We just came back from a mini-vacation. My plants are thirsty but still doing good. Most importantly, my veggies are alive. Thank God for these self-watering conversion kits. Last year I put my veggies on a self-watering timer and they’re all toasted and dried-up (literally) when we came back.

These may be my last harvest of peas, though. The plants are wilting in the heat of summer. They don’t like summer heat. I should have started planting in early spring. But with all the rain and cool weather (which should be perfect for sowing seeds), I didn’t want to go in the muddy garden .

These shallots are wonderful. This is from just one shallot bulb. If you want a low-maintenance plant, this is it. I planted the bulbs last October, leave them in the ground the whole winter. They started sprouting in spring and in summer they are ready for harvest. They don’t require much fertilizer – I put 5-5-5 at planting, no insecticide and no pesticide since the rabbits and squirrels and insects pretty much leave them alone.

It has been raining on and off for two weeks now. And it feels like forever. Some of my plants are suffering. My Cornus Sericea ‘Arctic Fire’ have black spots on its leaves – leaf blight maybe? Aphids are all over my peas and eggplant, it drives me crazy. On the bright side, I don’t have to water for awhile and most of my plants are thriving.

'Northstar' Pepper

'Viva Italia' Tomato

'Dark Seeded Early Perfection' Pea

And, I’ve discovered that eating brownies is a really, really good excuse for staying home for an overcast day like today.