Gardeners' Holidays 2024: First Fruits

Summer has only just officially begun, but we're not easing into it gradually. New Jersey, like most parts of the country, has been baking under a heat dome for the past six days, with highs in the upper nineties and heavy humidity to boot. Mind you, we've gotten off easy compared to places like Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and Washington, where daytime highs have been in the triple digits. Brian had to drive to work a couple of times rather than riding his bike in the heat, but otherwise, we've been getting along fine without even needing the A/C. But we haven't been in much of a mood to go out and work in the garden. 

Fortunately, we've only had to venture out for a few minutes each day to harvest fresh veggies and fruit. Our honeyberries are about done producing, but we're still getting a few strawberries and plenty of raspberries. Our spring lettuce is also living up to its name (Marvel of Four Seasons) by continuing to provide ample fodder for salads, showing no signs of bolting in spite of the extreme heat. And just this week, Brian harvested the first handful or two of our basil crop. (We were planning to use it in a grilled veggie recipe I dug up online, but we changed plans when the sky started to look ominous. So instead it went into a pesto dish that I'll cover next week as our Recipe of the Month for June.)

Sadly, not all our summer crops are doing so well. In particular, our cucumber vines, which would normally be just starting to produce right about now, appear to be a complete write-off. We planted two varieties: a couple of Marketmores, using seed left over from our last Fedco order in 2022, and two of a new variety called Boston Pickling that we ordered last winter from a new seed supplier. And of those, not a single plant has actually come up. But at least our dill is producing, so Brian was able to use some of our garden produce in the season's first batch of pickles even if the cucumber itself had to be store-bought.

As I write this, the heat wave appears to be breaking at last. The expected storm hasn't hit here yet, but it has brought gusts of cooler air, which we're pulling into the house as fast as possible with every window fan at our disposal. Tonight it's supposed to dip below 75 degrees for the first time all week, and it should continue to do so every night for the next week to come. Granted, daytime highs will still be in the upper 80s and low 90s, but after the week we've just been through, that level of heat will feel positively mild.