We haven't been in the garden since Friday because we are visiting my in-laws in The Netherlands, but as usually we went to do some work before we left. In my case I should speak more of a supervision as I still can't do much, and need two more weeks for my finger to recover. Didn't I say last week that I needed two more weeks? Well, it looks like it will take longer than I expected.

Our neighbour suggested to keep an eye on our garden while we're gone because of the early blight issue that we're fighting at the moment, so I'm really curious to see how it all look like when we'll go there tomorrow morning again. We are leaving tonight and we'll be arriving back home early in the morning, so possibly we will go directly to the garden.

Just before we left we were able to harvest our first zucchini! I'm so proud of it. Most of our neighbours are struggling with zucchinis this year, but ours are growing very well.

I have already gave up on the eggplants that I planted outside as they look so bad, but both plants surprised me with baby eggplants - one each. Let's see if they'll keep growing. I have never planted eggplants before, so I'm excited to see them grow.

I took this photo on Thursday evening, and wanted to harvest this zucchini on Friday for lunch. When we came on Friday morning it wasn't there anymore. Someone stole it! I was really angry because I could have taken it on Thursday, and didn't think that someone would take it first. I mean, how can you steal something that someone else put so much love and time into growing? Luckily, we have plenty of baby zucchinis and I will harvest them as soon as they are of decent size without hesitating.

Our corns are doing well...

My cursed beans started blooming, and you might think that it is a great news, but these plants are so tiny that I can't imagine how they are planning to carry the pods. I think the plants forgot to grow, but kept maturing. Well, I'll be happy if a couple of these flowers will turn into bean pods.

Last year I waited for so long for our carrots to sprout. This year it only took them about a week. It was about to start raining, so I just planted them quickly and they are very close to each other, and therefore I will have to thin them when they get a bit bigger.

Potatoes have started blooming, so we will soon be able to harvest them. I hope they will not get early blight as most of our neighbours who planted them early are fighting it now.

Leeks grow so much faster from seedlings than from seeds. When you buy tiny established plants they will kick off quickly. When you plant them from the seeds it take about 6 months to harvest. I know that there are many weeds, but it needs to wait for my finger to recover.

Our chard is my favourite vegetable this year. I keep harvesting the outer leaves and they keep growing. We prepare them in a wok with some garlic.

The cucumbers suffered from low temperature and rain, and most of my plants didn't survive. I still have a few plants, but no cucumbers yet, so I was surprised to see this one. At least we will have one pickle! 😊

Last week I told you that I planted the beans for the third time and I hope that it will be a charm. So far it looks like it worked! These beans sprouted within 4 days and are growing well. I hope that they were not completely eaten by the slugs over the weekend.

I harvested some basil and it started growing like crazy. I had no idea that harvesting in certain way will help the plant growing (taking clippings instead of leaves). It looks like I have never harvested it correctly before. Everyday is a school day!

We had some volunteer garlic that we had to harvest last year because the stalks started to rot. It is not much, but considering that I didn't plant it I am happy with this harvest.

Our first gooseberries of the season...

And as always we harvested some raspberries, red currants, and herbs such as dill and chives. Dill had quickly become my favourite herb. It is so delicious! We also got some Borage flowers for salad from our neighbour.

Our quince tree suffers from rust, but the fruit keeps going. We will harvest it early this year and let it ripen at home, so that the rust doesn't get to the fruit.

We have two middle sized lemon balm bushes this year. I have read somewhere that your garden will give you what you need. We didn't have lemon balm before, so I guess the garden is trying to tell me something. Lemon balm is good against anxiety and can also help to relieve stress, so it's good to have anyway.

I took some home because I read that it helps with sleeping too...

I have let some radishes to bolt, and now I'm waiting for them to go to seed. It's great as they attract the flea beetles and they leave other vegetables alone.

Calendulas are so good for skin, so I might make some hand cream this year. Last year, we only used it to decorate salads.

And we also have a tiny borage growing in our garden! We didn't have it last year, so I guess that the garden is REALLY trying to tell me something. And bumble bees love the flowers too.

It took ages for the phlox to start blooming, and now we will enjoy its flowers for a few weeks.

We have two varieties...

And the roses have started their second round this year...

You might be fed up with my hydrangeas, but they are getting more and more beautiful every week, so I have to show them here again...

I find it difficult to leave the garden for a few days when it's raining and we have quite a few issues to keep an eye on, but I really hope that it's not going to be so bad when we see it tomorrow morning again. I will keep you updated 😊

See you next time...