Tuesday, July 19, 2011

July in my Garden


This is the month when the "To Do" List is longer then the hours of the day.

In July, I am still planting and caring for plants, but the harvest has also begun. A double whammy of garden chores. But the delight in going out with a dishpan and choosing my supper makes it worthwhile. There can hardly be a cheaper, safer, and more delicious food source than a summer garden! Some would disagree with the cheaper part, but seeds are inexpensive. As long as you don't need to amend your soil much or buy sprays, gardening is a cheap way to provide groceries. But even if it wasn't cheaper, I think the flavor would still be worthwhile.

This month we harvest green beans, corn, onions, zucchini, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, raspberries, and garlic. My cabbage and broccoli are so late, we are still harvesting them this month. It may be work but this is the season that gardeners dream about all through the winter!

The choice of what we should eat today among the many choices growing in the garden is a luxury. Of course, when there is also many veggies shouting for your attention to pick them before they go to waste, it feels more like work than luxury. Still, I love the variety!
 

This is also the season that I find difficult as a blogger. There is so much material to write about. I'm constantly writing posts in my head about what we are growing, eating, learning, and enjoying. But after living it, there is no time left to write about it. I know in the middle of the winter, I'll be looking for topics to post about. But for now I'll write a dozen posts in my head each day, and maybe get one up occasionally. It is why I'm only getting this posted on the 19th of July! Any of you other gardening/homesteading bloggers face this in the summer?

The flower garden too, is at it's peak. All my favorite perennials seem to bloom in July and August! If I was not so busy in the vegetable garden, I could have a cut flower bouquet in every room!

Some of the garden tasks for this month are rather obvious. Harvest what needs picked. Remove the weeds. Water thirsty plants. Dead head perennial flowers. But in the midst of the busyness, I need to remember the less obvious tasks. One of my goals is to extend our harvest for as long as possible. That means planting now for a fall harvest. With that goal in mind, here are a few tasks for this month in our garden, besides all those obvious ones!

1. Late planting of carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, kale, and beans.

2. Purchase broccoli plants to set out by end of the month or first of next month.

3. Add compost and lime to soil to prepare plot intended for broccoli.

4. Harvest garlic, setting aside the nicest bulbs for planting in September.

5. Plant buckwheat as a cover crop, when an area of the garden is finished.

Of course, this is for our zone 6 garden. What are your plans for this month? What am I missing?

9 comments :

  1. I am finding gardening a struggle to keep up with this year. We are zone 4
    and have received so much rain up until two weeks ago and then the drought came, but the plants are loving it. That said so are the weeds, and the mosquitoes. Bad year for them. This morning after a thunderstorm....deer flies. Can't win. But we are eating all our vegetables and fruits from the garden.

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  2. I'm really enjoying your site. You're a busy girl. When do you get to watch soaps and eat Bon Bons? :) Where I live in California it's been unseasonably cool which has been delightful except I fear my tomatoes will be perpetually green. God bless.

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  3. I'm really enjoying your site. You're a busy girl. When do you get to watch soaps and eat Bon Bons? :) Where I live in California it's been unseasonably cool which is delightful except I fear my tomatoes will be perpetually green. God bless.

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  4. Hi Gina, Thank you for showing me your garden. It's the middle of winter here in New Zealand, but you are giving me the motivation to get my seedlings growing in the glasshouse. Thanks again!

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  5. We are zone 3/4 so right now we are just getting peas. Beans are not ready yet. We've harvested all the strawberries, and are now into kale, pakchoy (which is bolting due to hot days), lettace (non bolting type), and herbs - camomile, caraway, oregano and basil. Soon there will be some beans, cucumber and summer squash. Our winter squash are doing well with lots of blossoms and little tiny squash started. The corn is thigh high so it's about on schedule. Radishes have been harvested and have gone by now, the only crop we do a double planting of. We have green tomatoes... don't suspect they will ripen till the very last thing, but so delicious! Jacob Cattle have lots of blossoms, but they're a fall crop too. We planted carrot because we got some free seed and I just finished thinning them. The parsnips are up and doing well, they will not be harvested for another year or two. Parsnips are my favorite root veggie. I'm very patient :) and it's fun to pull them up as soon as the soil warms up in the spring.

    Beets are suffering this year, but we still have lots in the freezer from last year.

    Hope you have a wonderful harvest this year.

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  6. Gina, my husband was looking over my shoulder last night when I clicked over. He chuckled and said, "She can't live anywhere around here!"
    We are in Oklahoma where much of the state is in severe drought conditions and currently rationing water. We're also experiencing a heatwave that began in June and has not let up. Many are selling their livestock as they don't have grass anymore for grazing and hay is in shortage. The ponds are drying up and most gardens including ours are not able to withstand the 100 plus temps we're experiencing consistently.
    Your bounty is wonderfully blessed and prayerfully next spring and summer will bring much of the same for us :-)! Please pray for Oklahoma.
    Blessings, Julie

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  7. I love your harvest especially the broccoli. It will be my first try to plant broccoli and I just hope that I can produce a perfect broccoli like yours.

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  8. It's a blessing to eat fresh vegetables from your own garden!Great job on your garden!

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  9. Hi! it looks like you are already a professional in gardening. You have bountiful harvest and lots of varieties. I envy you! Congratulations and keep it up!

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