The garden in July

The second half of the year already! At this point in the season it is now a waiting game in the vegetable garden: waiting for fruits or vegetables to mature and ripen, hoping for much needed rain, and praying for the summer heat to be done and over with. We haven't experienced the heat like elsewhere in Italy at lower altitudes but I expect that to change in July and August. I took these photos yesterday during my morning inspection of the garden.

The blackberries (thornless variety) should be ready to pick from August to September. This year I'm freezing harvests for smoothies and mixed berry pies.

The row of Peruvian ground cherry/poha berry plants are really growing slow in this space. I have others growing elsewhere that are 3 times bigger but still no flowers. I've read that it takes 6 months from sowing to harvest so with a little good fortune, something will eventually come of them.

Patty pans and Zephyr summer squash (pictured above in top photo). Like last year, the patty pans are taking their time finding their groove. The bi-color Zephyrs on the other hand, are already producing. I have most of these growing vertically on stakes to maximize space, and I hand-pollinate new baby squash every morning for a better success rate (the bees are not so much this year).

Cherokee Purple and Paul Robeson tomatoes recently started to set fruit. I know we need rain, but thankfully the sparse precipitation means less chance of the plants getting fungal diseases. I always worry about this if it really pours early on in the season but so far, so good.

I predict that we'll be harvesting at least 50 pounds of grapes this year. The white varieties that we have (Topazia and Sublima) put out plenty of flower clusters; same goes for the Black Magic grapes that did very well the previous year. Grape jelly is on the list of things to make but the harvest is really so much that it's impossible to give enough of them away.

Lastly, the bed containing the mini-variety watermelons (Yellow Cutie and Piccolina) and okra. Both took forever to develop in the greenhouse but once it was warm enough and safe (no more slugs) to set them out, they do seem to have grown some. I'm experimenting with training the watermelons to grow on the wire fencing for the most part but also allowing some to sprawl on the ground.

Today's high: 29°C / 84°F