Dry Weather

We are in the midst of a major dry spell in the Pacific Northwest. We had a cool, wet spring which got things off to a slow but steady start but now our irrigation pond is empty. This does happen most years but not usually this early. We now have to irrigate from our well, which although having plenty of water, has a very low flow rate and we can't water the whole garden all of the time. So we start deciding which crops can do without water, which ones are mainly over anyway, which ones, like the winter vegetables, need to be kept well watered. We've pulled the water off the onions and potatoes, they're pretty much mature, off the statice because it will keep going for a long time even if really dry. Tomatoes can do without much water as long as they are maturing fruit. The fruit will be smaller but actually tastier as a result. Although it has cooled off this week the hot weather has been great for the melons and winter squash and corn, you can practically see it grow. Which speaks to one of my main philosophies about market gardening - grow everything. No matter what the weather throws at you something will like it.

Apricots for Winter

Ah, here are the aprictos now. We got 7 quarts of canned ones and 4 pints of jam. Apricots are not a dependable Western Washington crop so this is really special.

August Garden

I got home this evening after three days running my booth out at Roche Harbor. I haven't been home since Friday afternoon what with that and the Saturday market and, as usual, the first thing I want to do is to go out into the garden and see what's been happening since I've been gone.

The squash and pumpkin plants are huge, almost covering the paths. I walked down between them because probably won't be able to tomorrow morning.

There are peppers set on the pepper plants, the corn is tall, the zinnias are in full bloom, the pole beans are scrambling up their supports, the hoophouse is FULL of tomatoes. It's a lot cooler than it has been but the evening is soft and lovely. I'm glad to be home.

Apricots!

Our daughter, Jennie, has a small apricot tree at her place on the island that was loaded with fruit this year. They are on a road trip, driving back east, so she asked us to harvest them. Joel is planning on canning them this evening. Canned apricots are my all time favorite canned fruit. What bounty.

I'm Reunited with my Camera

No, I haven't disappeared into the ether. I just got separated from my camera and then had all three of my girls come to visit with their families and blogging just didn't happen. Now my camera and I have been reunited and we are hunkered down surviving the heat and the vegetables are growing. The melons are loving the heat. Our Scoop II plants are, as usual, the first to set fruits.
The hoophouse tomatoes are beginning to ripen in quantity. So far we and the families have eaten almost all of them but this weekend we expect to have some to sell. These are Sungolds the best tasting tomato we grow. My three year old granddaughter, Iris, just loved picking and eating them.

Rain and Our First Tomatoes

I got rained out of my Roche Harbor booth today and as Joel was in town giving a talk on winter gardening grabbed a ride home. On the way home we passed Nob Island looking romantic in the rain. We came home to harvest the very first tomatoes out of our hoophouse from a variety called Stupice (stoo PEACH ka).
Joel made a great salad from those two tomatoes, Green Ice lettuce, Red Candy Apple onions, basil and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

The garden is loving the rain.

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July fell on a Saturday this year and Friday Harbor was a mob scene, as usual for the Fourth. The town is also celebrating its 100th anniversary and so to commemorate that our market manager, Rosa and I dressed up in more or less turn of the previous century clothing. My outfit was a birthday present from Joel from Recollections, who make costumes and historic clothing. We had a lot of fun.