It looks like we are not going to get any of the serviceberries again this year. We had some lovely red ones, but they need to be purple. Last year, the chipmunks cleaned them out. This year, I saw the male cardinal dining on a couple. We do have blueberries on our two small bushes. I ordered a bird net from Gardeners Supply today, so we will try to keep those berries for ourselves.

We have flowering, and a few small green cherry tomatoes on one of the three plants. Unlike Mike, we are not going to have tomatoes by the fourth of July!

I'm slowly accumulating blueberries from our two little bushes. One had only a few, while the other has a reasonable amount. I might get enough for six blueberry muffins from it.

I picked the first two cherry tomatoes yesterday from the red plant. The yellow and purple plants have green ones. Out in the main garden (cherry tomato plants are in grow bags), the regular tomato plants have some green ones. My husband picked a few beans two days ago, but so far, it is not looking as if we will have the plenteous harvest of past years. One of the pickling cucumber plants is finally developing fruit. The bell peppers are so far disappointing. The potato plants have great tops, so we hope for a good harvest there.

The blackberries on the terrace are showing the lack of rain. We did have a good storm a couple of days ago, so I hope the ones on the woodland property are doing well. I have bought the bug repellent, Picaridin, that Wire Cutter recommended in the article that CWCdesign gifted from NYT. Apparently, it is not just ticks and mosquitoes that attack; there is, according to Scott's cousin's wife, a blackberry mite, which is the early stage of chiggers, and the mites are what bite us. Supposedly, this spray will repel them as well. I've also ordered a pair of used Patagonia workwear pants to help deal with the brambles. Once I start picking, I will report back on the success of my proactive defenses.

That's a good idea, Mike. My husband often forgets which plant is which. Our Early Girl and Best Boy have green tomatoes. The Dester Indiana only has one. As it is an heirloom, it does not set fruit when the temperatures are as hot as they have been. We hold out hope for it if we stop having such long stretches of heat. I'm pleased that our cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen, including one yellow and some purple. We will soon have enough beans for our favorite salad. My husband picked some pickling cucumbers today, so more dill pickles will be coming. I need more wide-mouthed pint jars.

Our pumpkin plant has vines, lots of leaves, and many male flowers, but so far nary a female flower.

We also went blackberry picking in the meadow area of our woods early this morning to escape the heat. Some of the blackberry plants were really hit by the drought, but other areas are looking much better, especially as we have had some significant rain in the past week. I also picked a pint of blackberries from our terrace. Jam making will commence this week.

I seem to have avoided ticks and mites this time. Better clothing, and the bug spray from the article to which CWCdesign posted a link seem to be doing the trick so far.

Gardening Abundance?

https://www.thenew60comic.com/thecomics/2025/8/13/basil-basil-basil

We have some of the purple cherry tomatoes also. The red ones are doing the best, followed by the purple, with the yellow a distant third. Among the regular tomatoes, some of the Early Girls are starting to redden; we've had just one so far. Maybe I'll have my turkey bacon and tomato sandwiches again by the end of the week?