This week the temps dropped and so did the humidity. We also got a decent storm system with almost an inch of rain in our zip code. It was most welcome!
The row cover blew off the 'Fairytale' Eggplant growing in a container in the plot's front corner. This revealed multiple tiny fruits forming, so I am leaving the cover off it for now.
The Squash vines also are full of babies starting to form and the Okra also has many flowers making pods. Peppers are forming as well and the Cucamelon vine is taking off.
We weeded and watered a bit -- and picked a few Blackberries, Dahlias, 'Citrine' Tomatoes, and Lisianthus.
I clipped the Lettuce seedheads to dry them and all the rest of the Dill seedheads too. I gave a grocery bag full of the Dill heads to our Harvest Share collection this week. I hope someone can make use of them -- maybe for a pickling project.
I want to clear out the Dill's space next and plant either some quick-growing Cucumbers or more Beans -- or both.
On the Fenton community garden's discussion list, many plot gardeners are posting seeing rats, squirrels, and rabbits stealing their produce. It seems particularly bad this summer for some reason.
For the Pollinator Strip, the Zinnias have yet to flower, so I think it may be that they are too crowded and we will thin them next week.
Everything else is coming along well.
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
The Following Work Has Been Awarded a 2026 GardenComm Silver Laurel Media Award:
Photography: Cover (book or magazine): July-August 2025 Washington Gardener Magazine - Kathy Jentz
We won a Silver Award in the Cover Photography category and now we are up for the Gold Award against some seriously talented photographers, wish us luck! The Gold Award winners will be announced in August at the GardenComm annual meeting in Portland, OR.
I took the photo at Mt Cuba Center in Delaware. It is of their beautiful pond and Black Cohosh plantings. I'm pretty proud of it as Black Cohosh is not an easy plant to capture well in still images, because of its tall, open, and airy growth habit.
Each year, I try to enter the GardenComm Laurel Awards in a category that I have not won in previously as a challenge to myself and to not continually dominate in one category (e.g. let others have a chance to win and get their Golds and Silvers).
Here is the official awards press release:
For Immediate ReleaseMedia Contact: Chris Sabbarese
Ph: 951.899.5015
info@gardencomm.org
Kathy JentzReceives
2026 GardenComm Media
Awards Silver Laurel Medal of Achievement
Kathy
Jentz has received a 2026 GardenComm Silver Laurel Medal of Achievement in Photography: Cover (book or magazine),
presented by GardenComm: Garden Communicators International.
The
international awards program recognizes individuals and companies that achieve
the highest levels of talent and professionalism in garden communications. The
2026 competition drew 146 entries
across 43 categories.
Since the early 1980s, the
GardenComm Media Awards program has recognized outstanding garden-focused work
across writing, photography, publishing, digital media, broadcast, podcasting,
and other communications disciplines.
The 2026 Silver Laurel Medal
recipients were announced July 20 during the GardenComm Silver Laurel Media
Awards Live Stream. The full list of 2026 winners are available at gardencomm.org/awards/2026-winners. For more information about the awards, contact Chris
Sabbarese at info@gardencomm.org.
About GardenComm
GardenComm,
Garden Communicators International, is an organization of professional
communicators in the green and garden industry including book authors,
bloggers, staff editors, syndicated columnists, freelance writers,
photographers, speakers, landscape designers, television and radio
personalities, consultants, publishers, extension service agents and more. No
other organization in the industry has as much contact with the buying public
as GardenComm members. Learn more at www.gardencomm.org.
Caladium (Caladium
genus) is a tropical perennial bulb grown as an annual in our region.
It has heart-shaped leaves with an array of colorful
patterns that include mottled, veined, and striped. There are thousands of
named Caladium cultivars available in a rainbow of colors and color
combinations, including green, white, pink, rose, and red.
Caladiums were named the National Garden Bureau's 2025 Bulb
of the Year for Bold Foliage.
Caladiums are native to the tropical forests of South
and Central America and are hardy to USDA zones 9 to 10.
They prefer to grow in consistent moisture in well-drained
soil. Most varieties do well in filtered sunlight or light afternoon shade.
Some cultivars can tolerate full sun and others do best in shade.
You can plant caladium tubers outdoors, after all the
danger of frost has passed and the soil temperature are 70°F.
You can also get a head start by planting them in containers
kept inside until they sprout and waiting until early summer to transplant them
into the garden.
Apply a diluted liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks during the
summer growing period.
The leaves can be damaged in high winds and by slugs chewing
holes in them. If a leaf becomes tattered or worn, simply pinch if off at the
base
They love our summer high heat and humidity and will
die-back during the first real frost or freeze. If you want to overwinter them as
a houseplant. be sure to dig them up and potthem to bring indoors before the frost hits them.
Caladium:You Can Grow That!
The
video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine as part of our Plant
Profile series for Mid-Atlantic USA gardeners.
Audio, video/photos, and text by
Kathy Jentz
Editing by Koree Perry.
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enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our
Youtube channel (thank you!)
