We managed to have some servings of lettuce but our lettuce was so good that something came and ate most of it! Fortunately, we had planted more so we expect to still get lettuce. Our wildlife neighbors are certainly loving our garden.
We bought fresh eggs on Saturday from our neighbor, across the street. They are fantastic! We hope to continue to enjoy fresh and local eggs.
These were our Soy Bean plants before they grew another foot and begun to flower. Not only have the deer eaten all of the flowers from the Black Eyed Susan we planted (not the native ones), the Coneflower, the squash, and some flower we have not yet identified but they also ate the tops off of all of our Soy Bean plants! I'm hoping some will come back. Oh well, better luck next year.
The Sugar Snap Peas in this picture are from a month ago. They now stand 3 ft. tall. The peas are sweet and delicious!
I'll post some updated pictures of the garden next week. Our Sweet Corn is over 3 ft. tall but the ornamental is still less than 2 feet. The bugs have gotten to our Basil but I was able to pick some for our spaghetti sauce. We have lots of spices now. Our Tarragon is over 3 feet tall and I don't even know what to use if for.
This year we are going to dry some herbs and make herb flavored butters and oils.
The torrential rain has returned. A few weeks back when the lightening hit the tree it had also hit a van driving on the same road with a mother and teen girls. They were pretty frightened but ok. They ran into their house as soon as they got home but their poor van still has electrical kinks. That same kind of storm has been in and out all day today. The thunder is deafening but the lightening is not nearly as dangerous as before. This is the first time I've seen Sammy come crawling over to me shaking uncontrollably. Poor Gracey has been seen for most of the day.
The mix of the heat and rain has inspired growth in all of our vegetables. We've already been able to eat fresh picked lettuce and lots of herbs. The beans have begun to flower. Our hillside garden had cucumber seeds that have now sprouted but the rain had washed some of the seeds so that we have cucumber sprouting all over the place! I love going out everyday to look at the new growth.
The flowers are doing very well but I think one of the deer didn't realize they were supposed to leave the coneflower alone. It never had a chance to bloom! They ate the top off many of the other flowers. Oh well, better luck next time. All of the plants in the front of the house are doing very well. Goldenrod and Mullein have also bloomed.
