Hi everyone! I thought I’d show a few of the good things to eat that are growing in the garden. The blueberries are starting to turn blue! 
It’s really been a mixed growing season so far. Some things are loving the unusually high temperatures that we’re having and some things are not. I’m glad I don’t really have to feed my family from what I grow! I think we’d starve this year! 
The eggplants seem to love the heat and are producing well. 
It’s roasted eggplant tonight! 
The lettuce mix does not like the heat. In an effort to keep it cool and hopefully keep it from bolting, I used this fun paper parasol instead of a more traditional shade cloth. 
We’ll see if it works – but at least it looks better than burlap! 
The tomatoes apparently aren’t loving the constant heat. So far only the Sweet 100’s and the Romas are turning red (I did have one really big Better Boy but SOMETHING was in my garden the other night and ate half of it and some corn!). 
LOTS of basil! How do you preserve basil if you want to make pesto but you’re not ready to make it yet? Usually I dry my excess basil. If I freeze it will it still make good pesto? 
Last year I planted a fruit tree that has three different fruits on it. So far the plums are ripe! 
I also tried something a bit different with this tree. I planted it in a bed with other non-fruiting shrubs and trees (it’s the one behind the birdbath). All of our other fruit trees are in one area (I was going to make a little orchard) but we’ve been having problems with different diseases spreading from one tree to another. 
The pears and apples aren’t quite ready yet. 
Since the Little Meadow is close to the other fruit trees I thought I’d show you a new flower that has been blooming. It’s a tall spiky flower with yellow blossoms at the top. Does anyone know what it’s called? 
The Little Meadow is such a joy to us that I’m thinking of expanding it next year. There are the prettiest little yellow birds that seem to like it and fly out every time we walk by and the butterflies seem to love it too! There’s always some new flower growing. Sometimes they’re small, delicate and close to the ground and sometimes they’re tall like this yellow one!
This is just the beginning of good things to eat! There’s still so much more to come from the garden. Thanks for visiting today!
Wow, your garden is amazing. In my tiny little backyard, I have room for two big pots of herbs, and that's it, but I'm so envious of people who can grow their own. The farmer's market is wonderful, but it's not the same as tomatoes from your own garden! I hope you have some great recipes to use up that bounty!
Your garden looks wonderful!
I can see all the hard work has paid off! Your veggies are gorgeous! I love the use of the parasol over the lettuce. A little whimsy in the garden how fun! Not only veggies but fruit too. Ooh, yummy plums!
Such a beautiful garden. You are an excellent photographer, too.
What wonderful garden goodies growing and I love your yard and wildflower garden. It is awfully hot and I hope your garden fairs well.
Maybe this will be the year I try eggplant. When I was a dental assistant my co-workers always got eggplant parm while I got chicken parm. I am beginning to wonder what I was missing….and since my MIL grows it next door I can give it a try.
Everything is looking lovely.
Becky K.
Dorry – I am of no help on the basil. Looks like a lot of good eating in the future.:)
Wonderful garden full of delicious things to eat!
Hugs
Charo
You have a wonderful garden. It's been a cool year here so far and my garden isn't doing much. I have a few flowers on my tomatoes but that is all. Linda
Your garden is so beautiful Manuela! I am glad to see your harvest 🙂 Yum, blueberries!!!
Have a beautiful day!
Sharon
I am certain I have seen recipes for freezing pesto but I don't know about basil leaves themselves.
I ended up losing all my lettuce and my broccoli. Both turned literally overnight.
My concern for the tomatoes is the way the bottom half of all the plants is looking. We have not only had unusual heat and humidity (for us) but flooding rains.
I don't think any part of my garden likes it to be so wet.
Your garden looks great! I love how you have used your whole property for gardens spaces.
Your garden looks fantastic! I love looking at your flowers too. I got a Hydrangea bush!! Gonna do a post on it real soon along with some of the landscaping we have been working on. I can't wait until it gets nice and full.
The last comment (anonymous) was me. Hit the button too fast!
Your garden is AMAZING and look at all your fruit trees!! I have two tomatoes ready to pick from one that was just called a Patio Tomato plant. Also, there are three more that are big but not red yet and I counted 8 more small ones that have sprouted on that plant. Also, I have a Roma with three large tomatoes that haven't turned red yet and 3 little babies sprouted. I feel like a proud mama since I have never gardened before. I LOVE them. Your crape myrtle looks gorgeous in full bloom too.