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“No longer will we segregate nature from the human experience. No longer will we incarcerate the natural world on uninhabitable mountain tops or unbuildable wetlands. No longer will we treat the living things around us as interesting but inessential curios, as if we didn’t depend on them in the same way an infant depends on its mother.” ~ Doug Tallamy
In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with water gardening enthusiast Dr. Peter Kremers about Color on the Creek's solutions for managing stormwater and algal blooms. The plant profile is on Wine Cups and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on "The Parsnip and the Peanut" from Christy Page of GreenPrints.
BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter for as little as $0.99 per month!
And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!
This week the intense heat was back and we had hardly any rain. Now we are experiencing extremely poor air quality due to smoke blowing in from the Canadian wildfires. I'm praying for rain this weekend to clear out the air and water the gardens. The smoke haze cannot be good for our plants, which are already suffering greatly from the drought and record heat waves.
I cut blooms from the Dahlias and Lisianthus (pictured above).
We weeded and watered a bit -- and picked a few Blackberries.
The Squash vines are flowering, so I expect to see baby Squash developing soon. The Eggplant and Tomato plants have lots of blossoms on them. As soon as the temperature returns to normal, they should start developing/producing fruit.
Speaking of Tomatoes, when I left last week to go tour gardens in Buffalo, NY, there was one nice-sized tomato starting to ripen on the 'Fourth of July' plant. When I got back, it was gone -- not rotting on the ground nor bitten and left behind -- just gone. I suspect a hungry critter took it (maybe of the human kind?).
For the Pollinator Strip, we are still waiting for the second batch of Nasturtium and Celosia we planted last week to germinate. The Sunflowers and Marigolds are blooming well. The Zinnias still need a few weeks.
I finally got the Pepper seedlings planted! They are a Sweet Cayenne variety and a 'Calabrian' one.
Everything else is coming along well.
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
Japanese Painted Ferns (Athyrium niponicum) are perennial plants that highlight
shady spots in the garden.
They are native to eastern Asia and are hardy to zones 3
to 8. The mature size is about 18 inches tall and wide.
The silvery highlights are the hallmark characteristic of
this beautiful fern, but many cultivars also have red mid-ribs such as the
award-winning cultivar ‘Pictum’. The cultivar 'Silver Falls' received
the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Other
popular cultivars include ‘Ghost’ and ‘Burgundy Lace’.
Japanese Painted Ferns make great garden accents and look
good featured in containers.
Ferns do not have flowers so they do not attract
pollinators, but they do assist wildlife by providing shelter and hiding spots.
They are deer-proof and have few pests. They thrive in consistently
moist, well-draining, acidic soils with lightly dappled to full shade Japanese
PaintedFerns also appreciate a
top-dressing of composted leaves.
These ferns are low-care. By late winter, you will want to cut them back though
as they will look a bit ratty and tattered. Divide Japanese Painted Ferns in
early spring just as new fiddleheads emerge or in the early fall. Do so every
few years to maintain the plant’s vigor.
Japanese Painted Ferns- You Can Grow That!
The video was produced
by Washington Gardener Magazine.
Editing by Koree Perry
Photos, Videos, Text, and Audio by Kathy Jentz
➤ If you enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs up
and subscribe to our Youtube
channel (thank you!)
➤Remember to TURN ON notifications to know when our new
videos are out
For our July 2026 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we are giving away a copy of Folium: A Gorgeous Compendium of Beautiful Leaves by Jeanne Batiste (prize value: $35, Publisher: Smith Street Books. Publish date: September 1, 2026, Amazon affliate link: https://amzn.to/4f5qoFD).
Folium is an exquisite treasury of beautiful foliage from botanical artists through the ages. Immerse yourself in the verdant textures, forms, and moods as each page unveils the majesty of trees and leaves through the eyes of artistic and scientific visionaries. This anthology celebrates the universal language of plants—symbols of life, endurance, and renewal—that have inspired and grounded the human spirit throughout history. This enchanting volume will grace your living space and transport you to a world where branches whisper stories and beauty takes root through time. The author, Jeanne Batiste, is a writer and plant obsessive who lives in London, near her favorite place in the entire world: Kew Gardens.
To enter to win the book, send an email by 5:00pm on Friday, July 31, to WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com with “Folium” in the Subject line. In the body of the email, tell us what your favorite article was in the July 2026 Washington Gardener issue and why. Please include your full name and mailing address. Winners will be announced and notified on August 1. Entry comments might be published.
“Faced with planetary crisis ... What difference can an individual make in the face of such vast and seemingly insurmountable problems? The answer, as gardeners around the globe are discovering, is to create a little patch of hope in your own backyard.” ~ Isabella Tree
In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with landscape architect Thomas Rainer* about designing plant systems. The plant profile is on Dwarf Comfrey and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on "Secret Letters of the Garden" from Christy Page of GreenPrints.
*You can order Thomas Rainer's book Planting in a Post-Wild World at https://amzn.to/4f0EoPy
This link is to our Amazon affiliate account and we may earn a few pennies from these sales,
but it wil not impact your purchase price.
BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter for as little as $0.99 per month!
And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!
Episode Credits: Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz
Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany
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*You can order Thomas Rainer's book Planting in a Post-Wild World at https://amzn.to/4f0EoPy
This link is to our Amazon affiliate account and we may earn a few pennies from these sales,