Produce from Our Garden

The heat is finally taking its toll on our little garden. We've had August temperatures in June and no matter how much we water the plants, they fry in the sun. We've had several days of triple digit heat already, and summer has just begun!

We managed to enjoy two months of greens before they bolted. DH planted some more seeds a couple of weeks ago, but the seedlings are suffering. I think we'll have to wait until September to plant greens again. But while we had them, they were delicious. Surprisingly, I really like the dandelion greens! I tried cooking them the same way as kale or mustard greens but they were much too bitter - as much as I hate the idea of boiling greens, dandelion greens really must be cooked that way. DH went and found a recipe at Epicurious for Sauteed Dandelion Greens and I was very surprised at how delicious were. First you boil them, then drain them and saute them in olive oil with garlic. To die for. And yes, I eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Our pepper plants are growing but not flowering and have not produced yet. But our cherry tomato plants are growing like gangbusters! I keep giving them away and they keep producing, they are the gift that keeps on giving. The plants are withering and turning yellow in the heat, but I think we'll get scads more tomatoes before the plants finally give up. We also have Early Girls in the garden but we only got a few tomatoes each from our two plants. Even so, they were divine simply graced with a little salt and pepper.

After a slow start, our cucumber plants got big and we have several pickling cukes on the vine. Anna goes crazy for those like she went crazy for the snap peas (which have shriveled up by now), and she also is humming with excitement over our two little Tendersweet watermelons. Those watermelon vines are threatening to take over our yard. They managed to escape through the fence to the alley, so our watermelons are sitting by the side of the street. I hope nobody decides to take them. Anna cannot wait for them to ripen and share them with friends.

We have several carrots that are not ready to pick yet and some beets as well. As far as our herbs, the rosemary, oregano and basil are doing the best. The chamomile bit the dust, which was not surprising. Via trial and error, we are learning which plants like to grow where, so next year's garden will be even better!