We had a HUGE crape myrtle tree (probably about 25 feet tall) that really didn't bloom and we ended up cutting it down to about 8 feet high with the intention of removing it. Since we couldn't get the stems (base) pulled out we left it and it has branched all out at the top again and I can see a bunch of places where it looks like it will be blooming…YAY. Now it can stay….lol.
Manuella – your garden is just fabulous! I cannot keep a garden in this house – too many lizards/snakes (and that is not an option) and too many BUNNIES!!!!! They have eaten everything. I have given up! If you know of good bunny repellant – share!!!
THREE fruits on one tree? Really?
I've been a bad blogger – I need to go back and catch up with what you have been doing.
🙂 Karen
Could the tall spiky yellow flowers be wild evening primrose (not to be confused with pink showy primrose, or moondrops yellow primrose). I am so envious of your garden. I AM picking blueberries every day, and I did get 3 qts of raspberries, but my eggplants, peppers, cukes — pitiful.
Your garden is so beautiful Manuela! I hope one day I can expand my garden to fruit and flowers. My Better Boy tomatoes are being stubborn. They are a good size but not turning red. I've only had two grape tomatoes turn red so far.
Mary Ellen
Hands down, my favorite part is the paper parasol over the lettuce. It made me grin and is so "YOU". Now… if you can find a red toile one, it will be even better!
Your garden looks wonderful to me. We have had some problems with the extreme heat too. LOVE your meadow!
Manuela, Your garden is so beautiful and bountiful. I'm amazed at what you can do in your yard. How big is it? I hope to spend some time this fall getting more raised beds put in (by my husband) so that we will be ready for next spring. Thanks for the inspiration. Blessings, Patty
Wow…your garden looks great! We have been dealing with rain and cool temps. here, I wish we would get more sunshine, although today it is sunny – yeah!
I usually make all my pesto at once and then freeze it in little containers. The only ingredient I don't add is the cheese, that is added when it is served.
Have a wonderful day!
Blessings!
~Nadine
Love these pictures..my tomatoes are just flowering! But that is why we have Thanksgiving in November here..later harvest..
What Nadine said about pesto is right..you really need the olive oil to keep the basil nice..but don't add the cheese or the pine nuts till ready to serve..much nicer result..
I love the pictures of the blueberries, so many different beautiful colors.
All I can say is beautiful!! Produce, hard work, and God's creations are just beautiful.
Hi Manuella! Everything looks wonderful!
BE a sweetie,
Shelia 😉
Oh I am so happy to have found your blog!!! I just love it!!! Your garden looks great, isn't it great to have home grown veggies and fruit!
I noticed your shower stall pantry on your sidebar~HOW CUTE!~ I have those same curtains in my dining room. I just love them!
Your blog is a delight!
Carissa
Make the pesto now and then freeze it in freezer bags or make the pesto and place in ice cube trays. When frozen place cubes in a container for use all winter long!
Manuela, you make things beautiful inside the house and out! What lovely gardens! I really like your use of fences too.
Everything looking very pretty and yummy! I noticed just today that all my tiny apples had fallen of my one and only apple tree, don't know why that happened, very sad to see only three left on my tree.
Looks like you are going to have a wonderful harvest though.
Hi Manuela. Hope all is good with you and yours. Just stopped by to say hello and see what you posted. I love all your edible things in the garden. I too just posted about my little garden. The weather is different this year and the ground took it's time warming up so a lot of things aren't going to take. I love eggplant Thanks for sharing. Have a great rest of the week.
WOW… what an assortment! You have one breathtaking garden! ♥
Have you ever thought of having your yard designated as a National Wildlife Habitat? I thought of it when I saw the meadow. I would love to have blueberries, as they aren't cheap. Yet I love them each morning on cereal. With the new landscaping on the west side, I've got new small shrubs that need some relief from the sun. Maybe I should look for a parasol. Great idea!
Brenda
I really enjoyed the garden tour! You have such wonderful looking plants and flowers, such a green thumb!
Cindy
everything looks so yummy! i planted 1 tomato plant and 1 zucchini plant. there are alot of tomatoes on it-none of them red yet. but my zuchini flowers and then the flower just falls off or dies. so it's not producing at all! so disappointed- do you have any tips for me? thanks!
I enjoyed reading the comments on the basil! I have wondered the same thing.
