Early July in the Kitchen Garden

With the hot weather that arrived at the beginning of July, it seems that everything in the kitchen garden is growing like crazy.

My four "Early Moonbeam" watermelon plants have all begun to branch out with an initial long vine. Since I have never grown watermelon before, I don't know if this is the first of many vines, or if each plant only produces one. Whatever the case, they are clearly loving the hot weather.

All five of the tomato plants now have pretty spays of blossoms. So far, only the "Bloody Butcher" plant has set any fruit.

The "Minnesota Migit" cantaloupe plants are also blooming each day. So far it appears that all of the blooms have been male, so no set fruit yet.

After getting off to a rough start, the "Poletschka" pole beans are now growing quite well. Many of the plants have sent up the initial vine that will soon grab hold of the tower.

I am really pleased with my peppers. I decided one of the reasons that my pepper plants have always struggled in the past was because I was over-watering them. So I have been really watching the soil, and have only been giving them a single, deep watering every 3-4 days. It seems to be working. The plants are growing well and are getting covered with blooms. This is the first set pepper on my "Creme Brulee" plant.

And here is the first set "Lunchbox Yellow" sweet pepper.

Now that we are past the summer solstice, the onion bulbs are really starting to swell. Here's a nice "Frontier" growing strongly.

The shallots are also doing great. It won't be long at all before I can start harvesting them for summer salads.

 

The "Candy" sweet onions will also be ready by the end of the month.

As expected, the Winter Squash have all been loving the heat. All three varieties are sending out multiple vines which seem to be growing by the hour. I keep having to pull them back through the protective garden netting so that they don't get eaten by the deer. Pictured above, an immature "Delicata" squash.

I also found a pretty "baby" squash on this "Queenland Blue" vine.

Not to be outdone by all of the vegetables, my morning glory vines are also growing like mad. Each day I am getting more and more blooms as the vines scramble up the tower.