I
have to start by admitting that I didn’t really do as much as I should have
with the garden this summer. Perhaps since this is the third year, the novelty
has worn off some for me. Or perhaps I’m just more generally lazy this year. I
did put in the full garden but I neglected it some and my husband ended up
doing a lot of the work that I usually do. With all that being said, it was a
fairly successful season, even if my enthusiasm was lacking.
My
last post here was in May, so there is a lot of catching up to do. Here’s how
things went this summer.
May
The
perennial plants in the garden came back quite well after the winter. I was
picking thyme, marjoram, and chives in April. The horseradish came back strong
and the rhubarb grew well enough to put some in the freezer. The asparagus was
pretty good this year as well. The strawberries came back better than ever. I
plan on doing a whole post just on them.
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| Thyme, marjoram, and chives |
I
planted the cool-weather seeds – carrots, beets, chard, pak choi, turnip greens,
and peas on May 13th. They all sprouted within a week. The beets
were a bit spotty, however. That could have been because I got a mix of different
types of seeds to try this year or maybe because of the steady rains we had
this spring and early summer. The beets we did get were very good, though.
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| The garden on May 13th after planting cool-weather seeds |
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| Peas two weeks after planting |
I
planted the rest of the garden on May 29th. Much of the garden space
was given to old standards – green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, and
peppers. We didn’t bother with corn and potatoes this year but added soy into
the mix. We also tried out some different vegetables including parsnips, silver
line melons, and okra. I also decided to try growing European cucumbers rather
than the pickling ones I usually grew. I ended up being disappointed by that
decision. The cucumbers had large seeds and didn’t produce that well. I’ll be
going back to the smaller ones next year.
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| The garden on May 29th after everything was planted |
All
the plants that I transplanted into the garden at the end of May were ones that
I had started earlier in the season. I started eggplant, Poblano pepper, Juliet
tomato, and beefsteak tomato seeds. I transplanted the seedlings into peat pots
at the end of March and then transplanted them again into larger pots in late
April. I probably started them a little earlier than I need to but I was
anxious to get things going in the depths of winter. The tomatoes, in
particular, were a bit spindly when I finally got them into the garden but they
adjusted well once in their permanent homes.
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| Thinned seedlings in early March |
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| Lovely, strong tomato seedling at end of March |
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| Tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings transplanted into peat pots |
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| Hardening off plants on the back porch in mid-May |
June
It
was a fairly wet start to the season but the garden didn’t seem to mind. By June,
everything was coming along. At least a little bit of everything planted was
growing. There was only one buttercup squash plant and that was attacked by
stem borers before it got a chance to do much but otherwise things were going
well. The pak choi was harvested and the few remaining plants were going to
seed. The peppers and eggplants were setting fruit and I was taking fresh snap
peas with me to work for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised by the turnip
greens. They were a new addition to the garden. They grew fast and despite
being quite prickly when picked, made for a very nice cooked green.
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| The garden on June 25th |
July
In
July, the garden really filled out. The peas were finishing up their run but
everything else was going strong. The green beans were starting to produce as
were the yellow squash and zucchini. Both the beefsteak and Juliets were
covered in green tomatoes just waiting for some hot, sunny days to turn them
red.
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| Bright lights chard |
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| Yellow Squash |
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| Juliet tomato |
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| Zucchini |
As
a special bonus, several plants sprouted from the composter. An abundance of Roma
tomatoes and a strong acorn squash vine filled in around the base of the
barrel.
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| "Wild" compost vegetables |
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| The garden on July 29th |
August
Harvest
season was full upon us by August. The tomatoes had turned red and we almost
had more than I knew what to do with. A week of rain made a lot of them split,
however, and some of the large beefsteaks started to rot on the vine but
another round of drier weather helped put a stop to that. The silver line
melons ripened as did the cantaloupes. Both seemed watery and not as flavorful
as we would have liked. Perhaps the soil wasn’t that good for melons.
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| Basket of produce |
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| Beefsteak tomatoes |
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| Silver line melon |
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| Okra blossom |
September
That
finally brings us up to now, mid-September. The soy has grown well, despite the
fact that a couple of young woodchucks managed to get into the garden and eat a
good portion of the leaves. My husband just picked and processed it the other
day and got almost two quart-size zip-lock bags of shelled beans.
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| Soybeans |
There
are still a lot of veggies in the garden that are ready and waiting to be picked
– beets, carrots, chard, and turnip greens – and more still ripening –
tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, onions, parsnips, cucumbers, and green beans. There
is still plenty to do in the garden and lots of produce to harvested and put
away for the winter.
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| The garden on September 10th |
