July!

Monday: Bluebirds in the yard hatched!
Tuesday: Thunderstorms.  3/20" in the first round.  Another 3/20" in the second.  Seemed like more than that.  The potatoes were leaning heavily to the east.
Thursday: Potatoes and eggplant are blooming!
The weekend was productive.  Shawn, ever the optimist, planted watermelon.  Weeding happened, and hilling potatoes began.  The latter involves muscles I don't usually use, apparently.  It was warm and I yet again forgot that the first few times I'm out in the "spring" I should put on some sunscreen.
Shawn decided to rebuild the entrance to the shed.  Formerly a sow shed, the ramp was treated hard in its previous life.  It didn't really bother me, but I worried about people who weren't used to where to step to avoid nails and twisted ankles.
We went to the market, selling leeks, fresh garlic, radishes, cilantro, plants (they sold really well!), beautiful head lettuce, and garlic scapes.  Oh, and four tiny zucchini.  Tim helped harvest and sell--it was greatly appreciated!  We did pretty well, but won't be back until July 23 (vacation).  Then we should be there the rest of the season.  I took extra photos because I figure (hope) the garden will look dramatically different after a 10 day absence.
I harvested almost all of the spinach since it won't be edible when we return.  Freezing spinach has got to be one of the most unrewarding activities ever!  You start with a giant pile of stuff and end up with a teeny tiny pile.  I froze 13 cups.
We also tried to sell beet thinnings, but no one wanted any, probably because they could buy good sized beets.  So we ate the greens with friends the other night--sauteed up with leeks and the fresh garlic.  Delicious!

Our stand this week.

Best looking lettuce we've ever grown.

Part of the spinach ready to be processed.

Washing.  Spinach sure gets filthy.

Cooling the steamed spinach.  Since there were plans for daiquiris,  I took the opportunity to clean some ancient things out of the freezer.

Before.

After.

Bluebirds on Monday--1 week old.

Swallow eggs, still waiting.

The older bluebirds in another house.

Clarkia--one of my favorite wildflowers.  Too bad it's an annual.

Pepper army.

Knee high.  (Apologies to Mr. Weiner)

Looks good!

From left: cabbage/shallots, carrots, older carrots, beans, leeks, zucchini, onions...

Bloomin' eggplant!

They don't looks so good, but could be worse.

Cucumbers.

Pumpkins.

Watermelon between two strips of visquine, hoping to warm the soil.

Plenty of potato bug larva.  This unsuspecting family about to be killed.

Trying to make watering while we're gone as easy as possible for Teri.

Ramp repair.