We had a wonderful storm pass through on Thursday. It did produce a small (EF0) tornado about 10 minutes south of us, which caused some property damage, but it also brought us a a full two inches of rain. As a result the gardens feel refreshed and thriving.

Despite the title, the only thing we are eating from the garden right now is still just the lettuce (sooooo much lettuce)

But the beans are thick and lush. It’s such a difference from last year when my beans struggled so much. They are just starting to get flowers, so we will be crunching beans very soon.

I’m not seeing flowers on the peas yet, but they are growing strong and tall.

I’ve already cut off the garlic scapes, and the lower leaves are starting to turn yellow. I’ll be harvesting garlic in a week or two. And the shallots won’t be far behind. I don’t think my shallot harvest will be as good as last year (probably because of the wonky weather) but I’ll take what I can get.

I was a little worried about my laundry basket potatoes when I first started this experiment, but they’ve really surprised me. Of course, the proof will be in the harvesting, and that’s still weeks off.

My cabbages are looking more and more like cabbages every day. In truth, I’m quite excited for these. I grow most of the veggies for Dave, but I secretly love cabbage – I love a good coleslaw. Dave likes his cabbage cooked – which I don’t mind, but it will always be slaw first for me!

I think I mentioned last week that I picked up some more melon plants.

My poor melon bed is going to be VERY full if they do well – we’ve now got three Mini Mikes (mini watermelons) a yellow fleshed watermelon, a cantaloupe and a honeydew melon! They are all looking happy and healthy so far. The weatherman is calling for a week or more of the sticky ickies so they will probably take off very quickly.

One area that’s not looking great, are my strawberries.

My new plants are doing ok (but not spectacular) and most of the old ones have died off completely. I think it might be time to pull all the soil from this bed and start fresh.

It’s a good thing I wasn’t planning on relying on this bed for jam supplies….

I got those from a farm not too far away. But more on that later tomorrow.