Summer Moon of First Harvests
We have had heat and just a bit of rain, perfect for ripening stone fruits like cherries and 
plums. It helps avoid brown rot. The bees have worked hard, likely laying in one of our better harvests with only a first year colony, one that can be (and I hope will survive) overwintered and divided next spring.
Last year Kate had the idea of growing what we had in diminishing supply in our pantry, freezer and dried foods. We decided to focus on garlic, peppers, onions, tomatoes, beets, carrots, leeks with a few sugar snap peas, cucumbers and eggplants for eating during the year. It was a good idea, helping us focus our work and give garden space to foods we wanted to preserve in some way for winter.
The combination of heat and the International Ag labs high brix garden supplements for the soil and foliar sprays have given us a banner year for beets, carrots, greens, a year not over yet which looks like it will give us a great tomato yield, peppers, tomatillos and eggplants, too. My best guess is that the leeks will also have a very good year. That means we’ve almost run the table as far as vegetable gardening goes.
The strawberry crop was solid, too, though not amazing. I find the cherries hard to gauge 
because this is the first year we’ve had many fruits at all. My guess is that this is a middlin year for our cherries. Our currants are ripe now and the plums have begun to ripen though so far all the ripe ones I’ve seen are on the ground. The pears and apples have a good ways to go yet, though we definitely have substantially more pears than any other year. The raspberries, the latest crop of all, look, based on the plants, as if they will put out a good yield this year, as well.
Next year I’ll do a soil test and get a program for the orchard, too. Bump up production and quality there, too.
The lilies are in bloom now and the new varieties from the Northstar Lily Society sale have exceeded their promise. (see picture above)
