July started off hot, with a classic “heat dome” over the East Coast. Water deeply at night was the game.
We had a bad hailstorm in the 3rd week of the month; I lost a few branches on my grapevines and flattened some tomato plants, but overall the garden came through it OK. Some of the hail was 2″ in size.
I had to travel the last week of July and was worried about the garden, but then it rained (and thunderstorms) almost daily – 7 out of 9 days. If anything, the worst part was rotting tomatoes I had to deal with in early August.
Life has been busy, the boys went back to school today. I can almost smell fall – oh it is plenty hot, and will be for weeks still, but I can see the change coming.
Bee Balm.
July 1st brought the first tomatoes.
I ate my first Lemon Boy in the garden. Warm, sweet, and juicy!
Calendula.
Wheat, which I harvested once it turned tawny.
The squash I have no idea what it is.
Corn peeking over.
Sunflowers surging.
Mid-month harvesting.
This zucchini, Chiffon, was a good producer. Nice squash to grow.
I preferred the Chiffon to the standard green.
Mid-month gave good harvests; the weather stayed in the 80s much of the month (with it hitting in the 90s in the last week).
Purple bell peppers were something I could not grow successfully in Washington State, even in our greenhouse.
We had a surge of mid-summer strawberries.
Our corn did well (Bantam), although one thunderstorm tried to blow it all over. Lesson learned on where to plant it, but also to build a “cage” with twine, as it grows tall.
Toads everywhere, eating bugs.
The Bantam corn put on both regular and pink silk.
My Mammoth sunflowers did well in July; however, a storm knocked down 2, with the stems fully broken.
Candy onions.
Unlike in Washington, I can grow huge heirloom tomatoes in West Virginia. Often a pound each.
Another evening, another harvest.
Invasive plants, but with leather gloves on, easy enough to pull.
The mystery squash.
A good day? Yes.
The carrots did well here, for the first batch.
By the 3rd week of July, I was canning 5 jars of salsa multiple times a week.
Hot days in the 3rd week.
We had a few days of choking on Canadian smoke.
The garden in full boom mode.
I came across a random feral head of lettuce that had seeded itself.
Flowers in the lawn.
My garden, at a year out. I started it a year ago, in late July. With a lot of work, we built it in a few months time.
Butternut Squash, growing up the corn and sunflowers.
Decorative gourds, useless but fun to grow. Hopefully they last through Halloween.
Heirloom tomatoes.
First cantaloupes.
More tomatoes.
Cantaloupe.
The sad part is when we left to travel at the end of the month, we got a LOT of rain. It rained 7 out of 9 days. And it was hot. My cantaloupes, musk, and watermelons all exploded. Oh well. At least I can grow them here!
Every day for half the month. Pick, wash, and process.
I would go out every night and do a quick picking before the bugs chewed me up.
Mexican Sunflower. I had two of them growing, and I will grow them again. A sea of bright orange flowers. Just make sure to add stakes to support them in thunderstorms.
Corn near the end of the month.
Late summer walks in – mushroom season starts along the lawn.
Violas that self-seeded.
Another night.
Passion Fruit flower.
Boneset, an herb worth planting.
Echinacea flowers
Is it summer if you don’t have a plate of caprese salad?
July was a long month. But it was productive.
In the final days, I planted fall crops of bush peas, dwarf peas, and more summer squash. I moved a few plants around, too.
I am looking forward to days in the 70s, but also to thunderstorm season ending. It’s not a complaint; we needed all the rain we have gotten, but a few dry days would be appreciated. September will be here bef0re I know it.
~Sarah