The Garden in the fifth week of July...

Rain the previous week, then more sun over the weekend.

I am told that the golden colour of the stalks means that the grains are almost ready for harvest.
This is pretty inconvenient for Brian and I, considering that our Harvest Home Celebration isn't scheduled for another 4 1/2 weeks.... but it works out fine for everyone who plans to attend said Celebration, because it simply means we'll be WEAVING wheat instead of HARVESTING wheat. 

Gorgeous feather heads of the Rodney oats.

The heads of the Black Einkorn wheat 

The heads of the Utrecht Blue wheat

The Utrecht Blue has begun to 'lodge' (fall down) quite badly,
and there are some signs of vermin damage.
However, all the wheat and oats are so close to being ready to harvest that
we'll probably cut them soon, anyway (well in advance of our Sept 5 party, I'm afraid)

The fruit has begun ripening on this amazing 'volunteer' tomato plant,
which grew from seed from last year's tomatoes....
I won't tell you how amazing they are, you'll just have to come out and taste one for yourself.

Flax and marigold: ephemeral blue flowers and hardy orange ones.
The flax flowers open in the morning and the petals fall by the afternoon, so I missed the chance to see them in bloom.
The marigolds got a reprieve from their weekly beheading ritual this week because I ran out of time;
I'll get to them when I'm back from my trip on August 20th.

Vigorous 'volunteer' amaranth -- last year, Sharon Kallis and Karen Barnaby harvested
and prepared the amaranth that was grown (of which this is the offspring) for the Harvest Party.
I have no idea how to harvest or use this behemoth, but I sure can't help but respect it.

Here I am standing in the flax. Last week it had just begun to flower;
and this week, flowering seems almost finished and each stalk has several small, plump green seed heads.

Our flax is nice and tall, and beginning to go golden at the roots.
It won't be long before it's ready to harvest!
(But I hope that it can wait til September 5th)