Late July Gardening Report

After weeks of wondering whether anything will ever grow and produce vegetables and flowers, July always brings the answer of "yes!" The squash plants are spreading all over, the tomatoes are turning red, the gladiolus are forming spikes, other flowers are blooming, and the raspberries have gone crazy. They are tapering off now, but the biggest picking was 6.75 quarts, a week ago. Saturday I got 4 quarts, and a neighbor is picking them again today. Her berries aren't producing well, and I have plenty to share.

In recent summers I have tended to freeze all the raspberries with the intention of making jam or jelly later, probably because I was busy dealing with green beans at the same time. This year I didn't plant any green beans, so I have time to make jelly.

I discovered I don't own a jelly bag, but I did make this DIY jelly bag years ago. I got the idea from somebody else. It's just an old t-shirt with the bottom and sleeves sewn shut. I scoop the cooked raspberries into the neck hole (with the shirt in a bread pan in the sink), and then hang it from a piece of baling twine hung on a hook in the doorway. My husband put the hook up there years ago after one of his surgeries so he could use it with a pulley for at-home physical therapy.

This is the first of two batches of jelly. I thought it would be a nice change from the usual jam. (Which is easier to make.)

I am harvesting zucchini, golden zucchini, and/or yellow crookneck squash almost daily.

Fun fact about the crookneck squash: it actually has no neck at all! I tried letting them grow larger, thinking perhaps I was picking them too soon. But no, there's no neck. They are the lighter yellow squashes in the above photo.

Ms.W. gave me these fun cherry tomatoes, called Sweetheart. I ate a couple while they were orange, then looked them up online and realized they were supposed to get red. Oops. So I quit nibbling, 'til today. They are red now.

One branch of one lilac turned this odd color. I asked my gardening expert friend about it, and she thought it might be root damage. Well, we sure have plenty of pocket gophers this year! So I scattered granular gopher repellent around the garden today. We already have ultrasonic repellent devices in place, but I'm thinking we didn't get them set out in time, and the gophers had moved in and were quite comfortable by then time we put them out.

One day I noticed a butterfly hanging out on the lilies in the garden!

Clarence hangs out in the garden with me nearly every day. He likes to be companionable. He also prefers to exit through the gate, rather than climb up a post like a normal cat. After all, he's getting up in years. He never hurries while heading for the gate.

Since my own four blueberry bushes don't produce many berries, I decided, somewhat impulsively, to go to a local U-Pick place early one morning. (I was inspired by @goldenoakfarm's similar expedition!) These beautiful lilies line the dirt road between the rows of berries.

This is part of the nine pounds I picked between about 7:15-8:30 a.m. It was already 80 degrees when I left, which is too warm for me. I put most of them into the freezer for use in smoothies. As my own blueberries trickle in, one cup at a time, I've been baking muffins and scones with them.

This morning I cut a few flowers to make a small bouquet. The cosmos and zinnias are just getting started, but the nasturtiums and marigolds are abundant. I even tucked in the flower from a volunteer onion.

I will close with this photo of a nasturtium from Ms. W. I've never seen one this color before, and I love it.

All photos taken on my Android phone.