Early July in My Garden

Time for a Veggie Garden Update!

Early July

My garden chores consist mostly of weeding--pretty easy now that the pathways are mulched and the weeds are staying away--and looking for anything to harvest.

These Early Girl tomatoes were almost ready to pick!  I had never tried growing these before, but I'm so glad I chose to plant them this year.  There's such a great sense of satisfaction in being able to pick tomatoes in early July--in the Midwest, anyway!

I've already picked several sweet peppers (below).  These are Giant Marconi, and have the same taste as green bell peppers.  They're just longer, like a California pepper, with thinner skins.  They're decent, although I'd really like to grow a good green pepper.  Maybe I'll try again next year--green peppers and I needed a break for a while.  I just don't know what they need to grow better.  :/

Sweet pepper -- Giant Marconi, turning red on the vine.

Tomatoes -- Rutgers variety, which the lady at The Growing Place (nursery) convinced me to try.

A quick check of my garlic showed that the stems are browning and the flowers are turning from scapes (pre-bloom) to full heads of tiny little garlic cloves.  I'll harvest these probably next month, dry these little flower-cloves, then plant them in the autumn for next year's crop.

Here's my tomato bed.  They're looking great, and have reached the height of their four-foot stakes.  I'll have to invest in some taller ones next year!

Here is my herb corner, with rosemary, basil, and parsley.  Every plant is growing like there's no tomorrow.  The middle of the bed below has my peppers--sweet and jalapeno, and the strawberries are fading out in the back.

Below are my onions.  I planted them late, so they're pretty small.  Again, I wish I could grow big onions.  I'll take what I can get, though.  These are purple onions.

Finally, here's the overview of my early July garden.  I still marvel at those mulched walkways, and smile with satisfaction at a job started and finished and beautiful.  I love walking around my garden this year.

Back to life,
Christine

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