Welcome to the weekend coffee share! Let’s sit down in the garden. Can I get you a coffee? Or perhaps tea?

The weather is lovely 72F/22C, and there’s a slight breeze. How are you? Did you have a good week?

I worked Monday-Thursday, this first week after my vacation. It was a good week. I would have said great if it wasn’t for the temperatures on Thursday. It was 84.2F/29C outside and at the department where I was supposed to work it was 76F/24.5C inside and the air was completely still, there was some problem with the ventilation. I decided to take the children (I’m a kindergarten teacher) to a better area of the house that weren’t in use that day. That was a challenging day temperature wise, but other than that challenge it was a very satisfying first week.

What I did on Friday when I did not work? I spent the day in the garden. The weather was great, with a high of 73.4F/23C in the afternoon, and slightly cooler in the morning. I was in the garden between 6am-noon, and that was perfect.

I inspected my plants, a lot happens in a few days. I mowed the lawn. I did some weeding. I harvested some veggies; onions, cucumber, and squash. I also picked a lot of berries; gooseberries, black currant, and raspberries. I picked berries until I could not pack any more berries on my bike, and I had two huge rear bicycle baskets, one on each side. 2026 is a great year for berries! I’ve had several of my friends pick berries from my berry bushes, and there’s barely a dent..there’s an abundance.

Naturally I also spent time smelling the flowers and just doing nothing, enjoying the day.

I love these marigolds, Tagetes patula.

Many of the flowers are passed their prime. I think the late summer garden has a special charm to it. It is different, but not necessarily in a bad way. My plan is to fully enjoy the month of August. There is still a lot of summer left.

I love the poppy heads, they look like out of space. I am checking on them, and my other flowers, every time I’m in the garden, to see when it’s time to harvest seeds. I actually have a long list of people that wants seeds from my flowers. I also save seeds for myself, and our school garden.

The cucumbers aren’t as many as I would like, but they are delicious. I eat a lot of cucumbers in the summer, and if I had a greenhouse I would grow a lot more cucumbers, enough to make pickles. The cucumbers I do get in my garden rarely last long enough for me to make pickles..

I’ve had plenty of squash this summer. I eat the little ones in salads.

Since I worked a lot this week and spent less time in the garden I missed a couple squash that were a little bigger than I would like. I shred those in the food processor and freeze them in small portions. I use them when I bake bread, and sometimes I add shredded squash to soups (especially soups with a tomato base).

Can I get you a refill? I would love to hear about your week!

Maria