June 24, 2009 - The garden continues... Montreal trip too

To view the pictures of our Montreal trip from the weekend scroll down the page...   but for now onto the garden.  Since it has been non-stop rain daily here for almost 2 weeks (we've had 6+ inches of rain this June), our garden did just fine in our absence.   The spinach decided to bolt with the warmer night temps, so I harvested the remaining crop and froze several bags of spinach.  The remaining radishes were also done and thus needed to come out, some were a little woody, but we ate them anyway.  We did come home to one small disaster - one of our currant bushes was completely defoliated!  At first look, I thought deer, but upon closer inspection we discovered the culprit - tiny green fruit boring caterpillars.  In just a few days they ate every leaf on the bush.   Yesterday I acquired the organic solution to our problem, bt,  which supposedly kills these nasty little green creatures when the eat the leaves, but doesn't kill other beneficial insects.  I can only hope it works and that our 3 other currant bushes survive, they are loaded with fruit, so it would be sad if they are all destroyed :-( I also took to making strawberry jam yesterday and rhubarb syrup - which when added to sparkling water makes fabulous rhubarb soda, a squeeze of lime and a few mint leaves later and a refreshing summer drink was created.  You can find info on making this on http://www.soulemama.com  - for those of you that like a little kick to your drink, she has a very "adult" version called the "Ruby June."  It's great w/o the alcohol too, though.  As June comes to an end, we are hoping July brings bountiful harvest from the garden, some warmer weather and a little less rain.   You never can count on the weather, but hey, enjoy the pictures of what's growing in our garden - Erin