Quick and Easy Zucchini

The summer squash harvest is beginning. A really quick and easy way to serve zucchini is just to slice and saute. Slice, sprinkle with salt and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour to draw the water out of it. Rinse well and pat dry. Heat a little bit of olive oil and saute until done. Yum!

Raspberry Season has begun!

Look at what I picked today. Yum, yum, yum!

My raspberries are a tangled mess. I have summer raspberries and fall raspberries all planted together. I have red raspberries and yellow raspberries all planted together. I had black raspberries in there also, but moved them last year.

I like my raspberries all mixed up. I get raspberries from June until frost this way. And I like the flavor variety from growing so many different kinds.

My raspberries spread past their boundaries and I dig up the wandering plants and give them to my neighbors - I think they all look at me strange when I tell them I have no idea what I am giving them - except that it is a raspberry plant. They just have to wait until it bears fruit and be pleasantly surprised.

I'm not planning on making as much raspberry jam this year as I have in past years. I am going to save some of the berries for making syrup for my waffles and for making sorbet. I am going to branch out some. I'll be sure and share my recipes and my successes and failures - I always do.

Where has June gone?

Seriously, can you believe it is almost July? I cannot believe how time keeps slipping away from me.

It has been a strange year for gardening - but don't we say that every year? It is just that the strangeness is different every year. There is never a "perfect" year for gardening - something is always out of whack - that's the way it is with nature. Every year something does great and something doesn't. I don't think I have ever had a garden where everything grew perfectly.

This year the weather has been so variable. We had below average temperatures for much of the spring and early summer and now it is hot - too hot - the garden didn't have time to adjust. We also had very little rain so I haven't been complaining one bit about the last few rainy days.

So, how has my garden been growing since I haven't been updating? Here are a few pics:

The lettuce has been doing great. It loves the cooler weather we were having. It will probably be done pretty soon now that the weather has turned hot.

The potatoes are also doing great. They have started flowering which means there will be new potatoes to dig very soon.

The peppers have just not done well so far this year. They are small and just not growing much. They are heat lovers, so maybe now that it has turned hot, they will start thriving instead of just surviving.

The cauliflower was looking great but the heads have started looking really funky the last couple of days. I suspect it is the sudden heat.

The brocolli is looking really good. It hasn't seemed to mind the heat.

The brussels sprouts are also doing well.

I lost most of my cabbage this spring to the rabbits. The ones that survived (I put a fence around them a little too late) are doing great.

My tomatoes are struggling. They are starting to bounce back. None of my tomatoes look as good as my neighbor's but I'm not too concerned - at least not yet.

The new peach tree is thriving. My son keeps asking when we will have peaches again. Poor impatient child, he just does not understand that this young tree will not produce fruit for some time.

The currant bushes are loaded with berries that are just starting to ripen.

And lastly, Andy's garden. He planted cucumbers, canteloupe and watermelons. The cucumbers and canteloupes are beginning to look really good. His seedless watermelon never came up and the seeded ones just don't seem to be doing much. They are barely growing - I'm not sure if we will see any fruit from them this year. Andy, being the ever hopeful child still thinks the seedless ones might come up yet.