Throughout July, the garden has actually been doing fairly well. It has been quite hot with some cloud and a bit of rain, but we still have had to water quite often. The community garden is in an open field alongside a walking trail and has no shade in any part of the day, so it unfortunately has full sun and definitely requires more watering!
Let’s get to our update on how everything is doing! Let’s start at the beginning of July. The spinach came back from last year which is great! It went to seed and we had just left it grow this spring, so we have been enjoying spinach earlier than usual this summer. And the spinach has such large leaves but not woody, it is rather sweet and flavorful!
The lettuce is small right now, but tastes so good! It is not bitter and is tender. The spinach is fabulous too.
The potatoes are doing good and starting to flower too.
I am so glad to see the flowers from the red potatoes we planted blossoming because I know it won’t be long until we enjoy fresh garden potatoes!
The beans, beets, carrots and the rest of the garden is small, but growing! We have had to replant beans a few times, but that could be due to the ant problem we have had. Our community garden has moved from where it previously was, so the growing conditions and soil that has been provided has changed, thus welcoming different gardening issues. But that is gardening — there is always some sort of pest infringing on your hard work!
Our neighbor’s gardens are doing well too. It was so sunny and warm this evening! Some broccoli seed from neighboring plots have decided to grow in our plot and we have picked a lot out, but we left a few to see if it will produce any broccoli! The green onions are browning some but we have been enjoying the green onion tops in an assortment of meals!
The poor green onions, are wilting too early. We will leave them a bit and see what happens.
There is always something beautiful growing in the garden! This is not anything we have planted but decided to let it grow for a bit because the flowers are just so pretty!
Over the last couple weeks, the garden has progressed! The squash plants are finally blossoming and growing veggies like the zucchini here.
I love dill and am so excited to have lots of it!! We need lots of dill for making dill pickles and I like to dry some and freeze some as well. Dill is my favorite herb — I use it in so many meals that I cook! My gramma used dill from her garden a lot in dishes like roast beef and beef barley soup, and she always dried it the old fashioned way, as do I. Dill always reminds me of gramma’s house.
In mid-July, the planters in our yard (that my daughters built on their own) are growing really well. I think the lettuce here is doing so well because our yard gets a little shade in different parts of the day which is helpful. Plus watering is so much easier when you can see it everyday!
In just a couple weeks, the onions have gone to seed and many were completely rotten, so we pulled them out. The wild oats have been rather annoying this season, and we have been pulling it constantly!
The potatoes look great and some plants are a little slower than others. I have taken a peak, but no potatoes yet.
Oh look at that dill! In just a couple weeks, it has at least doubled in height! It smells wonderful and we have been enjoying it in salads and dressings.
In our backyard, we decided to plant a few fruit trees. We have a few cherries, but unfortunately the rest blew off in a wind storm. I was looking forward to making pie and canning some cherries to enjoy over the winter, but it looks like that just will not happen this season. The ups and downs of gardening are many this year!
And within a week the onions are in seed — all the stages here are quite fascinating I must say! And it looks so beautiful!
We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.
– Jenny Uglow
In the last week of July, the dill has changed significantly! It has yellow heads which are perfect for making dill pickles. The more yellow they are, the better because they have a wonderful dill flavor. If they are too green or too brown, they just will not flavor a dill pickle the way we want. Once it turns brown, I leave them turn to seed so I can collect the seed once “ripe.” Did I say how much I love dill!?!
Look at that beautiful lettuce! I find picking it in the early morning or evening is much better than in the heat of the day. Every time I pick lettuce in the heat, it wilts and simply does not taste as good! Be sure to water lots when hot so the lettuce does not become bitter and tough but not to over water because that can result in a flavorless, watery leaf, root rot and the lettuce to yellow.
The patty pans (also known as sunburst squash) is growing wonderfully! This is the perfect size to pick and fry up or even can as a dill pickle.
And here is one last look at the beans, potatoes, carrots and beets. The pole beans are sending shoots out, but we did not put anything up for it to grow on – we just pick the beans that grow on them.
And that is the garden update for July. It is amazing to see how much has changed in just a month! The dill went from being short to quite tall with yellow heads and large dilly fronds. The potatoes have flowered, the lettuce can be enjoyed and green onions are tossed into everything! This is the part of summer I love!
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours