Summer Crops Arrive

The garden was in full swing when we arrived home from vacation. Our son, Andrew, had done what he could to manage the bounty while we were away... watering, tidying, picking, eating, and giving away the produce. Still, plenty to welcome us back!

The blueberries were plump in their ripeness. We picked 5-1/2 pounds right away! with plenty more to come. We ate our fill and got started on the cache of frozen berries that will carry us through the winter. The wineberries looked a bit over-ripe, but in reality were perfect! They will be cooked down into beautiful sweet jam.

Many of the rattlesnake beans looked stressed, with pods not nearly as plump as one would expect. I'm guessing this was related to dry conditions at the critical time of growth. Indeed, upon experimentation in the kitchen I found these beans to be too starchy for my taste.

Still, I managed to pick 8 pounds of delicious, well-formed rattlesnake pole beans! Notice the difference.

Alas, no picture of the Jade bush beans, but I did pick 3 pounds of them. A funny thing happened to the bush bean bed. It was overtaken by a volunteer squash! Thankfully, Andrew pushed the trailing vines away from the bean plants. It looks like it's going to be a monster gourd plant ... time will tell.

We have a bunch of serendipitous squash plants throughout the garden. They're little surprises from the obviously not-fully-composted compost pile. I let them grow, waiting to see what would come of them. So far I like what I see. Here's a sample of what's volunteering this year:

Delicata and Acorn squash

Spaguetti Squash?

The cucumber trellis is working very well. Look at these picture-perfect cucumbers!

The sweet Italian frying pepper plants are loaded!

A pile of produce! Let the summer feast begin!!

Home Again

We are back from our arctic travels. We saw lovely forests in Norway, but we sure did miss trees and plants while exploring Svalbard! We traveled as far north as 80 degrees 36 minutes north. Now THAT truly feels like the edge of the world. Wow!

Lupine - Gardermoen, Norway

Saxafrage - Svalbard

Arctic Landscape - Svalbard

Navigating the pack ice, heading for 80 degrees 36 minutes North

cucumbers