Pictures- July 16, 2013

After the nice rain we had following a beastly hot day, I wanted to post some pictures snapped while strolling about in the evening. Enjoy!

Lettuce help you with dinner. :)

Yes, our lettuce is growing well. The greens have been doing well this season, while some summer crops have been lagging. It seems this summer is more normal, we just got spoiled with the really early springs the past couple years.

The summer crops are growing well, just a bit slower than we'd like to see.

Pretty little Yellow Crookneck squash.

Hope springs eternal- tomatoes coming along.

And Yankee Bell peppers.

 These peppers came full circle for us. We bought the original seed from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine last year, grew some peppers, loved them, and so we grew out our own seed for use this year. One of the benefits of an open-pollinated cultivar. :)

Salt and Pepper cukes.

I found a new favorite. These cucumbers are so crispy, sweet, and appealing looking, they are hard to beat for fresh eating. Supposedly, they can be pickled. We think they are better fresh, and, anyway, so tasty it'd be hard to get them into jars. :) Look for them at our markets.

Very baby arugula, under a row cover.

No, we are not expecting frost tonight. A little frost wouldn't bother the arugula anyway. :) The row cover helps keep the little hopping flea beetles from making a mess of them. They chew tiny holes all over the leaves. Not a big problem for some plants once they get established; a really big problem for tiny plants.

Ah, the green!

And reds and yellows.

 I would be remiss if I didn't show the little nook where Janice and I grab a couple minutes of quiet time once in a while (not much rest though, this time of year)

The old park bench overlooking the irrigation pond

Reflections in the water.

And thank you, Melissa, for planting the rose starts by the pond.

Then while heading back the the house, I was treated to this scene.

What a nice way to end an almost unbearably hot day! OK, I must confess, what made it bearable was a mid-day plunge in Keweenaw Bay.