Summertime in the Garden

Summer is not the time to be gardening. Not in Florida, anyway. It’s the time for vacations with the kids, days at the beach, the lake, a friend’s house. Summer is too hot for gardening in Florida. Pretty much too hot for anything but water fun! However, I’m a year-round gardener which means there’s ALWAYS something growing in my backyard. And I’m not talking grass, I’m talking edible. :=)

Sweet potatoes love the warm weather and grow all summer long to deliver a bounty of golden goodness come fall. These babies are sprawling into the beds on either side where I have dutifully made room for them.

 Okra is another plant that loves it sunny and hot and as you know, this year I’m playing around with a new variety! Red Okra, of the “Billy Bob” variety (the name still makes me smile.

 

My Valencia peanuts are thriving, burrowing away so that we may have peanuts to boil come football season. You have tried my Southern Boiled Peanuts recipe, haven’t you?

 

Hot peppers also enjoy the heat. Go figure. My Hungarian Wax, Jalapeno and Scotch Bonnet are all doing well, though my sweet green peppers are struggling. 

But my compost pile isn’t. Look at this baby, grow!

 

And if my compost pile can grow squash, tomatoes and sweet potatoes, anyone can. Yep, that is my backyard compost pile. Eventually I’ll harvest the sweets, but it’s much too hot for the tomatoes to sport fruit and the squash, well, where I have to “dig” to get those golden beauties my be a bit much.  We’ll see.

Until then, I’ll continue to enjoy summer and the fruits of my labor! Including concocting a mean salsa with this bounty of peppers. Or perhaps I’ll can some Hungarian Wax Peppers, Italian-style. 

How about you? Growing anything this summer where you live?