June 22, 2015
This week, my oldest 4 are in VBS most of the day. This means I am fresh out of helpers. Let’s face it, the 2yo and 1yo can’t tell a weed from a seedling so I try to keep them out of the garden.
The oldest two are going to help me harvest before they leave each day but there will be no weeding happening this week.
This week, we have been harvesting:
- cucumbers
- carrots
- zucchini
- blueberries
- raspberries (the groundhog gets most of them)
- baby lettuce
- kale
- potatoes
I picked about 8 tomato horn worms off of my tomato plants this week. It’s weird because last year, we had a lot of them but they never did any damage because the wasps did such a wonderful job laying their eggs on them. I’m not sure why the wasps are missing this year.
Some of our broccoli is starting to head and I noticed, I got a stray kohlrabi seed when I ordered my broccoli seed. I have been meaning to try kohlrabi so here’s my chance. What a treat 🙂
I need to go ahead and harvest some cabbage before it gets decimated by all of the cabbage worms! I never got a chance to cover the brassicas again 😛
All of the harvesting and weeding has been happening before 8:30 or 9am each morning because this June, we have had unseasonably warm weather. It has been in the mid to high 90s all week (some days more than 100) with no end in sight. We typically see these temperatures at the end of July. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the summer looks like.
Our daily summer schedule looks something like this:
- Wake up
- Harvest
- Let chickens out and check on their water
- Eat breakfast
- Get dressed, do inside chores
- Music practice
- Math drills
- Play while baby sleeps
- TV while baby nurses and I fix lunch
- Lunch
- Pool
- Naps
- Supper
- Sometimes work in the garden (if we have energy and it’s not too hot still)
Thankfully, we have started seeing some late evening storms. Even though our crops were doing pretty well (thanks to BTE -no need to water), the rain was really welcome. It had been maybe a month since we had a good soaking. This weather is quite the contrast from the last 2 years. The last two summers have been unseasonably cool (I don’t think we ever reached 100 last year) and wet.
A couple other fun pictures: This is the first year I’ve planted zinnias 🙂 So pretty!
This is also the first year I’ve grown ground cherries. They are looking good so far 🙂 
What are you harvesting? Head over to Daphne’s Dandelions to see what other gardeners are up to this week.
Gardening Without... 
Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers. I grow them every year. So easy and so pretty. I keep wondering when I should be picking my cabbage. I never really know when. They never get as big as the packets say they will get.
i read to pick them when they are hard/firm
Your harvests are really picking up. Looks like your summer vegetables are starting to come in along with your spring crops. Amazing!
Oh, those blueberries! I will get a small handful this year. And this winter, I shall protect them from the ravenous rabbits with hopes of a better harvest next year.
I that kohlrabi… I can hear the crunch from here!
That’s so funny – having a surprise kohlrabi show up in the broccoli patch. The zinnias are so pretty!