Garden Update

Happy solstice (very late). The garden is thriving after a rough stretch of heat. The heat is coming back, so I harvested most of my lettuce and my purple kohlrabi. I have a radish in the fridge, so I'll eat a delicious salad tonight. (In this bed: radish [harvested], bok choy [harvested], kohlrabi, kale, garlic, parsley, chard, endive, alyssum, and lots of lettuce)

The purple pea pods are blooming, surviving the heat wave. I've kept them watered, so I'm hoping for some soon. I have noticed that purple varieties are often (but not always!) ignored by critters.

It may help that the volunteer chamomile plant shades them a bit. I've planted three rows of beans. The only ones that have survived have been the purple ones (variety Velour). I suspect a family of robins has been nibbling on the bright white seeds of the green beans. Yet I did see a squirrel get over the fence. Time to get out the hot pepper again. 

The rose I planted last summer came back. It looked pretty bad in the late fall. I have picked off 20 Japanese beetles (so far).

I used white fabric row cover to give my spring crops some shade from the hot afternoon sun during our last heat wave. Some lettuces bolted, but I think it helped overall. While I'm not a fan of our recent extreme heat, I do love this time of year.