What’s Growing on in the Garden: July 2025

Ah, August has arrived, and with it comes a reminder that fall is not far away. In truth, as I work in the summer heat, I’m longing for the cooler weather that fall days typically bring. I’m a sweater weather gal through and through! But fall is not here yet, and before I look ahead, I need to take a moment to look back and share what was growing on the farm in July.

We started the month of July off with some traveling. Our son is a competitive speedcuber and qualified for the Rubik’s WCA World Championship this year. So, off we flew to Seattle, Washington, to watch him compete. It was an excellent opportunity to take one more exciting family trip before he heads off to college. We certainly packed in the adventures in between his competition, visiting the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Chihuly Garden and Glass, and Seattle Mariners and Seattle Sounders games. And of course, flowers were never far from my mind. I recently shared our experience at Chihuly Garden and Glass, and I’m looking forward to sharing my experience at the Pike Place Flower Market soon (stay tuned!).

When we returned, the flowers here on the farm were waiting for us. I was anxious to resume our Berries & Blooms CSA and share our flowers and berries with our community. Bouquets were filled with mid-summer goodies such as hydrangeas, snapdragons, ammi, alliums, and veronica. They were full of summer vibes.

Although we experienced a significant crop loss this season due to extreme heat, we managed to harvest just enough blueberries to complete our CSA. Pints of varieties Bluecrop, Duke, and Liberty were lovingly shared throughout July. I’m so glad our CSA members got to taste our Whistling Bee blueberries each week for the duration of the subscription.

Another edible we harvested in July was our garlic. We’ve been growing garlic here on the farm for about twelve years. Bulbs are harvested in early July and allowed to cure for a few weeks. By the end of July, the bulbs are cleaned and trimmed, preparing them for storage. During the cleaning process, we sort and save all of the largest and best bulbs to replant in the fall for next year’s crop. We’ll enjoy the others throughout the winter months in our favorite recipes.

July offered a lot of beauty on the farm, with flowers hitting their stride. But there were some challenges, as there always seems to be. As I mentioned, we have experienced extreme heatwaves over the past few weeks that have caused significant damage and delays. Our blueberry crop was most affected. Normally, our small blueberry patch yields between 50 and 60 pounds of berries each season. This year, we didn’t even harvest 30 pounds of berries. And this is the first time since planting our patch that the berry season ended in July, weeks before it usually does.

Almost all of our dahlias, a staple crop for us, have also been significantly delayed by the heat and produced no blooms at all in July. We’ve seen more wildlife pressure this season than ever before, and our usual preventative tactics are proving ineffective this year. Groundhogs, rabbits, chipmunks, and birds are wreaking havoc on our crops. We lost all of our sunflowers and zinnias and have had detrimental damage to other crops such as cosmos, blueberries, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers. Oh yes, and the invasive Spotted Lanternfly has officially arrived (Yikes!!).

But I try to remain optimistic, and for every foe I find a friend. On my farm walks, I have also spotted beneficial insects, pollinators, and even a friendly frog, all part of a thriving ecosystem. Nature isn’t always kind, but I continue to learn from our relationship. I’m working to cultivate beauty and provide habitat for all of its creatures.

Speaking of cultivating beauty, I continue to work on our dahlia hybridization project. Some of our seedlings started to bloom in late July, and it was so exciting to see them. I enjoy walking through the seedling patch and seeing all of the new flower varieties we helped usher along. It is interesting to discover which, if any, traits they kept from their parents. I will have to decide which plants we will keep and which won’t make the cut, but for now, I’m enjoying them all as they feed the bees.

Lisianthus is a crop I’m growing for the first time this year, and we had our first blooms in July. We are trialing a few varieties this season to see how they grow in our field. I am learning how to grow and harvest them for the best quality and vase life. The first variety to bloom is called Little Summer Orange, and I was impressed with the color and quality of the blooms, especially since they were grown in the field rather than in a high tunnel. If I continue to be impressed with the other varieties, I will consider giving lisianthus a permanent spot on our grow list.

July certainly went by in a flurry of activity. There were ups and downs, certainly, but overall, as always, I was happy to have the opportunity to cultivate beauty, kindness, and relationships within our community. That’s what was growing on in our garden: what was growing on in your garden?