Basil oil, melons, pumpkins, zucchini

It has been an exceptionally hot August and lots of watering has been required. But we're starting to see some of the harvest begin.

I had to crop the basil as it was starting to go to seed. I pulled off two ice cream pails of basil, blanched it, and blended it in to a litre of olive oil. Should be enough to add some summer flavour to winter meals.

The south side of the garage is really hit. The basil and other herbs are doing well as some of the vines.

We have maybe eight cantaloupes that look like they will mature. These are all about 15cm across. If the frost holds off to October, we might get more.

There are also a tonne of tomatoes that are just starting to ripen after a slow start in May.

The pumpkins are also beginning to mature. The bigger ones are volunteers from last fall's pumpkin carving. We might get four or five of these, depending on the weather. This one is bigger than a volleyball and still growing fast.

There are also half a dozen or more of these small pumpkins (sweeter, designed for roasting and pies).

The other vine on the south side of the garage is a crazy zucchini that can grow a meter or more in length.

The potatoes are starting to die back so we should be harvesting them in the next two weeks or so. The carrots are also going great guns. And the easy apples are starting to redden up--I've been making crisps.

Garlic, melons, more pesto

So we're in the middle of a very hot (+29 C consistently) and dry August (again) so much of my gardening time has been spent watering.

I pulled the garlic over the August long weekend as it was looking ready. It has been curing in the garage and is likely good to be cleaned up for storage. I threw down some lettuce and radish seeds in that bed, mostly as a green manure.

The rest of the yard is looking pretty green. The peas along the fence are nearly done and the basil is really kicking ass.

I've frozen over two gallons of raspberries for jamming when the weather cools off. I get about half a gallon every other day and we've been eating about half of the harvest. The new raspberry patch on the south fece is growing in well but suffering a bit in the heat. We should get a good harvest next year there.

The tomato show lots of growth but not many fruit yet. Lots of flowering in the heat so, if the frost stays away, we should still get a decent crop

The bees seem to have found the sunflowers and the scarlett runner beans.

The pumpkin patch out front is slowly starting to fill in (very cold and wet the spring and that set things back). We have six or seven pumpkins that might make it before frost. The one above has doubled in size since I took this picture a week ago. Keeping them wet enough is the challenge.

More exciting is a have a bunch of viable cantaloupes this year. They are a small, single-serving fruit and these are right now about the volume of two golf balls. But this is further than I have gotten with melons ever before! The heat on the south wall of the garage and the raised bed seem to make a big difference.

I also had to crop a third off of the basil. We don't have quite as much as last year (which was a stupid amount) but enough that making another batch of basil (alas no garlic scapes this time) to freeze as no problem.

It looks like the early apple tree is getting ready to ripen (a few red ones but still bit tart) so maybe sauce ad pies in the next few weeks.