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Hi Reader,

Nationwide, it's been an odd summer hasn't it? With lots of rain and flooding in the south and eastern states and in Oregon we're getting more 90 degree days than we have in the past with very little rain. So while I'd appreciate some rain to give me a break from watering, I'd prefer watering to floods, so I'll just keep watering and be thankful.😳

We do have a couple DIY watering systems (simple PVC-soaker hose set-ups) in place in the vegetable garden, sunken flower beds, and the raised berry beds, but I still water the trees, road hedge (hopefully one day we'll get that on some kind of system!), potted plants, and a few areas here and there that aren't caught by the irrigation. I also hand water newly planted seeds, which is happening all the time so that I always have seedlings to place into bare spots. (In fact, it's time to be sowing seeds for fall planting - I'll be seeding a tray this weekend!)

Here's a little glimpse of the vegetable garden in mid-summer:

The vegetable garden entrance is looking full and lush. Just behind the flower border is an empty bed because I just harvested all the garlic (a good crop this year!). I don't replant anything in that bed because of the deer.

This is from the western corner looking south so you can see the new bed I made this year where the concrete block patio used to be. It's not doing well - the corn and squash are looking very pale even with watering and fertilizing. I think I may have gotten contaminated soil.☹️

This is the full picture of the round bed I showed last week - I harvested the cabbages, but not the onions which you can see are ready to be pulled (when they flop over is the sign). I've replanted bare areas with basil and hope to try fall carrots here.

And, this is my other sad area (besides the new bed with stunted growth) - the cucumbers look healthy and have blossoms, but just aren't growing well (it's a variety with long vines). And see that chicken wire? That's to try and thwart the ground squirrels who've eaten ALL the summer head lettuce I planted all over the garden! I should be swimming in summer lettuce right now...sigh.

In the bed behind the cucumbers is the pole beans which just started producing this week - yay!

We love green beans so in honor of the summer's first beans, here are some of my go-to recipes to cook and preserve them:

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Green Bean Recipes

• Our favorite Garlic Green Beans to cook in a skillet or grill.​
• ​Quick Summer Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Green Beans - I've been making this for 30+ years!
• ​Green Beans with Caramelized Onions & Tomatoes - I make this as soon as the tomatoes are ripe with the garden onions.💜
• ​Garlic Shrimp and Green Bean Pasta 30 Minute Meal - Quick and so yummy.
• ​Greek Style Pasta Salad with Green Beans & Tomatoes - The other pasta salad I make in the summer!

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Green Bean Preserving

• ​How To Freeze Green Beans The Easy Way Without Blanching​
• ​Spicy Garlic Canned Pickled Beans • The Best!​
• ​Easy Three Bean Salad Recipe • Water Bath Canned, Low Sugar, Honey Sweetened​
• ​The Ultimate Green Bean Guide: Grow, Harvest, Cook & Preserve​

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From The Blog

​Simple 3 Ingredient Tomato Vinaigrette from Tomato Chutney​ Use your tomato chutney to make a quick and delicious salad dressing! I love using preserves for everyday things like this.💜 ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

​Easy Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce – Eat Fresh or Freeze​ I've updated this classic 5-star sauce recipe that uses all those cherry tomatoes you hopefully have producing - it's SO good! ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

A Few More Things

• It's come up a couple times already with people I know, so I'll share with you - lemon grass oil works almost as well as DEET against mosquitos and ticks. I know DEET is supposed to be safe, but I just feel better using something else on my skin. It smells great and is not hard to reapply since it doesn't last quite as long as DEET. This is the type I get and I've used for years since our kids were young.
• I've been collecting enamelware plates and bowls lately to use to eat outside (hopefully on our new kitchen side porch in the near future!). They're not as easy to find in antique stores as I thought they would be so I found some on ebay and then filled in with this new set of plates for a reasonable price (I love the new ones you can get from the UK brand, Falcon, but $$$). I'm mixing and matching black and green edges with a few blue ones thrown in. It's fun to have something to look for at stores again that won't just add junk to the house.😂

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I hope your week is great! Remember you can hit reply to connect with me - I read every email that comes. 😀

PS- Remember to tag me on Instagram so I can see what you're making!

Remember it's easy to save recipes on An Oregon Cottage! Just click the heart when browsing to save your personal favorites! TIP: when you click on the link, it will take you to my site - click the heart like you see here to the left - it will be on the bottom right on the site. A pop up form will come up for you to create an account (or sign in if you already have). You need to create a password for this account (no info is kept besides your email) and then you can save all recipes and articles to this account and access it anytime to remember what you want and choose what to make!

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