Happy Saturday! A big thanks to Natalie of Natalie the Explorer for hosting WeekendCoffeeShare each weekend.

I have been focusing on my fall seedlings this week as I have begun counting down the weeks until my first frost in October. You are looking at about 108 leafy green seedlings, primary brassicas, which I hope are cold hardy. I’m looking to have these veggies feed me during the fall, winter, and early spring of 2026.

I have also been topping off the raised beds and grow bags with soil. Soil really settles during the summer when the relative humidity is less than 10% on a frequent basis. There also has not been any measurable rain in over 2 months, so it’s been a very dry summer.

A few weeks ago, I heard on the news that it was monsoon season. In Utah, where I’m at, monsoon season is basically these so-call pop-up storms that accompany with crazy wind and a few droplets of fat rain. It lasts for around 5-10 minutes and not only dries out all the soil but it also delivers a layer of dust on top of everything. It’s very annoying.

Anyway, I had to give the raised beds and grow bags a 1-2 inches of soil to recharge its fertility now that we’re past mid-season. Thankfully, I had about 7 gallons of loose fluffy homemade compost so I didn’t need to get as many bags of soil at the store as I normally get. Most of the seeds in the tray were started using my homemade compost, so you know I’ve made some good compost.

Some of them are approving their one-month birthday! Happy birthday to my vegetable seedlings.

Another crazy windstorm came through on Monday this week. 15 mile-per-hour sustaining wind with 30 mile-per-hour gusts twisted my one remaining kabocha pumpkin plant into a tangle mess. Oh yes, I lost 2 of the 3 pumpkin plants I planted, most likely to those evil squash bugs. Trust me, I have been squashing them (pun intended) whenever I see them but somehow, they’re still there.

The windstorm also broke my PVC pipe tomato trellis. Two of the 9 tomato plants in that in-ground bed fell and I had to race around the house to find the PVC cement to do the thing I never wanted to do – glue all the PVC joints together. Doing this would meant the trellis is permanent and the only way to take it apart would be to cut it apart. Hopefully, this will surprise the remaining summer.

Anyway, I’m especially happy with all the clusters of cherry tomatoes and large tomatoes forming this year. It’s been a good year for tomatoes.

Cucumbers have also been successful this year as I primarily grew the varieties of cucumbers that don’t require pollination. I might have already harvested 10+ mini-cucumbers for snacks – the kind where stores charge an exorbitant amount for a small bag. Those were so delicious and the plants are just getting started.

I only have a few cucumber plants that require pollination and so far, it hasn’t been too bad. I think it’s the sweet smell of the tulsi basil underneath the cucumbers that are attracting the pollinators. I love that smell. It reminds me of pink bubblegum.

I will wrap up but showing you the progress on my Chicago Fig tree. I planted this thing last year from a twig. Early this year, I pruned it down to almost nothing. It woke up in early May and it never stopped growing. There’s only a few figs right now but I could see that there are more coming and the tree’s still young, so I will lower my expectations just a tad.

Well, that’s my end of July 2025 garden, I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour and return next week for more stories.