July 2, 2026
On June 18, with our friends, Larry and Jeanne, from the blog ajeanneinthekitchen.com, driving towards the sunset, oh wait, they headed away from the sunrise. It was way to early to even think about sunset. I digress. Bruce and I felt the need to check the gardens and orchard and get to work.
I harvested cherry tomatoes, the Clint Eastwood Rowdy Red tomatoes, yellow patty pan squash, green (and purple) beans, yardlong beans, and the first cucumber. If you have seen the tomatoes on a stem in the grocery store, the Clint Eastwood Rowdy Red tomatos have the same growing pattern. They are delicious! While I was in the garden, Bruce was speed mowing again.
I captured Japanese beetles by putting a jar of soapy water under them and gently tapping on the leaf. The beetles let go and dropped straight into the soapy water. This works great on leaves that are horizontal, but with vertical leaves, you still have to pick them off. In some cases, I scrape the leaf across the top of the jar, and in go the beetles. This works best in the morning or evening. During the main part of the day, the beetles will often fly away.
While harvesting the tomatoes, I removed suckers and twisted the tops of the plants along the trellis string. I didn’t have a wide enough trellis to put all the tomatoes plants. We had found several large tomato cages in the barn and I decided to use them. The caged tomato plants are fountaining out from the top of the tomato cages. Maybe tomato cages are not such a good idea?
In the evening, Bruce and I harvested blueberries as it had cooled of slightly.
The sky was pretty.
Blackberry Homestead 