July 2026 Update

Posted on July 26, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

July is almost over, and it’s time for another harvest update from Happy Acres. Our harvests are in full swing now, and it’s keeping me busy bringing them in and preserving them. It has been a good year for cabbage here, and I have brought in over 20 pounds in total. I’ve made a lot of sauerkraut, and I pulled the last cabbage plant in Mid-July which we used for fresh eating. It’s also been a great year for the container eggplant, and we have enjoyed it for many a meal. The in-ground plantings will begin bearing soon, so we should have plenty to eat for some time to come.

early July harvest

It’s also looking to be a good year for the cucurbits – the summer squashes and the cucumbers in particular. I have the cucumbers growing in the greenhouse where they usually keep producing until early August. We’ve enjoyed eating most of the squashes, plus I’ve frozen some and given a few away to friends. One new favorite is a hybrid white pattypan called Moonbeam. It is tasty when cooked and it has been productive for me as well. It has certainly earned a spot in our future plantings.

July harvest

Moonbeam squash

Another new plant I’m growing this year is an AAS Winner called Murasaki Fioretto 70. It’s a sprouting cauliflower with a bright purple color and is quite tasty. The flavor is a bit hard to describe – not exactly a cauliflower and not exactly a broccoli either, but delicious all the same. My wife and I both enjoyed eating it and I’ll be growing this one again for sure.

Cauliflower Murasaki Fioretto 70

top of Murasaki Fioretto 70

The harvests in late July have become quite varied, with squashes, cucumbers, tomatoes and a few hot peppers making an appearance. It’s nice to have a variety of homegrown goodies to choose from when planning our meals. I baked one of the Goldilocks orange acorn squashes last week, and it was tasty as usual.

late July harvest

The summer lettuce is still keeping us supplied for salads. It’s not as pristine looking as that grown in cool weather but we are enjoying it. And on the positive side, it’s not giving us cryptosporiasis either! That’s one big bonus of growing your own food as far as I’m concerned. You know where it’s been and who has been handling it.

summer lettuce

I always look forward to tomato season, and ours are beginning to come on strong now. I’m getting a nice selection of small ones as well as the big slicers. I love tomatoes and nothing beats a ripe homegrown one in my opinion. Pink Delicious was one of the first slicing types to ripen this year, and it’s an AAS Winner I’ve grown since it was released a few years back.

late July tomato harvest

Pink Delicious tomato

There’s always new tomato varieties to try, and this year I’m trialing several. Mimosa is an orange grape tomato that has been early to fruit and prolific so far. It’s a colorful addition to our mix for sure.

Mimosa tomatoes

Honey Bee is one I grew last year along with the slightly larger Queen Bee. They were bred by Johnny’s Selected Seeds in collaboration with the late Fred Hempel (Artisan Seeds) . Both are pink and yellow striped and late-blight resistant, and quite tasty. We loved them last year and I have no doubt we will enjoy them as much this year too!

Honey Bee tomatoes

The lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes are joining up for our July salads. I can afford to use the veggies liberally when they are plentiful as they are now!

salad with homegrown goodies

In non-harvest news, we have quite a few of the hardy hibiscus blooming now. The blooms only last for a day, but new ones come on to put on a show that lasts for many weeks.

Luna White hibiscus

Midnight Marvel hibiscus

Peppermint Flare hibiscus

And last but definitely not least, my wife planted Becky Shasta Daisies around our mailbox back in late May. They are blooming now, and quite lovely to see when we go to get the mail or pull in or out of our driveway. They will only continue to get more beautiful as time goes on.

Becky daisies

closeup of Becky daisy

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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June 2026 Update

Posted on June 26, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for another harvest update from Happy Acres. The month of June is almost over, and our harvests are slowly but surely picking up now. Speaking of slow, first I will mention our blueberries. We’ve had these bushes for several years now and lost over half of them over the years. We’ve just got a few berries this year, but we have enjoyed them when we had them.

blueberry harvest

The lettuce harvests have not disappointed though, and we have been well supplied for months now. Bergam’s Green is a green leaf lettuce that always does well for me in cooler weather. I’ve been planting more heat-resistant varieties lately like Cherokee, Muir and Tehama and these should be ready for cutting soon.

lettuce Bergam’s Green

The squash and eggplant are starting to come in now, and are a welcome addition to our diet. The Green Machine zucchini and yellow Tempest are two of my favorites and were early to produce this year.

first summer squash

mid-June harvest

Recently I used one of the zucchini and one of the yellow squashes to make Baked Ziti & Summer Veggies, along with mushrooms and a bit of onion and tomato. Riccotta and mozzarella cheeses and an egg hold everything together, and lots of fresh basil from our garden gives it a lovely flavor. The leftovers are tasty too, and this is one way we enjoy using our summer squashes.

baked ziti casserole

I’ve got Fairy Tale eggplant growing in containers, along with Gretel and Icicle. The Fairy Tale has been the first to give us a harvest, and we roasted some of these to go on an eggplant sandwich we enjoyed for lunch one day this week.

Fairy Tale eggplant

eggplant sandwich

I’ve been hauling in kohlrabi since early in the month.  I set out about 30 plants in a bed behind the greenhouse, and this year I’m growing Beas, Terek, Konstance and Kolibri. We have been enjoying these smaller ones for fresh use, and fermenting the larger Kossak variety I have planted in the main vegetable garden. I’ve hauled in over 20 pounds of them already, so it looks to be a good year for them.

early kohlrabi

Kossak kohlrabi

Also looking good are the cabbage plants, and I cut the first head this week for fresh use. Quick Start seems to be aptly named, since it was the first to head up for me this year. This one weighed a bit over two pounds, and we cooked it up as a side dish one night for dinner.

cabbage Quick Start

I also cut a bigger head of Green Presto this week, and this head weighed just shy of three pounds. I will use it to make a jar of sauerkraut. I set out ten cabbage plants this year, and we should have plenty for fresh use and fermenting.

