch lettuce, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce and romaine lettuce. Yum! The green onions are tasty too and we enjoy them in a variety of meals. They have so much flavor right now! My girls picked a red onion to see how it was doing — it is quite small, but tastes great in salad, fried eggs or even toss in a soup.
In the last couple weeks the remaining cucumbers have sprouted, the squash has grown wonderfully and the cilantro has doubled in size. It’s flowering and looks so pretty!
Here are the onions. They are looking not so good, but that is fine because the greens need to dry up in order for the bottoms of the onions to grow.
Here is the parsley and dill. The fronds are beautiful and taste great. Now is a great time to dry it or freeze it for the winter. I am letting it grow because I need a lot for making dill pickles. I put both the fronds and the yellow heads in my pickles so they have a wonderfully dilly flavor!
Check out my no-fail dill pickle recipe here: http://ourcityhomestead.com/homemade-dill-pickles
Rhubarb is growing great. And the corn is up too! There is a little damage from the hail, but nothing considerable.
The parsley is growing well and I have been plucking some here and there to use in salads and spaghetti and meatballs.
By July 23, the squash is finally blossoming.
The cilantro’s flowers are simply beautiful! It is amazing how the flower produces a seed to grow another plant!
The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.
– Hanna Rion
The cilantro has begun turning to seed. I’m looking forward to collecting the seed – something I have not yet done. I collect an assortment of seeds, but never from cilantro!
The mint seems to love the heat and is producing beautiful mint leaves. I am not sure what kind of mint plants I purchased, but it has more of a spearmint flavor to it. It is lovely no matter what kind it is! And it is sending shoots all over. We do have to be careful with mint as it can become quite invasive!
Look at that gorgeous lettuce! I absolutely love this time of year — when we can eat as many greens as we like. The prices at the grocery stores are crazy and I hate paying $3.97 and higher for a bit of lettuce that is often bitter or rotten. My favorite time of the summer!
We planted asparagus for the first time this summer. It looks wonderful but sadly, we cannot eat it. We need to leave it grow this year and we may clip a little next summer! I am so excited to grow asparagus! We added a bit more soil to cover up the roots.
Dill, parsley, cilantro and oregano and beans (from left to right). I am so surprised that the herbs did not come up and I have planted a few different kinds. It is real puzzling… and that is how gardening struggles go!
It is now the end of July. The zucchini is flowering and the cucumbers and sunburst squash (patty pans) seem to be doing okay but I am not sure how many veggies they’ll produce this year.
The potatoes are now turning brown and falling over. We decided since they are no longer flowering that we would check to see what the potatoes look like and they actually are a great size. We pulled the plant completely and harvested a couple hills.
The beans are nearly ready to pick. Though we do not have many, they will still be great pickled or eaten with a meal. And look at those flowers — are they not simply beautiful!?!
Our dill is growing fantastic! Perfect to eat on fresh garden potatoes and will soon be ready to make dill pickles!
Nothing beats the flavor of garden fresh strawberries! They are a little tart but still taste so yummy!
And that is our garden for July! I will update you on our garden’s progress at the end of August! How’s your garden doing this summer?
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours