The toms were amazing with fresh basil and some olive sourdough I made from my starter. 

There are many peppers ready to be eaten green (or purple as with the Filius Blue peppers), some are picked to encourage more flowers, and the others will get left to allow the peppers to turn red and spicy.

There are still lots of blueberries on the shrubs out front, and now that I have divided my yellow alpine strawberries into a lot more room, I’m getting heaps of those as well (thanks for the advice, Laura!)  And with all the kale growing at the community garden, I just had to have more kale chips.

I thinned out a bunch of small beets this week for both the sauteed greens and the roots.  I’m growing at least 4 types this year: Detroit Supreme, Red Ace, Chioggia, and Golden.

It has also been a big week for flower harvests.  With so many cutting blooms growing, my house is filled with colour both inside and out.  The crocosmia below is one of my favourites – both the firey orange crocosmia and the larger upright lucifer crocosmia look just a good indoors as outside from my hammock.

Also in the beginning of July I harvested the rest of the peas and composted the vines.  It’s good because I needed the room.  But I did plant a bunch more Mammoth Melting Sugar snow peas at the community garden for fall.

I harvested some kale from the garden plot as well this month as it is doing fantabulous.  I have many bunches of green onions ready to eat and I harvested a head of raddichio this evening.  I also had some rainbow chard from my home vegetable beds tonight and expect that I will be eating that nightly for a week or so.

All month now I have been snacking on blueberries.  I have 5 bushes located in the front potager / perennial garden and 4 of the 5 shrubs are new as of last year so really I’m only eating berries off of one.  But so far it has produced more ripe berries than I can pick and eat fresh so it’s just right and I still have plenty to ripen still.  I eat them in salad and of course on pound cake and whipped cream. mmmmm.

My yellow alpine strawberries are producing berries but I think that perhaps I put too many (5) plants in the small planter on my patio as they are small and turn brown and hard quickly. the leaves are yellowing a but to despite my regular watering, full sun, and fertilizing.  I’d happily accept any advice on improving these plants as this is my first year growing them. 

Here are 2 of the ripe ones with a red thrown in for comparison.  They have a unique strawberry favour that I can only describe as strong strawberry with a hint of banana.  They also have the texture of a cooked banana – some what starchy and mushy – but the texture is not off-putting, it’s more “melt in your mouth”.

Finally – lettuce lettuce lettuce!  I have been eating Super Gourmet Salad blend since March from seeds I planted in January.  The heads are just now starting to bolt but I’m hoping I’ll keep them going until at least August. 

Wash & remove thick stems from a bunch of kale. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil & sprinkle lightly w/Kosher salt.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 10 min until crispy.