As the end of June grows closer, summer is showing its glory.

Lettuce, spinach and radishes are ready to harvest and enjoy in a fresh, homegrown salad; blackberry and raspberry blossoms promise a good harvest come August; the elderberries are tiny, but will soon grow into rich purple clusters; and the tomato plants are beginning to show signs of becoming full, fruit-laden plants.

The potato plants are growing large, leaving me to hope that the potatoes below the soil will be large and tasty. To me, there’s nothing quite like fresh potatoes, boiled, then slathered in butter and a few sprigs of fresh-from-the-garden parsley.

I think this will be a good (bad?) year for insects. My potato plants have barely begun to grow and already I’ve spotted those nasty, striped potato beetles. Pick them off. Aphids have not yet appeared on any other plants, but I’ll keep a sharp eye out for them. Same with the flea beetles that like to eat holes in tomato leaves and other plants.

The garlic patch is nearing harvest. This year, we will roast more bulbs with olive oil, then freeze them. Our fresh garlic just doesn’t last as long as we’d like and begins to rot in mid-May. Having an abundance of fresh and frozen garlic is not only a money-saving step, but allows me to use it more often in a variety of dishes.

When October arrives, we’ll plant another 5-foot-by-20-foot bed of these wonderfully pungent bulbs, cover them with hay, then reap another harvest come next July.

We’ve created a squash and pumpkin patch about 10 feet from the main garden so those long vines can spread almost as much as they want to.

The cucumber plants are slow to get growing, as is the dill. My hopes are for an abundance of each so I can make many jars of dill pickles.

Perhaps I am just impatient, but I am anxious for everything I’ve planted to appear and start producing.

Flowers, both wild and domestic, are shooting up glorious blossoms, and my hosta patch promises to be one of the most beautiful ones I’ve grown.

Pansies, one of my very favorite flowers, as it was my father’s, are showing off their beautiful purple petals. The regal, bright-red perennial poppies, are about done for another year, but somehow, a few white and purple irises have seeded themselves among these spectacular poppies in the planter in front of the house.

In the field, gentle, low-key daisies, my very favorite of all flowers, both wild and planted, are appearing everywhere. So, too, are the delicate yellow buttercups, purple clover, red and yellow hawkweed with its sweet aroma, and an array of other wild flowers I’ve yet to identify.

I no longer remove milkweeds from the garden, lawn or field. If any orange-and-black monarch butterflies should arrive at our home, I want them to have their food ready for them.

Some things to think about doing now:

* With the dry weather we have been having, water the garden thoroughly, not just with a short spray from the hose.

* Harvest the chives for use in a leafy, green salad.

* Allow the asparagus patch to grow into lovely and delicate ferns.

* Fertilize everything.

* Pick a few irises or other perennial flowers and create a gorgeous table bouquet.

* Keep a close watch out for any insects that may be feasting on the vegetable plants or flowers.

* Woodchucks and deer may be “casing” the garden for their future meals so keep an eye out for them. You can purchase a deer repellent and apply it to the edges of the garden, but we have not found any repellent for woodchucks. When we need to we rent a trap, catch them and release them somewhere far, far away.

* Harvest a few tops from onions, chop them up and add to salads.

* Replant radishes, spinach, lettuce and beans, too, since their growing time is relatively short.

* Talk with other gardeners to learn the steps they may take to keep insect and animal pests away from their gardens, as well as to learn some of their “tricks” to growing a successful garden.

* And pick the last of the rhubarb, chop it and freeze it for a delicious taste of spring during mid-winter.

Take a long look around the front, back and side yards at everything, both wild and domestic, that is growing right now. It will prove that the earth is, indeed, magical.

Eileen M. Adams has been gardening for decades and is always amazed at what the magical earth can do. She may be reached at: [email protected]