The groundhog has returned. I noticed that a couple of my heirloom tomatoes that were just about ripe had bites out of them. The next day I saw the perpetrator run away when I entered the garden. The groundhog is back, or it’s a new one (more likely).

I stationed Dedo in the garden with a sign but it didn’t do much good despite Dedo’s best effort.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he entered Greg’s garden and was subsequently dispatched along with his brethren by means that only seasoned farmers know.

End of the groundhog story.

But we also have rabbits. Lots of them. they trimmed some of the pepper plants. Totally wiped out the celery root and kept the okra plants well trimmed. They couldn’t care less about my new ultrasonic rabbit chasers.

I will likely need to do more fencing next year. En Garde!

I used the holiday today to finish up my planting, I weeded the mint garden last week and tilled behind the composter and along the path. Today I planted okra where the broccoli was that got decimated by the rabbits. Between the path and the pine tree, I planted 3 ground cherries, three more Okra plants, and six fennel plants. I managed to break up the hard soil enough behind the barn to get three tomatillo plants in. Rain is coming for the next few days so I’m glad I got it all done.

The potted Jalapeno has been yielding a large amount of peppers – more than I can use. The tomatoes continue and the basil is doing well, The Shishitos are starting to yield. They are mostly hot this year.

The preparation and tilling I did last fall helped a lot, but there were a couple of beds not prepared. The wet spring hindered getting some of the planting done, and the following drought made me spend a lot of time watering, and I probably should have done more.

The peppers have turned around after a couple doses of fertilizer and more water. All of the plants look good.

The peas had an amazing yield and were good and tender and crunchy, even with full-sized peas in the pod.

I’ve had a tomato every day since the first one, so I am on to my usual summer breakfast of tomato toast.

Two crops of radishes were total failure as well as the ones I planted in a pot with potting soil and regularly fertilized and watered. I’m not sure what the secret is, but I certainly don’t have it.

I got one zucchini several weeks ago. Little ones keep sprouting, but they don’t grow and eventually turn yellow and rot.

I didn’t plant the potted cilantro thick enough, but the potted basil from seed grew quickly and is absolutely beautiful. I’ll need to start new pots of cilantro and basil in the next couple of days.