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.

I picked the first couple of tomatoes last weekend and made tomato toast for Katy, Kevin, and myself on Saturday. Evan and I picked an overflowing colander of peas later in the day. I should have picked them a few days earlier, but even though there were full sized peas in the pods, they were still crunchy and tender. This variety is a keeper.

We used cherry tomatoes from the garden and dill, and oregano on Grouper that Natalie made last night. I picked my first small zucchini tonight for my dinner. There will be many more in a couple of days.

I’ll water tonight. The peppers look terrible, I will fertilize them tonight as well. I have some small green peppers growing and some Shishitos, but the plants are spindly and not vigorous.

Of course, I love being out in the garden in the brilliance of the day, but with the solar lighting, the garden takes on a magical appearance as the sun goes down.

I’ve been watching for fireflies every night but nothing until tonight. I think the past two days of hot weather brought them out. I saw them only in the yard across the street in the area behind our mailbox. There should be more as the weather is staying hot. I saw the first ones on June 7 last year, so they are about a week later this year. Not surprising because of the cool weather we had

We’ve had lettuce for the past week or so and I picked a big load of peas today.

It looks like my bunching onions are spreading and getting to the point of being useful. They are flowering with a nice display as are the chives.

I planted the lemon thyme and lemon basil, which I thought was Thai Basil. Another Goebbert’s labeling issue. Then I planted basil in one of the container garden pots and radishes in the other. I planted and staked 15 Roma Tomatoes in the far bed, then two rows of Celery Root and then a hill of Tronco Zapata Squash and a hill of mashed potato squash. I also planted a hill of Cocozelle Zucchini next to the hill I planted earlier with plants.

Then I watered most of the garden. While I was watering one of the tomato plants, a little green hummingbird flew in and was trying to drink from the stream coming out of the garden hose.

Today was sort of a bonus day. Rain had been predicted, but the day stayed dry and I spent the whole day in the garden, finishing up at about 5:30, and then sitting on the deck until about 9:00.

I planted, staked, and put bottomless pots on the sweet peppers, 3 large Lady Bell, 6 small Lady Bell, 3 Melrose, 3 banana peppers, and 3 Gypsy peppers. I installed the same type of rabbit protection to the Shishito peppers. Then I planted and staked the hot peppers, 3 large Poblano peppers, 3 Hot Hungarian Peppers, and 8 Jalapeno peppers in the fenced area where I grew Roma tomatoes for the past couple of years.

I planted four eggplants, two Black Bell II and two Black shine in the first bed, and used tomato cages around them which I then wrapped with wire fencing. The rabbits love eggplant and will take them down to the ground.

I planted the Bergamot Mint in the mint garden behind the pots and planted two MexicanTarragon plants nest to the Sweet Mint.

I planted the Malabar Spinach seeds in the first bed along with Pak Choi. I planted parsley seeds in the herb garden off the deck. I added compost to the herb garden near the container garden and planted the two Basil Perpetua plants there. I also thinned the radishes and planted a second crop in front of the peas in the east half of that garden.

That finishes up the major planting. I need to plan the far bed which will have the Roma Tomatoes, celery root, the Zappallo de Tronco Squash, and possibly the mashed potato squash.

It was a good day and I got a lot done. I am completely exhausted after two days of intensive gardening. The rain starts tonight and will continue through tomorrow. The next week will be only in the 60s with several days of rain.