So much to do right now, it’s making time fly past very quickly.
Haven’t taken any pictures in the greenhouse lately. This year we planted the tomatoes on the south and west side of the greenhouse, and the pepper plants are in the middle beds. The north side has veronica, a couple of other peppers, and the corn plants.
The corn is really getting tall (it’s a short variety), and it’s starting to get tassles! Woo hoo! That means corn to eat.
The Veronica is a real space-age looking plant. This is a hybrid between cauliflower and broccoli and it doesn’t look like either one. The taste is milder than either of its parents, and it’s outrageously good raw, dipped in ranch dressing. Last year we planted these in the garden and the pack rats found them utterly irresistible, even the leaves, and so, therefore, we never got to try them. They never stood a chance. This year we have two of them 🙂
The herb garden on the east side of the greenhouse has gone nuts. I need to get after the plants with a pair of scissors and really cut them back, and then next year start harvesting the leaves BEFORE it flowers all over the place. I wonder if I’ll manage to do that, because this is exactly what I said to myself last year.
The shorter tomato plants are Monica, a type of roma tomatoes used for making sauce. The plants are absolutely covered with flowers and baby tomatoes, and so this is looking very promising for this year.
These types of roma will all pretty much get ripe at once, regardless of when the fruit is set, so about the end of August we’ll have to start pinching off the flowers so the plant will take care of ripening the fruits.
The larger tomato plants are two types of eating tomatoes. They can also be used to make sauce, but we love them for dinner, with a pinch of salt. We’re very much looking forward to these getting ripe, within the next couple of weeks. The cages aren’t tall enough, evidently, and the upper branches have all fallen over, bending at the upper most ring of the cage.
This is one of our peppers which are just now starting to form. The plants are also covered with flowers and that bodes well for having an abundance of peppers for eating the cooking in a week or two.
We picked more fruit today, two large heaping bowls of pie cherries, one heaping bowl of josta berries, and I harvested most of chocolate mint that was ready to be picked. I have already put that away for drying. Hopefully the plants will get with the program and give me another good amount for harvesting in another month or so. Mint plants aren’t particularly freaked out by a frost, so the plants should have until sometime in October to grow more tall branches. It easy to dry. Simply cut notches in the sides of a brown paper bag, stand the branches up in the bottom of the bag and staple the top shut, and then put it somewhere to dry. The notches give lots of air circulation in the bag, and it stays dark for the leaves to retain their color. Once the leaves are dry, crumble them off the branches and put them in a plastic bag. This makes the best tea!
We really need to start harvesting swiss chard. The leaves are huge! But we will have at least this much cherries and josta berries again tomorow to clean and freeze.
The hummingbirds are way down in number; and they appear to be leaving several weeks earlier than usual. We wonder if that means we’re in for an early frost – so hoping that does not happen!!! The yellow wax beans are just now getting ready to bloom, and Dan thinned the carrots and beets today. They are both growing really well this year. And finally the cucumber plants are starting to take off. An early frost will not be kind to any of those plants.
The choke cherries are getting ripe all along the river, and the bears are tearing the plants up. They really rip/tear/shred the bushes, without regard for how the bushes might be feeling.  The choke cherries get ripe at the lower elevations first, and as the fruit ripens farther up the mountain, the bears will follow the harvest. The choke cherries aren’t as plentiful up here as they are down by the river, but we do have some bushes right next to our bedroom, so I expect we’ll get awakened one of these days by a bear having a midnight feast. That’s always exciting.