Summer vibes in the garden

Last week, we had one full day of rain which was amazing as we didn't have to water the garden for two days. Honestly, I didn't even know what to do with so much time - just kidding!

It cooled down a bit as well, so it was bearable to be in the garden and do something even before 8 PM. I kept removing the weeds as I feel they grow so fast that I can't keep up with them. I don't focus on clean garden as I like when it's a bit wild, but we got weeds that reseed like crazy, and I try to contain them before they take over the garden.

The last few days have been very hot again and it's going to be even worse by the end of the week, and I'm actually drowning the plants so that they don't suffer, and it's worth it. Even when it's so hot they look happy and keep producing. I've been considering to try some other plants next year because I notice that it's hotter and hotter year after year and our native plants start suffering, so maybe it's a good idea to try some vegetables that we were not able to grow here by now because our season was too short. I'm thinking okras, red bell peppers, watermelons, or maybe sweet potatoes. I need to do some research about their needs though as I would prefer some vegetables that don't need a lot of water, so watermelon might not be a good idea. Let's see.

But now, let's look at our garden!

Yesterday, I was able to harvest our first beans! Exactly 7 of them 😊 They are many more, but I let them grow for a couple more days as they are too tiny right now. Actually, this was enough for me as I'm alone at home this week, so a handful is great.

This is what I mean when I say that they are many more. Luckily, we love beans and I'm looking forward to add them in stir-fries or simply bake them with some garlic, butter and lemon. Yum!

I wasn't sure which ones were white and which ones green. Now, there is no doubt and even though we love the white ones too, I'm not going to grow them going forward as they grow small, and therefore get demolished by slugs faster.

My yellow zucchini plant is getting bushier and bushier. Normally, I would prune the leaves if I would see that the plant suffers, but it's doing great. Right now, I have 4 pollinated zucchinis growing.

I will take this one home tonight. I thought that the different colour of zucchini was just that - a different colour, but it tastes different and the texture is different too.

The green zucchini is not growing so bushy, but it keeps producing, so I'm happy. We can easily eat 1-2 zucchinis a day, so keep them coming!

This is a bit scary as I haven't grown pumpkins before. These are only 3 plants and they cover a huge area. This photo I took at around 8 PM because I loved the light...

And this is about 30 minutes later...

I wish that I had time to be in the garden all day to see how the sunshine changes and how it looks like shining on the plants.

I think they quadrupled in size just in one week! I fertilized them because I thought that they need some strength to put in those babies. I don't usually use fertilizers other than my green manure and other plants that quickly disintegrate, but here I used an organic fertilizer that I bought because I wanted to give them nutrients quickly.

This should also be a butternut, but they look very different to the ones above, so let's see what we'll get. It can't be a pollination issue as all pumpkins on this plant look the same.

I have realized that I didn't take a photo of this plant, so you'll have to be happy just with a cucumber instead. I spend at least an hour pruning them. It's the first time I pruned cucumbers other than removing the bottom leaves, so I'm excited to see the result in terms of how they'll do it. They pushed so many side shoots which got more than a meter long with only male flowers, so I decided to remove them all, so that the plant can focus on the main stem and producing new, hopefully female flowers.

The fennels are going slowly, but strong. I'll wait until they get a bit bigger before harvesting them. I like them small as that's when they have the best flavour in my opinion.

This tomato plant is not more than 50 cm tall, but it's carrying so many fruits. I keep an eye on it every day as I'm concerned that it will break from the weight.

Some tomatoes are already changing their colour! I give it one more week before we'll have some of our own tomatoes for lunch.

The eggplant grew so big in a week. I was expecting many more to come as there were so many flowers, but this is so far the only one.

And yes, we still have some raspberries...

My green manure had cornflowers too. They have just bloomed and I couldn't be happier. They should be prolific self-seeders, so even though it's an annual plant, I expect it to appear in the next years too.

I didn't know that cornflowers could be white too, but well, every day is a school day.

My lacecap hydrangeas are finally blooming too. They come much later than the macrophyllas, but here they are!

Of course I have the blue ones too!

I hope that you're enjoying the gardening season as much as I do, and I'm really happy if you stopped by to see what I've been doing recently in my garden.

Thank you for reading and until next time...