Miep, a close friend of Anne Frank's often brings the family news from the outside among other small things to cheer them up.
On New Year's, she brings a cake and some flowers.
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and “jimpson” weeds that constituted the garden.
That sentence helps the reader infer that it is summertime, because it shows that the garden is flourishing.
