How It's Growing - July 20
Harvesting onions, garlic, green beans! Updates on tomatoes, peppers, melons. And two ways I'm using my bumper crop of basil in the kitchen.
July 20, 2025
It’s mid-summer, and while it was a slow start for heat-loving plants, things are finally catching up! By the end of July, I’ll certainly have even more harvest pictures to share.
What I’m Harvesting
Carrots. A few BIG carrots. Guys, I think there’s a gardener’s high. Pulling these suckers out of the ground gave me the greatest satisfaction! I think there is a special joy to pulling root vegetables like carrots from the ground.
Two quick stories for why I think so:
My 9-5 job’s office has two raised beds on its grounds. This past week, I joined two coworkers to check on the garden’s progress. We pulled some mature carrots that were just as big as those from my own garden. The sizes and funny shapes brought the BIGGEST smiles to our faces!
Earlier this summer, my son was itching to pull carrots. Thankfully they were large enough to enjoy as baby carrots. Once he pulled one, he couldn’t stop himself. Every carrot pulled was followed with a “Mommy! Check out this one!”
Blueberries. While I harvested a few more handfuls of blueberries, and they were wonderful, I’m now worried that I didn’t stay on top of watering enough when we had our heat spell a few weeks ago. Two of my shrubs have leaves that are mottled with brown, a sign of water distress. With the amount of rain since then, it’s possible at least one of them will pull through.
Garlic. The weekend of July 4th, I got the urge to pull my garlic. It’s currently curing indoors. Every year I go back and forth on when to pull it. I’m not sure I got it right this year either, but Margaret Roach has an excellent article on the topic.
Onions. I started pulling these too on July 8, and I’m still pulling them as more flop over and leaves turn brown or they sprout flowers. By mid-July, I had pulled most of the red onions and sweet cipollini onions. On July 19, I pulled about half of my shallots and Clear Dawn storage onions.
Green beans. So far this year, I’ve harvested almost 4 pounds of green beans. Half of that made for a meal and leftovers this past week. The other half I’m currently storing in the fridge until the rest of the harvest is ready, so I can hopefully can a few pints.
Collard greens and kale. Lately, I’ve made salads with the small kale leaves, and we continue to make meals using collard greens. Like in other years, I have too much. It’s hard to get the number of plants right when factoring things like losses to rabbit or pest pressure.
What I’m Sowing
This is a late update, but the weekend of July 4th, I planted skunk beans, edamame, and pole green beans. They’ve all sprouted already and are looking good!
How it’s Growing
Lima Beans: The Potawatomi lima beans I planted in late May have really taken off over the last few weeks. No beans yet though!
Tomatoes: We had such a slow start with peppers and tomatoes this year, I was wondering if I had tomatoes growing this time last year. My journal revealed that last year my tomatoes were producing in earnest around July 20th last year, so I think I’m about a week behind. I’ve harvested a handful (see bowl pic below) and have a decent number of green ones on the vine. There are some more blooms too, but I’m hoping more blooms appear soon.
Peppers: The peppers are a mixed bag. Some of them have already fruited and given me peppers. But others really suffered at the beginning of the season. I should have enough jalapeños to attempt making cowboy candied peppers and enough Magyar peppers to attempt making my own paprika. I have no idea what happened to my Joe E Parker NuMex peppers. Did they even make it into the ground? Who knows.
Cucumbers: My cucumbers are slow this year on account of my delays in transplanting them in the garden a little late. In my defense, we had such a cool May that I waited to get them sown in the first place. The Armenian and Tsuyataro are doing well, but my favorites Green Finger and Chicago Pickling are behind. I even sowed more Chicago Pickling at the beginning of July because I was concerned.
Green beans: More greens beans have flowered and have started to form pods. These are wide and “meaty” beans.
The ones in my big square bed either never set flowers or they are way behind the others sowed at the same time. I’m not sure if the cause is competition from the kale, or issues with sunlight or water.
Kales, Collards and Cabbages: These are a little more holey than in June from caterpillars noshing on them. On Friday, July 4, I applied Bt spray for the second time and the following weekend, July 13 sprayed a third time. I spray the plants around sunset once a week when it’s dry and the next day’s weather forecast calls for sunshine. Since I’m spraying each leaf thoroughly, I’m also removing caterpillars as I find them.
Melons: I have a mystery melon that has gone bonkers! If it’s bland, I’ll be really sad.
Watermelon: The watermelon plants don’t look as good as my muskmelons, but I found one growing out of a straw bale next to a Gigante Farina tomato. The vine’s tendrils had attached themselves to the tomato’s cage. It was not going to end well for either the tomato or the melon. I cut the tendrils holding the watermelon in place and moved the vine. This should allow the watermelon to grow to its full potential in a less precarious position.
Indoors
The fall plants are doing well. I have beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, mizuna and lettuce growing.
Seed Saving
One quick update on the oregon snow peas I mentioned “saving” in my last post. I was letting them hang out on the ground in a walking path to further dry out. This was a mistake. Some kind of critter helped themselves to a protein packed treat and ate them all.
Cilantro/Coriander. Did you know that cilantro and coriander are the same plant? I’m not intentionally saving the coriander seeds per se, but as my spring cilantro drops their seeds, I’m hoping I’ll naturally get another flush of cilantro when the weather cools this fall.
Preserving My Harvest
I have so much basil this month! I’ve been able to make enough pesto to freeze, and dry enough for a year’s worth of this herb.
What to Sow in Mid-Late July in Indiana
Earlier this month, I listened to two podcasts that I’d like to recommend to you if you’re interested in a fall garden:
Growers Daily: Mulch Causing Tomato Issues? + The Fall Garden Starts Now (Yes, In July). The later part of this episode was helpful for me to continue getting a better handle on timing the fall garden here in Central Indiana. He’s in Kentucky which is somewhat similar in climate to Indiana.
The Beginner’s Garden Podcast: Start These Fall Crops Inside In July. The host, Jill McSheehy goes into depth on on specific plants and tips for success.
Indoors:
Fall brassicas: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, kale, tatsoi
Fennel
Beets
Head lettuce
Direct Sow
Beans - bush green beans, black-eyed/purple hull peas and cow peas
Peas and edamame
Mustard greens
Snap and snow peas
Beets
Carrots
Squash
Radishes
Herbs like basil and dill
Summer flowers like sunflowers
Little Joys
A coffee shop down the street from me has the friendliest baristas around, and wonderful coffee and chai to boot. Throughout the summer, I drop off some fresh veggies from my garden, grab a drink for me and pick up used coffee grounds for my compost. Lemme tell you something: the nitrogen in coffee grounds is FIRE for my compost. Almost literally fire. The joy and satisfaction from seeing my compost temps rise to a “hot compost” level is a unique kind of joy.
My hope for you this week is that you find a way to reduce, reuse, or recycle something that brings a similar flush of joy and satisfaction as my coffee-grounds-in-compost joy.
Happy Gardening,
Calli