This is what I harvested from our vegetable garden on Monday. Two beets, two types of cucumbers, and a Genovese zucchini. I planted the garden right after Memorial Day which is a little late for us. Everything above was planted from seed. There are a few vegetables we buy plants to put in since there are some things, I just do not have success with from seed. I needed to replant the squash as I think the crows ate the first round. This is the first year we have tried the Genovese squash. They are delicious. A little sweeter than the standard dark green ones.

The beet seeds I planted are from a specialty mix from Pinetree Gardens. I never know which beets I will have until they are near harvest since they are different types all thrown into one seed packet. I think this makes it more fun! Our first two beets were both of the striped variety which I also think is fun. They are a little milder than the dark red beets. Whatever the case, these two are gone. We ate them for supper that evening along with the greens. My husband and I both agree that beets greens are the best greens. I usually have so many greens that I boil them down to put in the freezer. They are a wonderful addition to soups, stews, and rice dishes in the cold winter months.

Output is picking up. I spent about an hour picking vegetables yesterday before I went to the grocery store to get away from the heat. I made a big batch of green beans, potatoes, and ham. We gave some green beans to the neighbors. I still had beans left and will be due to pick again tomorrow. That’s ok, I like to have some in the freezer. And folks, that is one day’s picking of cucumbers. I have made two batches of refrigerator pickles thus far with more on the horizon. We also have another crook neck squash that is ready. along with our first eggplant of the year. I don’t have good luck with the full-size eggplant. They take too long to mature. I planted the Japanese variety that are long and slender which do much better here.

Some of the garden vegetables are ready pretty much anytime we want to eat them. I just leave them in the garden until we want them. Green onions, cabbage, Swiss Chard, lettuce, arugula, beets, and turnips. They store better in the garden than in the refrigerator.

And last but not least, I wanted to share a few flowers with you. The Peruvian Lily is a plant that we wintered over in an upstairs bedroom. It was sad and pitiful looking by the time we took it back outdoors in the late spring. It appears to be quite happy now and is covered with buds. We may try something different next winter. Rather than attempting to keep plants going through the winter, we want to try putting them in the basement and letting them go dormant. I will have to report back on how that goes. Hopefully it will not be a failed experiment.

I get a kick out of this hollyhock. All of my hollyhocks had fungus or hollyhock rust for the past couple years, so I thought I was out of business with them. I planted them from seed several years ago. Now that we are several generations into production, they have started coming up in different beds and seem to have avoided the fungus this way. At least for now. This particular plant amuses me because it grew up beside our pear tree. And grew. And grew. Up into the leaves and out of sight. You could see the buds and flowers for a while. It finally bent over in its search for sunlight and now we can enjoy it. (By the way, the pear tree was called lefty for a long time because it only had branches on one side. Thank heavens it has filled in.)

We have an entire bed full of hydrangea bushes and generally have many big heads of beautiful flowers. There are nine bushes in one raised bed. Well, my friends who comment on how everything always does wonderfully for us, this last photo is for you. Out of all those hydrangeas, this is the ONLY bloom we have this year! So, there you go, lol. Seriously, all gardeners have successes and failures. It’s a metaphor for life. Things don’t go right for anyone all the time. Make the most of your successes and promote those. I assume no one wants to see pictures of my plum trees riddled with Japanese beetle holes, or my stick of a rose plant with no blooms.

Peace to you, my friends.