How does our garden go - Part Three

Part three brings you to the tales of July and August.
We're busy, busy, busy, as most gardeners are. There is the seemingly endless cycle of weeding, watering, mulching and training the various types of plants to grow where we want them to be. Thank goodness our 12 year old niece, loves to run the mower and cut the grass. I am sure glad she had decided to spend the summer holidays with us, as it is a tremendous help having a 3rd body to take up the slack.
Providing we have a decent start to the spring, by the end of July the tomatoes are reaching towards the sky, loaded with blossoms and setting fruit like crazy. If we are lucky and have select early varieties, by mid-July, we are occasionally snacking on fresh heirloom tomatoes, with their various combinations of flavors and textures. Ummmm! Chopped up with fresh lettuce, and green onions, a little vinegar and olive oil dressing makes a wonderful change to the diet.

Towards the end of July, while Grunt struggles mightily to keep up to the rampant growth in the garden, my interest diverges somewhat toward the orchard and the commencement of canning. Around the 20th of the month the sweet cherries are ready to go, followed quickly by the early apricots.

August seems to be filled with days that do not have enough hours. The garden still needs it's care and attention, and by mid month is when we start to harvest the tomatoes in bulk. When they come through the door, the seeders are set aside for a few hours while the rest of the tomatoes are processed either as whole, stewed, chunked, or salsa. While these are going through the pressure canner, I slice the seeders in half, squeeze out the seeds in to baggies to ferment (thanks to Dave (American Gardener) for the tip) and then put the rest into a large pot to cook slowly in the oven in preparation for juicing or saucing. It hardly seems like I get one batch done, and Grunt is bringing in some more tasty heirloom/open pollinated tomatoes to do. When the tomato section of the garden gets ahead of my processing, there is a line up of people who are willing to drop in and take extras of my hands. They love the old fashioned vine ripened taste.
And if that isn't enough, the late apricots and early to mid season peaches and early pears, crowd into the processing line up. I try to save an hour or so each day to at least look at the garden and do some of the minor weeding, or mulching chores.
Although we are busy, this is one of my favorite times of the year. Every day brings something new and wonderful outdoors. It is the height of insect activity and the first batch of nestlings are now learning to fly. It seems like you can actually sit (if you had the time) and watch everything grow.
By mid to late August, the first of the melons are ready to harvest, and our diet goes from the usual meat, potatoes and two veggies, to one very high in fruit and vegetables. The heirloom melons and early summer squash are also yielding up their seeds for the seed bank, although they must dry throughly and won't be banked for another month or so. And with a warm summer, the first ears of sweet corn add that wonderful taste and aroma to the kitchen.
Towards the end of the month our "helper", has to return to school, so we cut down watering the lawn, so that it will not need as frequent mowings. This tolerable to us, because by now, the garden beds usually have a nice thick mulch coat that can be as deep as 4 inches.
Near the end if the month it seems like everything wants to be sampled, and picked, and preserved towards the coming winter. No wonder our grandmothers were so busy with all their heirloom vegetables, and they looked forward to the coming fall and winter.
Coming soon - Part 4 September and October........