Hello again garden gals and guys! Well, the summer heat is finally upon us. Combine that with the rain and what do you get? Yup….weeds! Yuck. I didn’t go to my garden for a week and the result was five hours worth of weeding in the big garden.

My daughter–my secret garden weapon–even gave up on me after about 20 minutes and instead chose to take my picture before she was invited to go for a swim in the pool that was right by the garden. So I got to watch her swim while I toiled in the heat. Something about that is not fair.

Here I am in the tomato patch:

Here is what the beds looked like before I got to them:

Here is a good garden lesson. Ever heard of flea beetles on eggplants? Maybe you haven’t, but have you ever seen your eggplant leaves full of tiny pinholes like this?

Well, let’s take a closer look. You see those tiny black dots? They hop when you try to touch them. Those are flea beetles and this is what they look like up close:

The cure? I spray with insecticidal soap. But don’t rush to the store to buy it. Just get a bottle sprayer and put a dash of dish washing soap (the kind you use in the sink not in a dishwasher). Mix well and spray.

Be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves (where it seems all bugs like to hide). Or you can give the plants a good spray of water with the hose which will knock those beetles off.

Either remedy works but you also have to be diligent about watching for more beetles.

Here are some piks of fruit in the garden…boy I can’t wait til harvest time!

Zucchini (and did you know you could EAT those flowers? Yup! You can dip them in egg batter and fry them. Some people stuff them with cheese first. The flower tastes sort of like a cucumber)

Big Beef Tomatoes:

Cantaloupe (it’s about the size of a golf ball now):

Cucumber (that one is more than ready for picking!):

Down on the farm…..
OK…so I know this is a long blog post but there’s so much to tell you! Remember that I work on a farm as part of a farmer trainee program? Well this week we did a lot of things but what you may find most interesting is the garlic harvest. This is Jack using a pitch fork to lo0sen the garlic in the dirt:

That garlic was planted last October, by the way. Jes and I then went behind him and gently pulled the garlic from the ground and this is what it looks like freshly harvested:

Garlic is easy to grow! You should try it! October is the time to plant to get a nice summer harvest. If you don’t know how to plant it you can Google it OR you can wait until October and read my blog post about it (hey….I have to keep you coming back for more, don’t I?)

One last thing before I say so long. It’s a garden tip for you! Now that the garden is under way and the plants are fruiting you probably think I can just sit back and watch everything grow, right? Nope!

Now is the time to get seeds started for a nice fall harvest. Broccoli, kale, chard, lettuce, cabbage…you can start those all from seed now and then transplant them into the garden in August for a nice October harvest!

Ok…now that’s really it. And my hands are tired! Until next time garden gals and guys….

Happy gardening!