Judith's garden is filling with the fruits of her labour. Pollinators abound in her garden.
Yesterday was delicious. The rain started mid-morning and kept going until the evening. All of my plants were singing, and I can see how happy they are this morning. After this joy we are now approaching heat warnings which is not something that I enjoy and neither do my plants. These are days when you want to be sure to water at least once a day. I will be watering my pots every morning and probably later if they appear to be flagging.
My zucchini has produced its first fruit. I had this first picking in a lovely salad, and it was fresh and delicious. If you want to try to grow a vegetable, zucchinis will never let you down. I have this zucchini in a large pot because I wanted to try to discourage cucumber beetles. Cucumber beetles are the scourge of zucchini and cucumber and anything in the squash family. You will see these striped beetles in and around the flowers. Try to pick and squish if you can. If you are dealing with a lot of these beetles, find an unaffected plant and cover it with a row cover. You will need to hand pollinate but at least you will get some zucchinis.
My first zucchini with its blossoms
The lovely salad I had was a new one for me:
Place 1 thinly sliced zucchini and 1 sliced tomato in a bag.
Add a glug of olive oil, juice of a lemon and ¼ cup of parmesan cheese.
Shake and dump into a bowl. I like to make this in the morning and let it sit in the fridge until supper (and yes I pick at it throughout the day).
One of my favorite perennial herbs of the season has started to bloom. Bee balm, or Monarda or Bergamot, is in the mint (Lamiaceae) family. This mighty plant with many names is a pollinator magnet. You can usually find it in red, pink, or purple and it is often a favourite of hummingbirds. I was at work this morning and when I sat down to take a break, I watched a hummingbird in the bee balm going from flower to flower. Bee balm makes a lovely tea to help with digestive issues and it is an antiseptic that you can use to treat rashes and cuts and even bee stings. The scent of bee balm is somewhat like a bergamot orange and that is why it is often called bergamot.
Bee balm
One of my favourite annual culinary herbs, the nasturtium, is in full bloom. While the lovely blooms will attract pollinators, they also attract beneficial predatory insects like lacewings and hoverflies. While I find cheese and nasturtium leaf sandwiches to be very yummy, this time of year I like to make herbal vinegar with nasturtium blooms. I carefully wash the flowers and put them in a mason jar. Cover the blooms with a good white wine vinegar and let it sit for three weeks. Drain and bottle the liquid. When my vinegar is ready, I can give you a couple of interesting recipes.
Nasturtium
The too-many cats are not happy with the heat and are draped over furniture, in front of fans, and are flaked out on the tiles in the bathroom. I am preparing to water and am watching my plants closely. I am also watching my weather app and whispering….send rain. Enjoy your week.
Judith (Email: sghorticultural@gmail.com)
Veggie Bites are available at https://sghorticultural.wixsite.com/website or https://gardeningcalendar.ca/articles/veggie-bites/
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