A deer ate the top off my tomato plants and the green tomatoes were gone too. 🙁 I was really disappointed.
My herbs are thriving but everything else is not handling the Ga heat well at all.
So much wonderful freshness. I love the little pears. I also like how your squash is growing through the fence.
We are having pepper problems. I think that we are going to not try peppers again. They just don't do well for us.
Chloe watered her tomatoes with a mixture of a gallon of water and coffee grounds mixed up. My mom said it was good for them. We have two turning red, but that is it.
Not sure where you are geographically, but here in Texas, those flowers are called Brown-eyed Susans. The most common is yellow like those, but they also show up with crimson petals tipped fading to gold on the edges.
Beautiful garden!
Hope that this awful heat will subside for you folks. Poor lettuces under their pretty parasol wilting and all. what a truly lovely garden you have with much variety in flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
Oh Manuela, your gardens are looking so yummy and beautiful. You are such a gifted gardener. Thank you so much for posting these pictures and I love your blog.
Susan
Your garden looks great! I cannot wait until ours starts going bonkers.
Hello Manuela! Your garden still looks great even though the heat is stressing some of your veggies. Your eggplants look great…I'll have to try growing some next year. My garden is having problems with the heat too…I'm having to water twice a day. Oh well it's worth all the work. I don't know what those yellow flowers are but they're sure pretty and I dont blame you for wanting more. Have a wonderful Thursday! Maura 🙂
Wow – your garden looks great! Mine is going crazy because it's been a really cold, rainy spring here, but mine is not as far along as yours. Probably because it was snowing through May this year – lol.
I hope your Summer is off to a great start Manuela!
XOXO
jen
Your garden is a delight Manuela! I believe the yellow flowers are wild primrose, (evening primrose?) I have some growing wild in my flower beds and I love them! I make pesto and freeze it in smalll containers. It thaws and tastes just like I just made it. I use a recipe with very little olive oil so it is just very fresh and not high in fat.
I freeze basil all the time. It will still make great pesto. You could also put some in a pot and keep inside the house. I do that during the winter months. It's really easy to keep alive.
It is so beautiful. I am amazed. I want to know, how much time would you say you spend in your yard/garden? My garden took so much of our time the past few years that I didn't do one this year. But then, I don't have a gift for it. You obviously do! Lisa~
Hi Manuela – your garden is lovely! I was out weeding a bit today and picking some cucumbers for supper. Most things in the garden have not responded well to the excessive rain and lack of sunshine we have had so far, but other things are showing some promise – I know I'll have an abundant crop of weeds!
Pesto freezes beautifully and tastes wonderful even after 6-9 months, so go ahead and make your pesto! I know a lady who cans hers too, but I don't know if that much work is necessary and how that affects the vitamin content! Enjoyed peeking into your delightful garden – inspiring!
Your garden is so beautiful, Manuela. Here in Utah it's been such a cold spring our tomatoes are about the size of a dime. You'll be enjoying yours very soon. Mimi
Wow, Manuela!~ Your garden looks great! We are just now seeing buds and blooms…guess things are little delayed here in the NW.
Those blueberries sure look yummy!
Oh I am sooo jealous. Look at your lush garden, the eggplant is amazing. Eat something yummy for me xoxox Clarice
What a fun garden tour! We've had cool, rainy weather and so our heat-loving plants are not doing so great. I like your parasol over the lettuces. Great idea.
Jody
Hi!
Oh!
I am now jealous and need to get outside 🙂
Your garden is faring better than mine.
We have tomatoes, cukes, squash, and lettuce- and that's about it.
Whoop whoop!
The heat is fierce here, too.
I found an article for you:
(http://www.ehow.com/how_4548756_freeze-basil-leaves.html)
Hope that helps.
Now I need to go find my garden shoes…
Blessings to you as you make your home–you are an inspiration to me!
Hugs,
~me
Manuela-
Your garden looks wonderful.
In South Texas the temperatures have been in the 100's.
I am new at vegetable gardening so I started with tomatoes and a zinnia bed as my cutting garden.
Next season I have great plans.
Laura
White Spray Paint
your photos are beautiful…and those flowers look like black-eyed susans! I love blueberries…my yard on army post isn't big enough for a garden, but fortunately we have an awesome farmers market where the Amish and Mennonites supply it with fresh produce!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Beautiful garden!