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This is the month of garden season where it really starts to feel successful. The main reason for that is, of course, tomatoes! Sure lettuce was nice, but this is when we get to harvest some real flavor. :) All of my favorite summer dishes involve tomatoes, so as you can guess, the ripening of the first few romas is a highly-anticipated event!
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes? Only two things that money can't buy... That's true love & homegrown tomatoes!
This year, our beefsteaks have this lovely pinkish hue, instead of the traditional tomatoey red-orange. Must have grabbed a different variety at the greenhouse than we usually get. Anywho, it makes for some fabulous color contrast in my garden baskets!
Here's a recipe round-up of those favorite tomato dishes I mentioned:
I recently tried a new tomato recipe-shakshuka - which I was quite happy with, so that's linked here. Kind of like ratatouille, but a different spice profile, and it has poached eggs in it. Impressive, yet simple.
The raspberries have dwindled out, and we're on to blackberries now. This was the first summer I really paid attention to the berry life cycle, if you will, and it was fascinating to watch the transformation from blossom to berry. (An unexpected benefit of writing this garden series, I guess!)
The cone in the middle of the flower is what becomes the berry, while the petals wither and fall away. Then the color changes from green to red to purple, and finally black, as the berries ripen. It's quite an exciting process to watch really.
Japanese beetles continue to attack the garden, with particular voracity for the green beans and grapevine. I continue to fight back with soapy water drownings, but it seems to be a losing battle. They seem just as strong in number every day. Despite their significant damage to the foliage, we are still getting some green beans. (If the beetles or Pruitt don't get them first, that is. Ha!)
How is your garden growing? I'd love to hear in the comments!
Thank you for stopping by,
Eva
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