Sunday, July 27, 2014

Getting Ready for the Last Week of July, 2014!

Lots of Different Sizes of Sunflowers in the Herb Garden!
This One is in the Basil Bed!
These are in the Sage and Lemon Monarda Bed!
I Think We have Our Second Sighting of a Second Praying Mantis!
A Swallowtail Butterfly Enjoying the Sunflowers!
The First Early Fig from Our Containers!
Trimmed Off the Spent Flowers from the Lady's Mantle!
Harvesting Some Peppers and Tomatoes from the Garden!
The Mints Are Hanging Out with the Green Pepper Basil!
Have Some Dill to Dry!
What's Your Herb Garden Like This Summer?
We are in harvest and trimming mode in the herb and vegetable gardens!  Probably a very good thing but it doesn't leave much time for blogging these days!  We are just getting a huge rainstorm at the moment!  Coming down in buckets big time!  We have most everything held with sticks and strings by this time of the season.  Just wanted you to see what's going on and maybe remind you of what you should be doing in your herb garden.

We had mostly all volunteer sunflowers this season.  Not exactly in the right places, but the goldfinches,  bees and butterflies certainly love them wherever they may be.  The Herbal Husband discovered a second (I think) praying mantis and we got a photo of it.  This one was a bit smaller than the first.  We worked on harvesting some more veggies before the rains came.  I was hoping to get more garlic out and I think we got some, but not quite what I was hoping for.

As you can see, the mints are all doing fine and I should harvest some of them for tea blends later this fall.  My dill crop got buried by the volunteer radishes.  I was lucky even to get as much as I did.  The bonus in drying dill on paper towels is that the paper towels smell like dill once it is finished drying.  I think that's a really great herbal bonus!  I also wanted to mention that if stink bugs are a problem for you, make sure to keep your eyes out for the stink bug on lemon verbenas!  They have become a problem in this area.  Besides Japanese beetles, I have been picking all sizes of stink bugs from my raspberries!  So be on the lookout!  It was really humid today and hopefully, tomorrow will be less humid, dry and pleasant.   Hope you have a great last week of July!  Where has this summer gone?  Talk to you later.

3 comments:

Carol said...

You are definitely busy in the garden this week. I need to pick green beans again and somehow get them in the freezer or canned. Don't know how I'm going to get that done as I am down with my back again.:( Going back to the "DOC" tomorrow and have no plans of going to work this week so maybe I can putz my way thru it. I can hire the neighbor girl to pick them. She'll love the money. I guess it's a good thing the deer ate most everything this spring as I wouldn't be able to process it now. Hopefully by the time the later plantings come in I'll be more mobile.

Linda Goudelock said...

was that fig as delicious as it looked? Your gardens look lovely

Lemon Verbena Lady said...

We are just going to plant some green beans, Carol! I'm sorry about your back!:( I know from The Herbal Husband's back, it isn't fun! Take care and take advantage of that neighbor girl to pick those beans! xo

Hi Linda, The fig was more size than substance but I guess every fig is a blessing! I will say it was a wonderful surprise. Thanks for your kind words! xo

Thanks for stopping by ladies!