The days are busy picking blueberries, drying herbs, weeding and filling the house with giant bouquets of Bee Balm and Annabelle Hydrangeas. I made a big batch of sauerkraut and we have fresh garden salads every night. The last of the garlic has been harvested and I’m keeping watch on the tiny beans, cucumbers, peppers and squash that have set. They’ll be ready for picking soon.
I haven’t had to take any measures against bugs yet. There’s just been the normal wear and tear that goes with gardening organically. A few holes in the cabbage don’t bother me. Everything is doing really well except……my tomatoes are dismal. The plants are sparse and spindly. I tried a new variety this year, Granny Cantrell. Last year I grew Ace..also an heirloom variety and I had gorgeous plants and was swamped with tomatoes. I’m not sure what the problem is. Maybe its just not my year for tomatoes.
handmade. homegrown. beautiful life 
Love your philosophy about normal wear and tear in an organic garden. Also, what a handsome turtle!
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Thanks , Laurie, lol. The ‘wear and tear ‘ principal saves me loads of aggravation. Not only in the garden…
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This goes along with my “good enough” philosophy. There are only one or two things that I aim to be very good at. Good enough is good enough for everything else 😉
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It’s so freeing! I wonder sometimes why it took me so long to learn something so obvious:)
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I know. I know. Me, too 😉
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Gorgeous garden!
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Thanks, Cindy!! Loved your Royal Garden post with the fox family:)
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Thanks for sharing your lovely garden.
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Thank- you, Judy!!
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Beautiful pictures it sounds like you have been busy
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Thanks, Missy. Busy in a good way. I’m loving the summer
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Not a good year here for tomatoes. Too much rain. Our Extension Office has talked about some kind of early/late blight, and my tomatoes have it in spades! The only tomatoes doing well are the tiny Roma tomatoes, which nothing seems to bother. Maybe next year? I hope you’ll publish your sauerkraut recipe – I have more cabbage than I know what to do with and have never made sauerkraut before.
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That stinks! I’ve had blight on gorgeous tomato plants in the past and it’s so disappointing. Here’s a link for sauerkraut. I like a lot of Donna Schwenk’s recipes for cultured foods. http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/sauerkraut-without-a-culture/
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Our blueberries have to pretty much be done for the summer – mainly because of the Japanese beetles. They are destroying them and their little babies get into the berries and they also have brought some disease. I hope they don’t go up where you are! I love mint tea and we have peppermint and spearmint, but not much experience drying. Perhaps you have an article or would be willing to put one out? Your yard looks real nice 🙂
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Thanks! So far the Japanese beetles aren’t too bad. There’s a some on the blackberries . I’ve never seen them on the blueberries! Geez!!
Mint teas are so nice and really delicious added to iced tea too. Great for congestion and colds and have lots of antibacterial qualities. Better to use the peppermint than the spearmint. Here’s a link that is really good for drying and storing herbs
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/drying/drying-herbs-zm0z13fmzmat.aspx?PageId=1
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Yeah – they chew up the leaves and basically strip the berries of the skin and then they also lay their eggs so the berries get filled with things you don’t want to eat. We got a lot of berries earlier, but they definitely ruined our late crop. Thank you for the link and the tip to use peppermint instead of spearmint!
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Grosss!! Lol:). You guys are great with your descriptions.
You’re welcome!
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Excellent pictures of your beautiful garden. Sorry about the tomatoes
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Thanks Derrick. You are the master photographer. I’m still practicing on my bees. Nothing will ever come close to your poppy/ bee picture:)
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Thanks, my friend
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Such a beautiful garden. Your wear and tear way of looking at bugs is great 🙂
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Thanks, Sharon! I’ve wasted way too much time over the years getting upset over things that weren’t ‘just right’. Still learning, lol!!
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Your brilliant garden Cynthia, always a pleasure to see your photos of it, and such lovely produce. Very nice!
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Thanks, Agnes. I feel the same about your gardens and creatures.
Reading your blog and seeing your photos is always a pleasure!
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Your garden is looking beautiful! Sorry to hear about the tomatoes…this is probably a silly question, but do you grow them in a different spot each year? Tomatoes planted in the same spot (or very least same soil) as the previous years crop often do very poorly
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Thanks, Matt! Def not a silly question . You may have something there. I usually rotate the tomatoes but this year I planted them in the same spot that I did last year. Also, I top dressed too much, maybe. Could planting too deeply have made their roots develop too much, at the expense of their leaf growth?
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Planting deeply is recommended as it makes for more root development which in turn gives better fruit, but it may have been compromised by pathogens left in the soil from last year…although I have heard if you don’t have tomato diseases you can use the same spot for up to 3 years before needing to rotate.
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I’ve had my tomato plants produce, but not the best. My zucchini has been slow, I’ve only gotten 3 so far. Love you pics!
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Thanks! Isn’t it odd how some years things do great and then other years , not so great? All part of the package, I guess. Hopefully your zucchinis will surge and we’ll be reading posts about all the stuff you’re making with all of it!
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If it were more convenient, I’d provide my special mix of horse manure fertilized planting soil to feed your growing things. Don’t know if tomatoes like it. I’ve read that some folks put fireplace ash on their tomato plants. The blueberries look great! All the photos are captivating.
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That would be so great, John! A manure source would be so exciting and make a world of difference. Geez, that sounds kind of funny, lol.
Thanks for the ash tip! I’ll remember it and try it once the nights start getting cold. Thanks!
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Your garden looks lovely and it sounds nicely productive 🙂
My tomatoes are very behind this year, although from the amount of flowers, I suspect I’m going to be inundated with them at some point.
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Thanks. I hope you are inundated with them!
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Love your green chair , was lovely yesterday so able to harvest a few herbs too 😊
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Thanks! Glad to hear you’ve had some nice weather. You’ve had a round of not so nice patterns come your way.
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I put some grass clippings around the base of my tomatoes. It seemed to perk them up a bit. Good for you for allowing a few bugs. Your gardens are beautiful.
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Thanks!! Plenty of grass clippings out there, I’ ll try that!
I hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday!
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You have such a well maintained landscape! Just beautiful. We have no tomatoes on our plants yet. Almost though! Thank goodness for the farmers’ market.
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Pity about your tomatoes. I’ve got different varieties this year, too. One seems to produce early and the other…. We will have to wait and see.
I hope your tomatoes pick up speed anyway!
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Thanks. I should get a few this year. Good luck with yours!
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Thank you, too!
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What a bounty! Must follow your links when I have time…we Chinese like pickling our food as well but mostly with salt only; no cultures or vinegars.
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Your blueberries are stunning. Love the pale, fresh green against the deep blue — great color combination. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
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Our tomatoes are struggling this year too, but it’s because of deer. I’ve never known deer to eat tomato plants but this year they’ve decimated ours. Grrr…
But other things are doing very well. Every year in the garden is different it seems.
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Your garden looks fantastic. Sorry about the tomatoes, but there’s always the farmers’ market. Wish I could grow blueberries but our soil is very alkaline. I tried containers but that didn’t work too well.
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