Tomatoes are Ripening!

For the first time in 10 days, the high in Portland will be less than 90 degrees. While many Portlanders suffered from the heatwave, it did good things for our garden vegetables.

Three Belle Star tomatoes ripened over the weekend and I will incorporate them into dinner tonight.

Another nightshade, this Czech Black pepper is producing beautiful purple flowers.

Hungarian wax peppers are almost ready to pick.

Our squashes are thriving as well. I picked my first Pattypan summer squash of the season, above.

We have to wait longer to eat our winter squashes. When I planted the vine above, I thought it was a butternut, but the shape and size of the fruit suggests it will grow into a Pink Banana variety.

This football-shaped Blue Hubbard fruit looks much larger each time I visit the garden.

The squash blossoms continue to feed dozens, if not hundreds of bees.

This flower is packed with honeybees.

Yellow-faced bumblebees have crowded into this one. It's good to see our garden benefiting our six-legged friends.

Local Produce Update

Summer weather has arrived in western Oregon and the local food season has truly begun.


So far, our shares consist mainly of greens, so we have been eating plenty of salad.


Earlier this week, we planted our tomato starts in our borrowed garden space at the Turner's house. We now have 11 tomatoes and three tomatillos in the ground.



We still have tomato sauce left over from last fall, which we are using for pizza and pasta.


Our sauce reserves should last until it is time to cook up the new crop.

The fresh berry season is more rapidly approaching, and we are scrambling to use our frozen berries before the u-pick season starts.


We have been drinking smoothies as often as possible and we may need to throw a cobbler party.


We are down to our last two jars of pickled beans, which have been popular appetizers at family functions. Our pickled cucumbers, which were a bit too squishy and acidic, were not as well received, so we will stick to canning beans next fall.

It's funny how we preserve fruits and veggies for winter consumption, but end up eating most of them in the spring and early summer.

Spring Gardening

Now that is mid-spring, rhododendrons and other woody shrubs are in full bloom and it is time to get our gardens in order.

At one end of our raised bed, the winter lettuce is salad-ready and the snap peas are flowering.

We tilled the other end, pulled out the bolting arugula, and planted a few tomato starts. We are also trying to grow a few different veggies from seed this year such as beets, carrots, and dill.

To save room for other plants in the bed, we planted two more tomato starts in containers.

Harvest Time

During the last few weeks, we have been getting great shipments of produce from our CSA farm. Judging from the eggplants, purple tomatillos, purple pole beans, purple majesty potatoes, and purple bell peppers, our farmer Steve seems to have an inordinate fondness for a certain color, but we'll take any whatever vegetables he's offering.


This weekend, we attended the annual harvest party at the farm, which involved a huge potluck feast, fresh-pressed apple cider, a scavenger hunt, and a square dance.

These goats were thrilled to have so many people around to feed them green beans.

There is only a month of farm pickups left, but there appears to be enough tomatoes and other crops to last the rest of the year.


These peppers and marigolds complement each other well.

I've been busy revising a paper (awful work) so I had not been to our borrowed garden for some time.

This morning I found tomatoes such as these Belle Starrs pulling their vines down to the ground.


While others are climbing for the sky.


I picked a good load of tomatoes, beans, tomatillos, and my first-ever winter squash (top left). I dont know if I should eat it or display it as art.

This week, we will be making more tomato and tomatillo sauce for winter storage. At least our freezer economy is in good shape.

Garden Workings

Yesterday, I pulled several bucketfuls of weeds and helped Fred construct a cucumber fence in the garden. As the cucumber vines grow and attempt to take over the other plants, he will string them between the wires to train them to grow upwards instead of outwards.

While in the garden, I noticed the first ripe tomatoes of the season! An early ripening variety from Europe. We ate them with lunch, ushering in the short time of the year when fresh tomatoes have flavor.


Our dinosaur kale plants are approaching the size of small dinosaurs. I have been harvesting shopping bag-full amounts of leaves, which I bring home to blanch, chop, and freeze for winter soups and pasta. At this rate, we will not need to buy our favorite leafy green at the grocery store for the rest of the year.

Summer Garden Update

During the last two days, I alternated computer and garden work at the Turners' house.


My Grandpa-in law Fred's garden is really a small-scale tomato farm with a few more crops thrown in for good measure. Fred, Sarah, and I have planted 58 tomato plants and Fred has constructed a wooden frame system to support the plants. I can hardly wait til September.

Our raised bed has flourished in the recent high temperatures.


I thinned the dinosaur kale and arugula, resulting in several bags full o' greens.


It looks like we will be celebrating Independence Day with feasts of large salads and stir fries.

Andie enjoyed some garden time, as did her cousin Clark the cat.


Looking ahead to late fall, Fred started a small pumpkin patch and I noticed that our winter squash seed have sprouted.


Now we wait for our treasures to grow and find time to weed and water whenever we can.