Green Presto cabbage

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

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Mid-June Garden Update Part 2

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I’m back today with part 2 of the update on the vegetable garden here at Happy Acres. One of the last things I always get planted are the sweet potatoes, and this year I got them in on June 4th. I set out the usual varieties – 29 slips in all, planted in a ridge I made of loose soil. I grow the slips myself from the the previous year’s harvest, and pot them up so they get off to a good start in the garden. I’m mulching them with cardboard and shredded pepper, which helps keep down the weeds and conserve soil moisture.

row of sweet potatoes

sweet potato plant

One of the first things I got planted outside this year were the container eggplants. I’m growing Fairy Tale, Gretel and Icicle again this year, and all are AAS Winners that do quite well for me in containers. I sow these seeds earlier than the main crop varieties, and potted them up outside in mid-April when danger of frost had passed.

container eggplants

blooms on Fairy Tale eggplant

Those plants have already rewarded us with the first eggplants, and should keep us well supplied until the main crop varieties start producing.

Fairy Tale eggplants

I’ve also got a few hot peppers growing in containers, mostly test varieties but also a few tried and true favorites. Like the eggplants, they give me a jump on the season until the in-ground plantings begin bearing.

container peppers

One of the latest things I planted was some heat-tolerant lettuce in the cold frame bed behind our greenhouse. So far I have Cherokee and Tehama planted, and I have seedlings of a few others to go in when space is available. Last year we had lettuce throughout much of the summer months and I hope to repeat that again this year.

heat tolerant lettuce plants

And in another bed behind the greenhouse the kohlrabi I set out in late April is sizing up and ready for harvest. I set out 30 plants, so that should keep us supplied for quite a bit!

kohlrabi plants

kohlrabi harvest

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the garden here in June, and I will be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

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Mid-June Garden Update Part 1

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for another update on the vegetable garden here at Happy Acres. I’ll break it up into two parts since I have quite a few photos to share. To start, the weather here has been fairly dry this spring with rainfall running a bit below average. We have gotten enough rain to get things growing though, and the vegetable garden is looking pretty lush at the moment.

Vegetable Garden in June

Brassicas are usually the first crop to go in, and this year I got ours planted early in May. They have taken off since then, and I have been spraying with Bt and neem oil to keep the cabbage caterpillars under control.

spring brassicas

The cabbage plants are heading up, and the big Kossak kohlrabi will be ready to harvest soon. We mostly use these big kohlrabis for fermenting, and the cabbage for fresh use as well as for making sauerkraut.

cabbage plant

Kossak kohlrabi

I got the pole beans planted in late May, and they have really taken off! My main trellis has quite a few of my old favorites planted. I’m trialing a couple of test varieties over on the other side of the garden, using the remesh trellises I use for the vining squashes. Last year was a terrible year for the beans and I am hoping for a better harvest in 2026. In 2025 much of the seed rotted before sprouting, but that has not been an issue this year and I have a good stand of them.

pole beans

trial beans

And speaking of the vining squashes, they are taking off and climbing up the supports as well. I’ve got a couple planted by the fence that surrounds the garden as well as the ones on the remesh trellises.

Tromboncino squash vines on trellis

Centercut squash vines

I got the tomatoes planted in Mid-May, and they are over a foot tall now and climbing up in their remesh cages. They should begin blooming and setting fruit soon. The first ripe tomatoes are always a treat for us! I set out about 50 plants in all, so hopefully we will have plenty for eating fresh and for processing into sauces and such.

tomato plants

I got the eggplant and peppers planted in late May, and they are just now getting established and starting to grow. Some of the hot peppers are already starting to set fruit though, and the rest shouldn’t be too far behind. I’m using folding cages to support all these plants.

eggplant and peppers

young eggplant

hot pepper with fruit

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the garden here in June, and I’ll be back with part 2 of the tour soon!

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May 2026 Update

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I thought it was about time for another update as we near the end of May here. Time is surely flying by as I am staying busy with gardening! Spring means asparagus season here, and we’ve had a pretty good year for it. We finished cutting it this week and mowed the bed down to get rid of weeds and let the ferns start growing to replenish the roots for next year’s crop. We cut almost 12 pounds, and we have enjoyed it for many meals. Last week we made a chicken and asparagus stir-fry that we served over black rice, and that is always a favorite here. We also roast it in the oven fairly often, which is a simple but tasty treatment.

asparagus harvest

asparagus stir-fry

As asparagus season ends, I am continuing to cut the spring lettuce on an as-needed basis. Strawberry Oakheart is a variety from Wild Garden Seed that does well for me here. It doesn’t make real big heads, but the long pointed leaves color up nicely and are tender and mild tasting.

Strawberry Oakheart lettuce

I’m also cutting arugula on an as-needed basis. I have plants growing in containers in the greenhouse, and they are keeping us supplied. The plants will begin bolting soon though, and I’ll sow seeds again in late summer for fall and winter plantings.

fresh arugula

Our Crystal Fountain clematis really put on a good show this spring. We have this planted near our front porch, where we can enjoy the large lilac colored flowers as we come and go. It will bloom all summer and into the fall, but the spring showing was really quite lovely this year.

Crystal Fountain clematis

clematis blooms

The vegetable garden planting is proceeding well, and I have things over half planted now in late May. I will give an update on that here soon. So far the weather has cooperated and critters have not been a problem. I am keeping my fingers crossed it will be a better year than last year. We gardeners are ever hopeful I guess, at least I know I am!

young cabbage plant

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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