June was a very busy month in the garden. Tons of seedlings needed to be planted out, and the final batch of seeds were sown as well. I’ve been harvesting leafy greens, herbs, a few onions, and towards the end of the month, the garlic scapes.

I harvested several pounds of mixed greens, both kale and lettuce. For the most part the plants have remained pest free. The first round of arugula has now bolted, and I have planted out some swiss chard seedlings.

My Mary Jane dahlia was the first to produce a flower this season, and right now the plant is absolutely covered in buds. The other plants were slower growing, but have now caught up in height and should be producing flowers soon.

Cut flower bed filling in nicely. I sowed nasturtium and cosmos along the edges and also added 2 melon seedlings near the far corners.

The first tomatoes are now forming up in the greenhouse. This is New Yorker, it produces a nice slicer sized tomato.

The tomato wall in the greenhouse if filling in quite well, many of the plants are currently flowering and setting fruit. I use clips to attach the stems to the bamboo trellis and try to contain their growth a little bit. I don’t prune off the side shoots. I have a couple planters of bush beans, cucumber, and peppers along the front edge of the walkway. They were all extra plants I didn’t have room for in raised beds.

I planted 3 pumpkin seedlings directly in the recently flipped compost pile and they have really taken off. Nearly ready to drop over the edge, I will need to provide supports for them to wind their way down to the ground level. I did really well with compost pumpkins last year so I’m hoping for the same this year.

Each plant that I have transplanted out into the garden or greenhouse has received a handful of compost in the planting hole, and a bit of granular fertilizer. So far, this season, I have managed to do better at providing liquid feed as well. I have a kelp/fish emulsion feed that I’ve been using, very low NPK levels, just to give them a slight boost. I’ve used it twice on my potted fig trees as well as on the peppers and tomatoes.

I’ve also successfully made a comfrey liquid feed and have just chopped back my plants to start another batch. These were half the flowering stems, before I chopped them down into smaller pieces. The plants will grow back and flower again. Comfrey leaves make a nice mulch and are also good ways to accelerate breakdown in a compost bin.

My in-ground Chicago fig tree survived the winter, and is putting out tons of new branches. Not sure if I will get figs from it, but I’m happy it is alive. Several of the larger potted trees are growing fruit.

One of my apple trees is completely covered in small fruit. The tree has already been attacked by caterpillars, and I suspect a deer jumped the fence and nibbled on some of the younger leaves. I will probably need to cover the apples in mesh bags to try and protect them from critters.

The first set of pole beans are flowering and should be producing beans soon. Several of the bush varieties are already growing their first round of beans.

I’ve spotted a bunch of little mushrooms growing throughout the raised beds, which I have enjoyed. I’ve even sketched a couple of them. When I was transplanting seedlings I disturbed a good number of worms as well, so that is a good sign for the soil. I think after several years of making compost and mulching with straw and fall leaves has led to improvements in our sandy soil.

The outdoor cucumbers are starting to climb their trellis towards the deck step, and the ones in the greenhouse are at a similar size.

I grew a bunch of calendula from seed, and the first couple are almost ready to flower.

I harvested my first snacking pepper from the greenhouse in mid-June, which was really early for me. The plants throughout the garden are all currently covered with flowers and small peppers are forming.

Jalapeno pepper coming along nicely, with some rainbow swiss chard in the background.

The summer squash patch is also doing well, almost ready to flower. I have a few tomatoes along the side edge and a tall variety of marigold along the back edge.

Harvested my first handful of small blueberries this week. The bushes have not been weeded, and are a bit of a mess, but they are still producing. Maybe I will be able to get ahead of weeding them for next year, but for now I’m hunting around for the hidden berries.

I have squash family plants everywhere, among the corn, along the fence, in the greenhouse, and in the compost. I’m really hoping to have a successful year, since last year I only got pumpkins. I’m trying acorn, butternut, honey nut, black futsu, honeydew, cantaloupe, and sugar pie pumpkin. Looking forward to a lot of harvests and poundage coming in over the next two months.

I sowed some more seeds for fall crops. I direct sowed carrots, arugula, and lettuce and started indigo, broccoli, and cabbage in seed cells in the greenhouse. The garlic bed will be cleared out in a few weeks so that will open up space for cooler weather crops. The corn is over waist high, and a few stalks are starting to form silk and tassels. My potatoes in the grow bags are starting to yellow, so I will probably be able to harvest them in a couple weeks as well. All in all, it is shaping up to be a good gardening season.