Still Too Much

The raspberry picking continues. That chore easily consumes two hours of each of my days except Sundays. I have plenty of those delectable fruits in my freezer, and so my local family and several friends are reaping the rewards of my excessive harvest. I have had one person stop by to pick her own, with my permission, but she hardly made a dent. I think (and hope) they're starting to slow down.

I've also had a lot of green beans coming on. This week I did manage to get several jars of them canned. The yellow wax beans, which get more shade each morning, are just starting to ripen, while the green beans are at their peak. I've discovered the Confederate beans (original seeds gifted to me from a descendant of relatives who escaped before that war with some of these beans) really should have been planted alongside my pea fence. I had noticed some of my beans wanting to climb last year, and this year, they're making do with a nearby volunteer sunflower. They've twined up and around it so that the sunflower stalk looks like an alien plant form. The pink blossoms are pretty, and contrast nicely with the yellow sunflower.

This is the time of year I take a bit of time to pinch back the ends of the vines on all the squash plants as well as the pumpkins. The purpose of that is to force the plant to concentrate its growth on the actual squash and pumpkins that are forming, rather than continue lengthening their vines. It's late enough that new fruits trying to form wouldn't have enough summer left to mature and become edible.

I haven't been pinching back the cucumbers as they're really slow up here this year. Again, they're maybe getting too much morning shade. I'm getting lots of flowers, and a few tiny cukes, but not very many - yet. But cucumbers mature much faster than squash, so I'm content to let them go for now.

There have been several sun gold and red cherry tomatoes ripening on the vine. I've picked some just as they started showing color and let them finish ripening on the counter. They are so very sweet. The large tomatoes are still very green. They have good size but just don't seem to want to turn color for me. This heat should bring them on.

I've enjoyed a few decent-sized carrots while thinning them. Those first carrots every year are the best. I know they're supposed to be sweeter after a frost, but I like the first ones. I'll be packing some in my lunches once we start harvesting the wheat crop.

A couple hills of the purple and blue fingerlings potatoes have been dug and enjoyed. One of these days I'll follow through and make some red, white, and blue potato salad with my crop (it will actually be purple, blue, and white, but close enough). Usually I can root around alongside the potato plants to "steal" some without sacrificing the plant. That way it continues to form more potatoes, but the ground has gotten too hard to do that. So I've dug up a few hills at the ends of the rows where the drip system hasn't put down as much water. Maybe I'll try mulching the spuds more with grass clippings next summer. Of course, that means I have to remember this next year.

I should probably be canning more beets. They didn't seem to be coming up this spring, so I planted more. Now they're all coming to life. I still have lots canned from last year, though, so besides that and not having enough energy, I'm not doing that. I have given some away, and eaten others fresh. Maybe tomorrow I'll roast some.

My summer squash plant just doesn't seem to want to make squash. I had a nice sized one from it early on, but all the fruit now is miniaturized. I've just learned you can cook and eat squash leaves. I knew people did that with squash blossoms, but I didn't know they used the leaves as greens. Apparently they're full of great things for you. That may become the fate of that poor plant that isn't producing as it should.

I need to get out and dust the broccoli, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, and kale. I noticed leaf damage on them this morning. I guess I missed seeing the white butterflies that like to lay their eggs on those plants. The broccoli are still producing lots of nice smaller heads. You can peel the tough stems, cut into sticks, and enjoy them with a nice dip, such as the avocado dip recipe I shared a couple weeks ago.

We had two fox pups regularly visit our yard and front deck last summer. They're back. The security system shows us video of them up on the front deck, where they check out my flowerpots, or sit on the steps watching the highway. This morning they were romping around the tree by the garden, as well as through the garden. (They duck right under the electric fence without getting shocked.) Maybe I'll see fewer voles scurrying around now. The fox are fun to watch, the voles, not so much.