Summer 2025

Happy summer, all! It’s been an amazing (albeit a little crazy) one so far! We had 2 rounds of new windows put in over the last few months, replacing every single damn one of them. What a joy but what a process, though I’m thrilled it made me really purge a lot of things. I’m even (gulp!) considering having a garage sale (aka tag sale, aka yard sale, depending on where you live) again! I swore after I had one years ago that I’d never have one again and yet, here we are. We’ll see what happens – that’s probably not going to happen until next summer, if it does at all.

All of our gardens are thriving – we are blessed! I’ve scaled down my veggie gardens a bit from previous years, and it still seems like we have so much. The only new thing I’m growing this year is Sweet Garleek by Row 7 Seed Company and let me tell you, it’s DELICIOUS! You should check out all of their cool seeds – I’ve purchased tomatoes from them as well. I have regular leeks going too, but wow, is the Garleek amazing – I highly recommend! I started ours inside in early January and started harvesting some of it a couple of weeks ago. I put in plenty to take us all the way into autumn.

Our flower gardens are all doing fabulous, as well. Here are a couple of quick shots I took recently – please excuse the not-so-great phone photos. I thought the lily framed by the vintage trellis was gorgeous.

I love the colors of all of our lilies but to all my cat lovers, please remember to never bring lilies inside – all parts of them are toxic to our feline family members! Even if you get the pollen on you, make sure you don’t go near your cats.

We had a number of dead and dying trees removed last summer and it’s made a positive difference in the amount of sun an area in our backyard receives. I also had to move our big asparagus patch a few years ago (what a process THAT was!) but now it’s not only coming back but thriving again. Having fresh asparagus every spring is simply magical – it’s our favorite vegetable and, as I’ve said before, well worth the small initial investment if you have the space for it.

Our spring and summer vegetables – aside from the Sweet Garleek – have been the usual – radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, lots of tomato varieties, hot and sweet peppers, green beans, yellow summer squash, cukes, leeks, eggplant, tomatillos, and okra. Lots, lots, lots of fresh herbs, of course!

I hope all of you are having an amazing summer, as well – sending warm wishes and positive vibes to everyone. Happy summer and happy gardening!