Work hard, play hard, garden in between

I feel as if I have been away for a long time.  There is so much going on as we use every hour of our summer as a precious commodity.  Work has kept me busy for more hours than usual.  Play has taken me away from the computer.

Play has been the best part.  My husband and I made a trip out to the western half of Wisconsin and enjoyed some time along the rivers.  Part of our vacation is the quest for dairy products, namely cheese and ice cream.  We had to look pretty hard for this in a zone that was not dotted with dairies on the Wisconsin cheese map.  (Yep, we really have one!)  Nelson Creamery did not disappoint us.  I enjoyed an ice cream on a 90+ degree day and filled up half of our cooler with cheese.  The place had such a charm about it, I had to share a picture from the building even if it isn't related to the usual stuff I write about.  I do love old buildings.  They are talking about replacing the basketball arena in Milwaukee because it is (gasp!) over 20 years old and so outdated.  Give me a break!  

We also took a long weekend away to spend some time on Lake Winnebago with my husband's side of the family.  They have a nice size boat, so they met us on the lake where we were able to camp.  The weather looked like this on Friday with wind and waves and stayed that way the entire weekend.  We never did leave the dock, but still had a nice time anyway.  I wasn't looking for it, but I found a very new and very cool goat dairy in Pipe, WI.  They sell the best cheeses from other dairies, Kelly's Creamery ice cream (butter pecan was soooo good!), and Wisconsin wines, beers and other beverages.  I would like to go back and enjoy some more of everything.

Back home the garden is starting to kick in gear.  The beans are coming in in almost all my plantings now.  It is so fun having 4 foot rows of each variety.  I am enjoying the filet type beans the most.  So slender and tender in all three varieties I have going.  I will have to look them up later to refresh my memory on what I put in.  Cukes are doing well in the tomato patch but struggling elsewhere.  I would like to put in more pickling vines next year, possibly behind my flower bed with a soaker hose running by them.  I have had my first tomatoes from the 4th of July bush.  They are small but satisfying.  The Sun golds are starting to turn yellow.

Most all the squash and pumpkins have set at least one fruit each.  I am still waiting on the Kiwano melon to even flower.  I have nipped the tips and am thinking it will need some fertilizer with less N and more PK to help it along.  

The peach has several fruits on it and some of them are starting to turn yellow from the hard green state they have been in.  I have heard peaches need aggressive pruning so I will have to do some research on that one.  The Honey gold apple set one fruit which is more than I expected for a new tree.  I wonder if I will enjoy it or if the squirrels we be there first.

My third crop of lettuce is coming along nicely considering the heat wave we went through right after planting.  I have pulled a few radishes from my last sowing.  I think the shade cloth and the soaker hose made the difference with this mid summer sowing.  I continue to mound the soil around the stems to help them bulb rather than stretch.  Kohlrabi is growing but not expanding at the waist yet.  The beds with soaker hoses are fairing much better than those without.  I think I will look for end of season deals on some as there are some that are starting to show their age with some cracking.  I would not garden without them.  My daughter did a fantastic job keeping things moist through our absence wherever she was able to let them run on their own.  Quick connects on each one also helped to make the job easier.

Well, it is time to sit back and seriously enjoy the mojito in my hand.  A mojito mint was definitely a good buy! Check out last year's post on making a mojito yourself.