July Garden

Oh, the garden this time of year; it flourishes so!  I think July is my favorite garden month with everything so lush and green.  The potatoes are over Little #10's head and setting on little white blossoms.  I hope the jungle of green is indicative of the amount of potatoes growing under the ground.

We have been enjoying kale, chard, beet greens, lettuce and radishes at almost every supper-time meal, and we have had a few snacks of sugar snap peas (looking forward to picking more this afternoon).  The green beans are covered in delicate purple blossoms, and I've spied baby zucchinis and tiny broccoli heads, so hopefully we will be adding more of a variety to our table very soon.

The garlic and onions are looking much more robust than last year (which I am very excited about), and the herbs, oh, the herbs, they are growing like weeds.  I have already begun dehydrating basil, cilantro, and parsley, and the oregano is starting to set blossoms, so I will begin picking that as well (I have read for the best flavor that oregano is best picked while it is blossoming).

I'm a bit disappointed with the tomatoes.  I planted them in a different spot this year, in a completely different garden, in fact, in an attempt to avoid the blight that has plagued my tomatoes the past three years. The thought being that the disease may be in the soil where the tomatoes were previously planted.  The plants are growing rather slowly and look a bit weak, and I can barely bring myself to even mention this, but I have noticed signs of blight on the bottom-most leaves on a few of the plants. I'm not sure if the slow growth is due to less sun than they desire (this garden being a bit more shady than the other), or maybe the soil where they are planted is lacking something they need.  I just don't know.  I have begun feeding them and watering at the base daily and removing the infected leaves in hopes that they will make a recovery. We shall see.

The garden overall is doing well, and I am so pleased.  I look forward to harvesting and putting away lots of veggies to feed our family over the winter.  How is your garden growing?