Tuesday Garden Party- A Mid-Summer Harvest

I was so glad to visit Brenda's blog, Peek at My Paper (which is beautiful, by the way) after she linked up last week for the first time asking for a little help. She had decided to "Get Back to Basics" by starting a small raised bed garden and was asking for help in knowing what and when to plant and other gardening "secrets." She had a number of suggestions from Garden Party participants which I hope is helping her along her gardening path.

I love this aspect of the Tuesday Garden Party! A number of times people have asked questions in their posts which then a few (brave) souls attempted to answer. We are all learning- alas, gardeners never stop- and so this is becoming a great place to come and, if not find the answer, then find ways to get an answer. Sometimes we even find that we don't need an answer- the thing we thought was a problem is not and happens to everyone (whew).

I may be biased, but I think the TGP participants rock! I look forward each week to seeing what is going on in the gardens, what is blooming or being harvested, what they are making with the harvests, and even what's going wrong. Thanks guys- gardening has become more fun with you.



Here's what I harvested after being gone four days, which just happened to be the hottest four days of the year so far with degrees in the mid-90s. I entered the garden with a bit of trepidation, but things were OK and the heat loving plants (beans and tomatoes) are thriving.

• Walla Walla onions- there's lots more in the garden, but these were the biggest to pick today. Grilled onions sound pretty good to me.
• Beets- the first for me since I got a late start trying to fix the vole problem. I'm thinking beet chips with these...
• English peas- late like the beets and just a handful. I'll have to wait a couple of days to get enough to shell and steam, because we love the taste of fresh steamed peas with butter and salt around here!
• Snap peas- another handful, but they are going into tonight's chef salads.
• Broccoli side shoots- into the salads tonight
• A head of romaine lettuce and some thinnings of the summer lettuce (eaten a week and a half ago by deer, but coming back-yeah!)- you guessed it: the base of tonight's salads.
• Berries- the last of the strawberries, the first of the marion and boysenberries, and some blueberries (buried in the picture by the others...) that the birds let me get. Whew- they are really attacking the blueberries this year. Ugh. Guess I need some flashing tape. These animal problems are starting to get me down...

What's going on in your garden?