I’ve got lots of ripe SunGold tomatoes. I already shared about two cups of them and lots more are on the vine. They taste sweet and juicy.

Among the bigger tomatoes, “Dona” has lots of green tomatoes and one is finally starting to turn color. This is September, so I’m going to prune the tops of all of the big tomatoes, removing the remaining blossoms so the plant’s energy goes to enlarging and ripening the green ones.

This is such a weird summer. My green beans are flowering and producing a second crop! My green peppers and eggplants aren’t doing well and may not make it.

I pulled a bunch of beets recently. They were about an inch-and-a-half in diameter. Picking them is also a thinning process so the remaining ones can get bigger.

I pickled the beets. They were delicious.

I got eight crookneck squash that are ready to pick and more coming along. I still have beans to pick as well as cucumbers, but the cucumbers are starting to slow down.

I’ve thrown out the old lettuce and other salad plants and started new ones. I’m going to grow more lettuce, red cabbage, and rainbow swiss chard that has red and yellow stalks.

And I’m even going to grow purple sprouting broccoli. It grows all winter, is hardy to the frost and then in the spring, around easter, you get broccoli to eat. And because it is ready so early in the spring they don’t get worms on them and the heads are really soft and yummy.

All my peaches are ripening. They are juicy and sweet. The ones I’m growing have peach fuzz. I kind of like the fuzz, but the skin is tougher so I peel it off before eating.

Lots of green tomatoes on my vines. The SunGolds are ripening and I’m eating them daily. The others are not there yet. I hope summer hangs in there for a while.

The hot peppers are looking better than the big peppers.

There were a few good days this week. Warm weather, the tomatoes and squash were ripening. We need more days like that.

I’ve been picking my pole beans and bush beans. I’m going to pull up the beets this weekend. They are crowding the cucumbers.

I picked a few peaches this past week. Yummy.

My Sungold tomato plants are producing and I’ve already eaten a few. They sure are tasty.

My other tomatoes like the cherry/grape tomatoes have flowers but haven’t set fruit yet. That’s a bit odd since they usually are ready before the Sungold.

I ate my first cucumber today. There are more on the way.

My beets are about 1 inch in diameter. Bush beans are also ready and pole beans will be ready soon.

I picked my first green beans today. They are up to the top of the poles. Cucumbers are about 1-1/2 inches long. Got to keep them watered otherwise they will turn bitter.

Basil is about 12″ inches high, pretty good since they were seeds a little while ago.

Because the warm weather has been so late, I’m really pushing the liquid fertilizer to give them a boost. I’m still using a balanced fertilizer like 5-5-5 or 20-20-20 because I want the whole plant to get bigger. Later I will switch to a different fertilizer to promote flowers and fruits.

The birds have been attacking the raspberries now that they are ripening.

I put row cover on one set to keep the birds off, and I put a red and silver reflector tape over another set of raspberries and it seems to be working. The birds must not like the reflecting of the sun in the breeze and are staying away.

My cucumbers are setting fruit. I also have some Sun Gold tomatoes ripening on the vine.

Wow, what a heat wave. I’ve been watching the weather report to see when the heat wave will end. I’ve watered the garden every day during this heat wave.

Tomatoes like the heat, but not that much heat which is why I watered daily. Lots of things like beans and squash are starting to grow now that it is finally summer weather.

Meanwhile, the raspberries are ripe and tasty. I picked and shelled the peas. The sugar snap and flat chinese peas have all been picked and eaten. They taste so much better right from the garden.

One month later than normal, I’m going to finally plant the basil that I started from seed that I’ve been keeping inside until we finally got some summer weather.

I will cover them with row cover to keep them warm if the nights stay cool.

Happy 4th of July!