In the Garden : July 4

Volunteer Stocks are everywhere

note the grasshopper damage on the old leaves- the new leaves still look good- though.

Potato bug eggs- argh!!!

Cranberry Beans

Lady bugs love Tansy

Chamomile starting to bloom. 

It's starting to look like a real garden out there. Lots of blooms, lots of bugs, lots of food starting to grow. The bugs are not so great- Grasshoppers, Potato Beetles, Aphids- but there are lots of good bugs too- Lady bugs and bees, moths and lacewings. We tried the molasses traps and they seem to catch a few bugs- but not all grasshoppers, and not really enough to make a dent in the bugs- though the basil is growing back too- so maybe the feeding frenzy is starting to fade.

The peas are starting to produce, and the spinach is too, the herbs are ready for a bit of a haircut, the oregano is huge! and some small green tomatoes are starting up! so exciting- the Black Krim, and our saved purple Cherokee/black krim/Indian stripe seeds are also producing some fruit (we're not sure what type of tomato we saved from, we thought it was black krim- but then found the old 'rainbow mix' package from years ago, and black krim is not listed. Cherokee purple was though- so we thought maybe it was that- but we also know that some of the tomatoes sound very much like Indian Stripe- so this year we're really watching to see what they most resemble- so far they are subtly different from Black Krim.)