As much as I try to do three-season gardening, summer is the star of the gardening year. Summer produces the good stuff. The straight from the plant into the mouth stuff.  The save it in a jar stuff. In Seattle, summer can be your best friend or worst enemy. This year it has been a bit of both. We’ve seesawed from temperatures in the 60s to temperatures in the 90s and then back again. Pretty much everything is a few weeks behind where the plants were this time last year, but in all honesty the weather we are having this year is more typical for the area. In spite of our mercurial weather, I’m taking full advantage of what the garden is offering now and looking forward to what it will offer in the weeks and months ahead.

A few things I’ve done in the garden lately:

• Harvested over forty bulbs of garlic, which are now curing for storage.
• Finished harvesting and pulled out the Oregon Giant pea plants.
• Planted a fall crop of carrots in the cleared out and prepped garlic bed.
• Planted lettuce, chard, and mache in the cleared out and prepped pea plant bed.
• Pruned tomato plants.
• Weeded as needed (but it hasn’t really been too much).

It hasn’t been all work, however. We’ve been spending plenty of time outside, just hanging out. Nibbling berries. Wandering around the yard seeing what’s new. Yesterday was especially fun because my sister, her husband Jeff (who built our new chicken coop), and my nephew came over and Jeff helped the kids build a fountain. They’ve been wanting a fountain forever and this fountain is extra special because the wash tub used for the basin has been in our family for years.  In fact, it belonged to my grandmother and my mother used to bath in it when she was a little girl. My brother, sister, and I used to use it as a wading pool. Now it will be enjoyed by another generation.

Fountain on the patio

Below are a few additional pictures of things in the garden this month.

Inchelium red garlic

Blueberries in early July

Giant raspberry plants

Shiro plums, nearly ripe

Our favorite apple tree, cropping nicely

Tomatillos

The view from my chair in the greenhouse

I hope you are having a wonderful summer.

Sandy