This has been the worst summer for ever for mosquitoes. We had about 1 week near the beginning of August where we could sit outside, but then more rain and more bugs. Because of the impossibility of working in the garden with swarms of bugs, even in bright sunlight, I was unable to plant any second crops, and actually never planted some of the later first crops like other varieties of zucchini and later basil plantings.

Peppers yielded well, but the hot peppers by the back fence were  a total fail, as the ground was too wet all summer. The heirlooms and most of the other tomatoes got the black wilt and didn’t produce well. The large amounts produced many split tomatoes which then rotted. The Romas yielded well in spite of it all. The few cucumber I planted did well, but later plantings never got planted. The zucchini planted from seed never came up.

Red and Green Salsas

The Tomatillo plants grew very well and were without any problems. They didn’t have any dying branches because of too much rain and no bug issues. The plants bear heavily and spread out, so a conventional tomato cage isn’t enough for support. I’ll need to find another method of support next year.

This will be a permanent addition to the garden. Salsa Verde is great and easy to make. Plus, the plants seem to be problem free and don’t require a lot of attention. Recipes for both types of Salsa will soon be posted at <karneyfamilyrecipes.com>.

The Tomatillos are doing well and I am looking forward to a large crop.

The mosquitoes are still swarming and it is been difficult to do anything in the garden other than basic weeding. I have plants that have been sitting in trays for almost a month but it’s too buggy to do any planting. The rain has been gone for almost a week and I am seeing dry soil for the first time all summer, so I am hoping the bugs will be somewhat gone in a few days,

I picked the first couple zucchini this week, and the cherry and grape tomatoes have been yielding well. Some of the tomatoes have been in the ground since early May, but nothing is ripening yet. Early Girl is supposed to produce in 50 days, but as usual, it will be August tomatoes. When the Romas ripen, it will be a great crop.

Peppers are starting to produce, I picked some full size Gypsy peppers this week and all the pepper plants look good except the hot peppers by the back fence — they got too much water from all the rain and look a bit stunted.

The Tomatillos are doing well and it looks like a good crop. Supposedly they are ready to pick when the fruit has filled up the husk.

Deer and rabbits have rimmed the Lacinato Kale an the Collards, but they will probably come back. Herbs are looking good except the Basil.

I am hoping to get some fall plants started this week if the mosquitoes decline.

We’ve been having rain every couple of days, and the mosquitoes are unbelievable. It is impossible to go into the garden without a heavy slathering of DEET.  I did manage to get the peppers and tomatoes weeded today, but any other work was impossible between the heat and bugs.

I picked the first two grape tomatoes and we had a salad for lunch of arugula, radishes, Lolla Rosa lettuce, kale, mustard greens, and green onions; supplemented with purchased avocado, red pepper, shrimp and croutons.

I pulled up the radishes — extremely poor yield and the spinach which had bolted. The bottom branches on the early girl tomatoes are starting to die. Too much rain, and not enough sun.

The Lovage survived the winter and has vigorous new growth.

The cold winter killed all of last year’s blackberry canes. Since blackberries set fruit only on the year old canes, we won’t have any berries this summer. Fortunately, vigorous new canes are springing up, so the roots weren’t damaged.

The Lovage that took almost all summer to finally spring up from seed wasn’t damaged by the cold. It appears to be doing very well. Now, I just need to figure out what to use it in.

The lightning bugs seem a little early this year, I saw the first ones tonight. I guess summer is here

Despite the mosquitoes, I tilled a couple more areas of the garden and planted collards plants, kale plants, broccoli plants and cucumber plants on the back of the compost bin. I have pretty much filled the available space and there is no room left for beans.

I need to get the lemon cucumbers planted along the back fence, get some more arugula and lettuce in and sunflowers behind the barn. I have 4 red kale plants left that I’ll plant over by the herbs.

Spinach is bolting so I need to pick what is left in the next couple of days. Some of the radishes are ready and the arugula is yielding well. The Lolla Rosa lettuce is up but I didn’t plant a lot. What’s there should be ready by next weekend. Lacinato Kale is ready and the mustard greens should be ready in about a week. The Pak Choi is taking off and probably needs a week or two. We’ve been eating spinach, arugula nad kale for a week or so.

The mosquitoes have been ferocious. Even in broad daylight in the sun, I can’t even stay out long enough to pick a few greens without slathering myself in DEET. This is the end result of all the rain.

However the plants are lovin it. the Grape, cherry and Early Girls tomatoes have set fruit already. The early planting of large plants has paid off.

Today, I braved the mosquitoes long enought to prepare and plant two hills of Spineless wonder Zucchini plants and I hill seeded with Lebanese zucchini. I’ll plant more seeds in a few weeks as succession planting for zucchini seems to be the way to go.

On Sunday I planted 15 Roma Tomato plants using the same spacing as last year which seemed to work well. I mixed compost, lime pellets and fertilizer together and added a few trowels of it to each of the plants.

On Monday, Memorial Day, I rototilled the bed for the peppers, after scattering lime pellets and fertilizer on the surface. I had previously spread a bag of peat moss on the surface.

I planted the following:

• 8 Yellow Banana Peppers
• 8 Lady Bell Peppers
• 4 King Arthur Peppers
• 4 Valencia Peppers
• 4 Melrose Peppers
• 8 Gypsy Peppers

I planted a Marion Heirloom Tomato which finishes the Tomato planting. Also I planted some long-season Basil seeds in the herb garden by the deck and 9 Basil plants in the herb garden along the fence.

I had to work on Saturday, and the week had been so wet that I was only able to get a few Tomato plants in on Sunday. I planted 2 Heirloom Tomatillo Plants and a Park’s Whopper Hybrid and a Celebrity Hybrid.