I can’t believe what a difference a few short weeks has made in the garden. Tons of rain and finally some heat have made my garden GROW. I can’t keep up with all the summer squash!
Check out all the greeny goodness in the pics below.
The potatoes are loving their new converted fireplace planting bed
The blackberries are abundant this year. I have never seen them so loaded with beautiful berries.
I only have 6 basil plants but it’s almost too much! (not that I am complaining)
Not only have we had spectacular wins in the garden but we have also had spectacular fails as well. I planted lemon balm and celery and I don’t know if they just didn’t like the soil or maybe each other but they both withered up and died within days of planting them. That was a real bummer I tell ya!
My garlic, my beloved and most anticipated garlic, is failing. I have never grown garlic before so any advice would be welcome but it did not make scapes this year and it’s leaves are already turning brown.
Also we lost all of our sweet cherries to the cold rainy Spring. That’s 3 years in a row we have not had a harvest from these 2 trees. Some re-evaluating will be going on after this season on what to do about it.
And finally our Bosc pear and our apple trees are in trouble due to fire blight which I will catch you up on in another post. Sigh…
On the bright side I have gotten some things preserved and stored in the pantry and freezer for the winter.
7 pints of strawberry syrup, 5- 12 oz. containers of strawberry freezer jam, 5 quarts of sour cherries (which we had abundant crops of despite the sweet cherry fail) and tons of shredded zucchini for cakes and bread all got done last week.
I will give you a more detailed update next time but until then happy gardening! -MM
The Professional Domestic 
your crops look lovely & healthy, as well as organised (unlike the shambles in our veggies patch). If it’s any consolation, our pear & apricot trees aren’t yielding this year, probably due to very late frost and severe minus temps, just as fruit was appearing. Apples should be good though – fingers crossed.
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by the way . . . I froze basil leaves last year, in a plastic tub. No good for dishes that require nice fresh leaves, like salady things, but perfect if you just need to sling a few into some tomato coulis or something.
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Wouldn’t it be nice if it didn’t turn black? They are so beautiful but I hate not using them right away for fear of them turning color.
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Your garden is looking great!
When did you plant your garlic? I plant mine in the fall. It doesn’t do much over the winter but it can take the cold (we get a few nights in the low teens). They could always be mulched if there is a concern about extreme cold. Over wintering might be the head start they need.
I don’t know about garlic, but with onions it makes a difference how deep they are planted whether they bulb out or not. I plant onions shallow and after they are established I scrape the soil away to expose some of the white.
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Thank you! I planted the garlic in the fall too. I have a friend who is a garlic farmer so I might give him a call and see what his advice is. 🙂
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I’d be interested to hear what he says.
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Looks great. Keep up the hard work.
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It has been a strange year for gardening, I think. My garlic is an epic fail too, as are the cabbage, rutabagas and turnips. We are still having growth issues here.
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I am glad I am not the only one then. Maybe it’s too much rain?
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Unfortunately, not for us. We have had .25 all month and mostly 90’s. I do know that plants that look kind of yellow may have too much water. I think our compost was a little too hot still, and the nitrogen was still fixing so the plants couldn’t get it. They are better in the past two weeks, but we still lost the cold crops I think. Hope yours turns the corner for you.
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