Well, it’s past time for a July update on out suburban garden. This month saw a boom in our tomato production, our first acorn squash, and the end of raspberry season.

I actually took these photos a couple of weeks ago, so things actually look a little different out there now. But, I figure I should go ahead and share what was up in our garden last month so I can get started thinking about sharing what’s up in the garden this month, right?

Right.

So, to get started, can we look at how ridiculous our tomatoes have gotten?

I mean, I’ve even trimmed them to try and contain them a little bit and make sure the sunlight can penetrate the bed, but they are just going like gangbusters out there.

And we’re so excited to see all these big beauties out there. I need to add another dose of fertilizer I think to help encourage more blooms, but wowza. I’m already pleased with everything going on out there.

The peppers also look better after a slow start due to the rain. We even have some nice-sized green peppers out there but I think they may turn red soon.

We pulled out the peas because they were past their prime but we were enjoying the lettuce through July, which is great. And of course, the eggplants are now in their prime, giving us way more than we know what to do with.

I prefer eggplant breaded and fried (delicious and healthy–ha!) but I’d like to branch out a bit since we have so much of it and I always end up wasting some as sad as that is. What are your favorite eggplant recipes?

The green beans look close to being done, but we’ve gotten two pickings already and I think we’ll have one more before we pull them out. They start to turn brown about this time every summer.

I’ve been kind of disappointed with our cucumbers this year so far. We planted a different variety and I just don’t think they are doing quite as well as normal. But, we still have more than we can eat, so we need to make pickles already. I shouldn’t be complaining I guess.

I thought we were going to lose the zucchini to the squash borers again this year but I went out and dug out all the worms I could find and then added dirt around the base of the plant. Things looked rough for awhile and we lost about half the leaves, but I think they have officially bounced back (though it might not look like it from this photo) and we’ve gotten two zucchinis so far. I hope there’s more to come. I’m not sure it seems worth it for two zucchini.

The acorn squash looks good, or at least looks pretty well. That is a new plant for us this year and I’m glad we tried it!

We had to dig out a couple squash borers from that plant as well (darn life-sucking grubs!) but we also harvested our first acorn squash a little bit ago and Will was a huge fan.

We pulled out and harvested the broccoli and cauliflower from their tubs and I hadn’t had a chance to replant the next crop yet when I took these photos. They didn’t do so well for us, though, because we didn’t get on top of the cabbage worms soon enough and then we waited too long to harvest…Will still ate the broccoli happily, but it just wasn’t as good as it should have been.

Our strawberry planters aren’t doing wonderfully, but they still give us a few strawberries every now and then. I forget to water them  as much as I should, so they aren’t thriving.

The raspberries also finished up a couple weeks ago after a wonderful harvest. Seriously, we had more raspberries than we knew how to eat. I even got to freeze some. At the end, we battled some sort of pest that I need to research for next summer…but still, I was pleasantly surprised by how well these did this year. Even though we only got a total of three blueberries.

Whomp whomp…

I also finally got around to cutting back the pesky sprouts that keep sneaking into our garden from our neighbor’s fence. I always think that won’t be a big job but it takes me an hour to get them all trimmed back.

All in all, the garden is doing really well this year. Or maybe it just seems to be doing so well since it was so neglected last year? Oops.

Anyway, there’s our belated July garden update. I guess I need to get into gear and share an August update before too long, so I’m not late on posting that one as well. Is it cliche to say how crazy fast the summer has gone? Probably, but it’s true. I’m always sad to say goodbye to July since it’s my favorite month of the year with so much to celebrate. But, honestly, every month is pretty great if we just set our minds to enjoying it, right?

Okay, enough motivational speaking for one afternoon. Any of our readers have a suburban garden? Share your progress for the year with us!