Summer in the Midwest is stands apart, wouldn’t you agree? County fairs, firefly catching, swimming, making s’mores, eating corn on the cob, BLTs, ice cream and preserving tomatoes, fresh from the garden. Those are a few of my favorites. What are your summertime favorites?
In the summertime, everyone seems more present. We take more time to unplug, get outside to play and enjoy activities with our friends and family. The pace slows down, and we enjoy more rest.
In my family, my dad does all of the work in the garden, and the rest of us get to enjoy being the recipients. I like the fresh flowers for making arrangements. We planted a couple of new varieties in the garden this year, including dahlias, and amaranth. I ordered the seeds from Floret Flower Farm and we planted in late spring. I don’t know much about either plant, but they looked pretty for bouquets and arrangements.
The amaranth shot up like a beanstalk! It made a fun addition to the garden. It grew faster than my little grandson, who is now 15 months old. How fast time seems to fly!
In addition to the new dahlias and amaranth, my dad always plants plenty of tomatoes, green beans, oregano, basil, pepper, melons and pumpkins. Our family benefits from the homegrown crops, and my parents also donate some of the harvest to a local outreach.
Unfortunately, the amaranth was blown over by the recent storms we had here in the Midwest. I was still able to use a few stems to make an arrangement. Amaranth can also be dried for fall porch decor, and some varieties are an edible, gluten-free grain. I did not attempt to harvest any of it to eat this time though. The day I pulled the stems from the blown over plants, it was pouring down rain! Unless you have a floral shop or event venue, it might be difficult to store, as well. If I were planning an outdoor late summer wedding, I would definitely consider growing a patch of it to use though!
The dahlias just started to grow more recently, and I’m excited to see them bloom, which should be any day now. The gladiolas doubled since last year, and they have been stunning this season. It is nice that everything does not bloom at the same time, as it stretches out the growing season, and the time we have to enjoy the garden.
Recently when I was at my parents for dinner, a fawn and her mother approached right around sunset. We had just enough time to take in the view, before my their golden retriever spotted the deer, began barking with excitement and off they dashed! It was a peaceful end to a Sunday evening.
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