After a slow start, things in the garden are looking good. It appears our soil blocking experiment worked, although we may try starting tomatoes a few weeks later than usual – by the time it was safe to move them outside they were a bit on the leggy side. There was no transplant shock however, which is always positive, and as you can see: everyone is thriving. We’ve even got green tomatoes appearing! {Make sure you click on the images in the gallery, so you can really see how cute the spoon tomatoes are! I can’t wait to taste one}.

The peppers are a little behind schedule, but they’re also big fans of hot weather. While we were still getting a chilly night here and there {overnight lows in the 50s are amazing y’all, I wish they could stick around}, we’ve now hit 90 degrees. I was not emotionally prepared for 90+ heat yet, but the peppers seem to be happy. Hopefully they’ll kick into “grow mode” and catch up with everything else.

Our attempt to start squash seeds was a dismal failure this spring, for unknown reasons {potentially too-old seeds?}, so we had to buy some squash starts – but aren’t they gorgeous? We’ve been harvesting and eating, and they’re so delicious.

Also had to buy some cucumbers: my seed-starts were doing great, until they weren’t. We transplanted them anyway, and one looks like it’s trying to start over. There are also a couple volunteer cucumbers which look fantastic, so we are letting them do their thing. Surely between the plants we purchased and the volunteers I’ll get some cucumbers this year. Things do look promising, so crossing all fingers and toes the trend continues.

The green beans are also thriving – and delicious! Another plant that thrives in the heat, so long as you keep it watered, we’re having to harvest every few days, which means sharing the garden love with family and friends. These are flat Italian green beans, and they are a dream to prepare and cook {hardly any strings!}

The peas had a good run, and when the vines started showing those “end of season” vibes, we harvested all the peas and cut the vines down to dry for mulch. My sugar snap peas decided they wanted to grow plump “actual peas,” so we treated them as such: an evening of shelling while watching Bridgerton and then a quick process, and we now have 9 cups of peas living in our freezer. It’ll be so nice to have that taste of summer this winter.

We are very pleased with how the garden is growing this year, often stopping to take a quick “garden walk” up and down the rows to check on everyone’s progress. Now that we’re starting to harvest, it’s getting exciting – won’t be long now and the tomatoes will be coming in waves, and it’ll be time to can this year’s supply! {But first, I plan to eat at least a dozen BLTs – I am in dire need of fresh tomato flavors}. And, believe it or not, we’re already starting to think ahead and plan what seeds will need to be started for the fall garden! Time really does fly by when you’re having fun.

Have you planted a garden? If so, how’s everything growing?