The June Garden

In my May garden update, I shared the (rather long) list of all the things I have growing in my kitchen garden this season. Here’s an update on how things are progressing and a look at my garden in June.

Peas

If I had to pick a favorite garden vegetable, it would have to be peas. Not the snap variety that can be eaten in the pod. I like those, too, but my favorite are the labor-intensive shell peas. (For one thing, I think they freeze better than snap peas.) I spent more hours than I care to think about during the month of June shelling peas. I literally shelled peas until my fingertips turned green. But I have several bags of peas squirreled away in the freezer to enjoy during the dark days of winter.

 

Cabbage

I never seem to have much luck with certain members of the brassica family. (I’m looking at you, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.) But, boy, do I have a knack for cabbage. Year after year, I harvest huge beautiful heads of cabbage, like this one:

Not only is cabbage easy to grow, it makes a beautiful ornamental plant. Although a little mustard green goes a long way for me, I just love the look of purple mustard greens next to the bright green cabbage in the garden.

Read more about cabbage: The Kitchen Garden A to Z: Cabbage.

 

Exciting Times

I don’t know what’s so darn exciting about that first ripe tomato in the June garden, but it is. Really. Exciting. I enjoyed this little cherry tomato on June 29. Snapped this photo and then plucked it off and ate it right there in the garden. Yum.

 

Other Edibles in the June Garden

Garlic scapes are the thin flower stalks of the garlic plant. They are great sliced thin, sautéed in butter or olive oil, and tossed with pasta and steamed veggies.

Here’s the recipe: Garden Vegetable Pasta Bowl.

 

The potatoes started blooming in early June. We haven’t dug any yet, but I am sure we will find some nice B-sized red potatoes under this plant:

 

Greens, greens and more greens. I can’t harvest them fast enough. This mosaic of garden greens includes (clockwise from left) kale, Red Velvet lettuce, and Mantilia, a butterhead variety:

 

This Year’s Monster Plant

Last year, it was the cucumber plant I named Seymour. This year, it’s this volunteer sunflower growing in the herb garden. It’s already up to the roof of the garage. Earlier today, I actually heard a woman gasp when she rode by on her bicycle and saw it looming there.

 

A Visitor to the June Garden

I found this guy feasting on my dahlia plant one afternoon. It’s a Giant Swallowtail butterfly, one of the many pollinators that have a mutually beneficial relationship with my garden.

 

An Egg Update

Will I ever see another five-egg day like this again? I’m starting to wonder. Hazel, my four-year-old Hamburg who lays the pretty white eggs like the one on the end, hasn’t laid an egg in about three weeks now. Could it be henopause?

Stay tuned for next month, when I will bring you another peek inside my garden.

This post was shared on the Home Matters Linky Party and The Clever Chicks Blog Hop.