We are at the height of summer vegetable gardening across the northern hemisphere. Plants are established in their spaces and we, the gardeners, are starting see the rewards for our work. Surely a garden tour is in order, right? Keep in mind, that my garden is mostly potential at the moment, not edible produce.

The pomegranate fruit here is one of several hanging on the tree still. This bush/tree is only 2 years old, and colorfully packed with blossoms. So few of them turn into actual fruit, though. I have yet to figure out why.

All My tomatoes have set fruit. This San Francisco Fog was the best producer last summer, giving me tomatoes inspite of loss to scrub jays and pocket gophers. Ah, the pocket gophers! They are becoming the bane of my garden existence.

Bell Peppers. While I can find little fruit, the blossoms are thick on this plant. The heat from a week ago encouraged it to nearly double in size in a week! (it was a sickly thing before). The ripe peppers promise to be yellow and orange, which means they will probably still end up red. But I can't wait until they blister on my grill, bathe in Balsamic vinegar, and show up in almost every dish later this summer!

You can't tell by the scale, but this Pumpkin plant is completely dwarfing the pepper growing next to it.  It should yield better than a dozen 8-10# pumpkins perfect for carving or making into pies and puddings. Again, I can't wait!

Now to the sadder parts of the garden. Those darned gophers seem to be picking off my Swiss Chard by color! Gone are the gorgeous golden stalks, and the red (as you can see) is withering away. They have eaten the roots and the base of the plant. Next they will pull the remains down into their tunnel and devour that too. So far the white has remained immune, and while not as colorful on the plate, is quite a tasty treat at dinner for me.

One experiment for the summer was to plant two soybean plants. The picture of snacking on freshly picked edamame from my own garden? Irresistible. Alas, I may need to adjust my expectations. The first plant is puny and doesn't promise more yield that these several pods.

And the second plant? Disappeared overnight, the victim of plant predators. I'm suspecting that durned pocket gopher again.







At least my citrus trees are all full of fruit for the fall and winter. One of my navel orange trees kept us fed for over a month last year; it promises to do the same again. And the Meyer lemon growing on my deck is full of blooming promises! These should be ripe just in time for hot September day lemonade into throat-soothing late fall teas.



What are other Bloggers reporting about thier own gardens?

My Bit of Earth picked a great head of cabbage from her garden, and shared her recipe for cole slaw.

Seedling shares her own veggie garden's potential in photos.

My California Garden in Zone 23 got her veggies started during our last heat wave. With heat late into fall, she should still be able to get a great return for all her rock-picking efforts.

Thanks to Farmgirl Fare, I know something new to do with my Swiss Chard.  Make her fresh, lowfat twist on Cole Slaw!

Daisy at Compost Happens wrote about "found water."

Nikki mentioned blue berries and a cool caterpillar.

Susan Harris warns that hardy kiwi's great if it doesn't eat your home.  And she's still waiting for some fruit!

Photo credits: Debra Roby's Flickrstream.

Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time and her journey to fitness at Weight for Deb.Come talk with her at the Birds of Feather breakout session at BlogHer Con, Saturday, July 19, from 10:45 until noon.