A Midsummer's Garden



A lovey rainbow we had a week ago.



Ah, the lazy, hazy days of summer....

We are in that timeframe of summer where things are just on the verge of exploding but haven't quite yet...i.e., canning season....

I haven't shown you the status of the garden recently so let me take you on a little tour....



Corn!



Our midsummer garden is actually going gangbusters this year, thanks in part to mother nature doucing us with rain throughout June and July. The tomatoes are huge and the corn is preparing to ripen where as my neighboring field has not even tasseled yet. (I know, competitive much? :) )



Tomatoes

Out of the three rhubarb plants, two have survived although the pepper plants and the bean plants alas did not fare as well. Out of six pepper plants, I have two left and  they haven't begun to fruit and while I know I planted lots of beans, I haven't found one yet.

The small fruit is a mixed bag. The strawberries really didn't do as well as I had hoped, this being their first year, but the grapes and the raspberries are going strong. I've already canned one quart of gooseberries and hope to get a few more. The blueberries have given only enough for picking while perusing the garden so I'll have to go off-farm for those.



Grapes! For the first time!





Walnuts.. be wary of the wrath of squirrels should
you partake!



The walnut tree is already dropping walnuts which I never seem to get as the squirrels guard them with their lives and warn me anytime I get close. It took ten years to finally realize what those little green golf balls were and I couldn't figure out why there were so many walnut shells in the wood pile. I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes I guess.



Hops



The hops came back and so there will be sleep pillows again and one year I may even try to make beer.

Anyway that is where we stand right now, in a holding pattern. Once the floodgates open, I'll be in the kitchen swearing to my husband, like I've been for the last sixteen years, that I'm not doing this next year.. and he'll smile and say, "You know you will"... and I'll admit, "Yes, I will"...

Happy Gardening!