2026 CW25 - An Easy Rainy Week
Farewellus Gladiolus Floralia!
Much like in your go-to wizardly series, some of our favorite garden tenants appear and disappear in a flash! We are quickly approaching the end of June and, with the second half of the year just around the corner, there is a lot of excitement to come in the garden this year! However, not all things last forever.
This week’s farewell comes from our front yard frontrunners, the Gladiolus. The petite peach blooms pictured above represent the final showing of the glads for the year. Despite the peculiar lack of white blooms this year the Glads still had a stunning season that leaves no disappointment! They have been a constant feature in blogs ever since April when the blooms first appeared in 2026 CW17 - Glad for Gladiolus! and we look forward to seeing them again in 10 short months.
Viable Veggies!
The Glads may be coming to an end, but the vegetable garden is still just getting started! Despite the constant chaos which has surrounded the garden throughout June, it has proven itself resilient and gives us hope for the summer and fall season to come!
We may have bounced back, but the repercussions of the Disaster, Destruction, and Doom! still loom over the garden. This sad little Ear of Corn is the result of some of the stalks being flattened by the crane in last week’s blog during removal of the tree from the garage roof. Sara and I wasted no time taking this opportunity for an early taste test of what will soon be baskets full of delicious, sweet corn.
The real star of the vegetable garden right now is the Eggplant. We have picked a handful of both your classic deep purple as well as these gorgeous white and purple variegated variety.
Kookin’ in the Kitchen!
Continuing from last week’s theme of preservation, the persistent precipitation kept us inside the house much of the week. With nothing else garden related available to us, we focused on using up the harvests we have already made!
We start off with a sensational side of Eggplant, Zucchini, and Summer Squash prepared by Sara to complement the main course Thursday night. It’s always satisfying this time of year when we can sit down and enjoy a meal that is mostly or entirely grown on our own property, and this case was no exception!
Moving beyond dinner and focusing on long-term food preservation, I spent another full afternoon in the kitchen preparing peppers! This week, I tackled a sink full of freshly picked Jalapeño Peppers.
How We Flash Freeze Jalapeño Poppers for Winter:
Prep: Wash the peppers, cut them lengthwise, and core them.
The Style: Removing the seeds and stems creates a perfect "boat." I’ve come to love this style of popper because they are incredibly easy to grill and keep the cream cheese from spilling out as it warms.
Flash Freezing: Once prepped, the peppers are dried and flash-frozen in single layers on baking sheets. Flash freezing prevents the peppers from getting damaged or crushed when they are vacuum-sealed.
Seal and Store: Once vacuum-sealed, they are labeled and tossed into the freezer, destined to provide us with homemade jalapeño poppers all winter long!
Check out last week’s blog post for details on this process for Bell Peppers.
On a fun note, we are quickly running out of freezer space with this being our most successful vegetable season to date. Though this is a good problem to have, it means we are in the market for new freezers! I hope to share our acquisitions in next week’s blog!
Flower Updates
Though the bulk of our excitement rests in the 30-inch rows of the vegetable garden, there are still plenty of ornamental opportunities on the horizon around the garden.
Here you can see the Peggy Martin Rose which barely covered the fence at the beginning of the season has tripled in size! We are stoked to see how this area fills out. Also take a peek at the Plumbago at the base of the rose! We hope to see these bloom in the coming weeks.
Back in near proximity to the vegetable garden, the recently re-homed Princess Flowers (moved for crane access) appear to be very close to blooming! This is exciting as these are a new addition to the garden this year, and we have never experienced these blooms in person.
Inside Cats and Dogs
Unfortunately, with all of the rain, we had very limited opportunities to get the garden supervisors outside for picture opportunities this week!
Instead of the usual Garden Glamour, enjoy this picture of Scout and Henry butt-to-butt as Sara and I enjoy a [lengthy!] Lord of the Rings movie on a rainy afternoon.
