The Summer Garden

The summer garden is thriving in the early July heat. Though there has not been any substantial rain, the vegetables and herbs seem content with my deep, but infrequent watering schedule.

Tomatoes that I seeded outdoors in early June are now setting fruit. I am still feeding once per month during the active growing season with Dr. Earth organic fertilizer. Note: I do not receive any compensation for mentioning Dr. Earth fertilizer, it is just a product that I have used and like.

After two years of having little to no pears, I am hopeful for some harvest. Even with a bit of fruit drop due to an excessively wet spring, the pear tree is now full of maturing fruit.

First Crop of Fava Beans

So far, the summer garden has yielded an impressive first crop of fava or broad beans. Seeds for fava beans are notoriously difficult to source. But I did find them at Johnny’s Selected Seeds and I plan to buy them again. One can never have too many fava beans! Although they are a bit of work to prepare, fava are delicious and well worth it. The fava in the photo produced enough beans for a dinner side dish. Check out my recipe here.

Of course, along with vigorous summer garden growth, come the weeds. They seem to grow with the rain and love the smallest crack to grab hold with their tenacious roots. I’ve resorted to watering an entrenched plaintain or crabgrass just to have the pleasure of one-piece-easy-removal.

Carrots and green beans are two of my favorites to plant mid-summer. The soil is warm and the bean seeds germinate quickly. There is less of a chance that the emerging seedlings will be devoured by beetles. For my carrots, I like to space the individual seeds when I plant. Call me a coward, but I hate to thin the seedlings by pulling or snipping. It feels like a method I would rather reserve for weeds.

Clover as a Cover Crop

I am loving the clover I planted as a cover crop around the raised beds, I just wish I could see it bloom this year. I wanted somthing to attract pollinators to the garden. Although the variety can take moderate foot traffic, in the heat it does not spring back so readily. I’ll just make sure I don’t keep walking over the same areas. So far, I feel that I’ve made a good choice. We didn’t want mulch since it doesn’t completely keep weeds away. Grass just needs mowing and trimming. Plus it means more grass for my husband to mow and trim.