From the flowers to the veggie garden, there’s lots happening in my yard.

Who says you need annuals to have a pretty summer garden? About 90 percent of mine are perennials and of the native variety.

Four of our five grandchildren were on hand the last Saturday in May to help plant the garden and water it initially. They see the results when they come for a visit, and they want to water it then too, especially the younger ones. I appreciate their help and it’s nice for them to participate.

This year the zucchinis have grown prolific and large, likely due to all the rain we’ve had. The cucumbers and tomatoes are doing well too. In fact the cucumber vines have  climbed up and grown over top of the tomato cages.

The potatoes that one grandson helped me plant in a bag are nearly ready to harvest. So are the the little dutch sets grown into larger onions that he also helped me plant in May. He can come and pull a few for his Mom and see how large those tiny bulbs grew.

The milkweed is for the butterflies though, and it was good to see a monarch enjoying the plant. By the time I went for my cell phone to take a photo, the monarch was gone.

Last year I froze all the excess tiny tomatoes for sauce, that is the ones we didn’t eat straight from the garden.

Usually I have to go to market to get enough produce to make pickles. I did buy cucumbers for my dill pickles and bread and butter pickles  this season. It takes a lot to do those.

Twenty jars of dill pickles, with help from my eldest grand, who loves them a lot. Then the next day I made the bread and butter pickles to fill more space on my canning shelves in the cold room.

I may share that photo at the end of the season once I make my fruit relish.

My excellent assistant

pickle jars labelled

This year I had enough zucchini, including a large one, to make zucchini relish. It seems that a particular brand of relish we have enjoyed for years is not available so I decided to make our own. Nine jars of those.

That’s what’s been keeping me busy, apart from keeping the garden watered, spending time with family and a friend in long-term care.

What has filled your summer thus far?