Garden Journal (yr 2: vol 7)

July has begun and so have our hot summer days. Last week I pulled up my peas, much to my husband's dismay. He couldn't quite understand why I would pull up perfectly happy peas plants to plant beans. What can I say, I really wanted to plant my heritage beans and that was the only place they would fit. The beans have already sprouted and grown a couple inches tall, which I happily pointed out to my husband.

The tomato and pepper plants are loving the heat. There are small tomatoes and peppers starting to grow. For the last week I've been puzzling over my Roma tomatoes' lack of vertically growth. I thought that I had accidentally pinched off their leaders. Then I discovered that they are a determinate (bush) variety, which explains why they look like a bush. Aha!

Last week I tore out a patch of lettuce that had bolted and become bitter. It's always a bit of shock to eat a mouthful of bitter lettuce - yuck! In the newly made space I sowed some more lettuce and Tyee spinach which tend to be slow to bolt in the summer heat. The squash plants are taking over the corner of my yard. We will be inundated with squash soon... The bush beans are flowering and the beets and carrots are getting bigger. The raspberries are also starting to ripen. There aren't enough ripe berries for preserving (yet) but plenty for enjoying. I hope that I can collect enough for at least one batch of raspberry jam - my favourite!

A few weeks ago: Garden Journal (yr 2: vol 6) 

This time last year: Garden Journal (vol 7) and Garden Journal (vol 8)