We will be under a “heat dome” this week with temperatures in the 90s. I am hoping that this gives me ripe tomatoes by the first of July. The first of the bush cherry tomatoes ripened yesterday, which is a good sign. I have some tennis ball-sized Champion tomatoes, but no signs of ripening yet.

I finished up planting today to replace the Romaine and Bok Choi and the broccoli and Kale that the Groundhog ate. I planted more white onions, bush beans in place of the broccoli, kale, and pole beans in the second bed with the trellises. The first batch of pole beans is very slow to grow.

I picked the first zucchini today; they are regrowing well after the Groundhog damage. The gypsy peppers are exploding. I sautéed the Malabar spinach in sesame oil and garlic to accompany the halibut I made for dinner, as I do with regular spinach. The taste is almost identical, but the Malabar Spinach holds its structure a little better after cooking.

I am likely to spend a lot of time watering this week because of the heat. I cleaned out some old blackberry canes today and hope to finish that up tomorrow.