Several friends have been asking "how is your garden doing this year, now that your are in your new house". I have been meaning to do an update showing the garden area with the plants. I took photos a couple weeks ago, and never got around to posting them - so here goes, with some explanation. The first year in the new house, I am not very happy with the garden, but with some amendments to the soil next year, I'm sure the outcome will be much more fruitful.
We are getting our lettuce and onion production still, thanks to the shade from the vinyl fencing in the afternoon. We should have some fair sized onions for winter storage. The lettuce has been really nice for salads and sandwiches, (I planted black seeded Simpson).
Our strawberries are into their 4th bearing now. I had to put a netting over them, to keep the birds from stealing the berries. After we got the first picking, the next 2 times I found half eaten berries hanging on the plants. Apparently the birds like the sweet berries as much as Dave does. I am hoping that as the plants spread and propagate, we will get a much larger gathering next year.
This is our asparagus. The first year you always let the plants go to seed. Then the second year the plants will produce small stalks. By the third year we will hopefully have quite a bounty and maybe be able to share with our friends.
Our cabbage is starting to head up nicely. At our other house, I planted cabbage during the 5th year of our gardening, and the heads were so huge, they were like basketballs. These will most likely be small, but I can probably still make a couple jars of sauerkraut and a few bowls of coleslaw to go with our pull pork sandwiches - Dave's favorite.
I am so disappointed in our broccoli and cauliflower this year. The spring weather was so wet that neither one did well. I am hoping that maybe we might get a couple of small clusters this fall.
Our tomatoes are starting to produce, but here again I am so disappointed. The soil needs amendments added to it and because of the cold wet spring, I didn't get the plants in the ground until June. We have picked a few tomatoes big enough for salads and sandwiches. I also taken a couple into the office to share with our security guards, who are so good to help out with Balsa when I am in meetings. September should give us more to enjoy. We have a mixture of Early Girl, Celebrity, Beefmaster, lots of Roma, and a few Early Boy.
This zucchini plant was grown from a packet of old seeds that I found laying in a box. The seeds were dated 2005. I planted them and thought "nothing ventured, nothing gained - and their free". Hopefully we might get a couple of fruit. Can we say Chocolate zucchini bread, Dave loves it !!
I am extremely disappointed in the eggplant. We bought Bonnie Bell plants, (paid good money for them), and only got one very small eggplant from the 2 plants. I most likely will not do eggplant again. It is so much easier to just buy it in the stores.
Our corn is starting to tassel. This was planted so very late in the year, I didn't get it into the ground until the end of June. I purchased the seed, left them laying on the table, where Balsa keep getting them and opening the package. She liked the sound of the seeds shaking in the package and would play with it until it would rip open and the seeds would fall on the floor. After 3 times of cleaning up corn, I finally gave in and planted the seeds. Perhaps if I had planted them the first of June we would have ears of corn by now. Hopefully we will have some by September.
Here is what's left of our potatoes. We have already harvested 4 times from our potato patch. We will have one more harvest of white potatoes and then that will be the last of our potatoes. We did white potatoes and red potatoes. Next year, we might do some fingerlings. Dave said one evening while eating potatoes; "you know I really like harvesting and eating our own food - it taste so good". He didn't even mind digging in the dirt for potatoes.
Now these cucumbers have an interesting story. I found a packet of seeds the middle of July in a box I was unpacking that were 10 years old!! Most people would have thrown them away and said they weren't worth sowing. But as you can see, we have lots of cucumbers plants and blooms. I was taught as a child to plant 3 seeds to each hill and then thin out the 2 weakest plants. These plants are doing very well, we should have some good cukes in about another month. YUMMY.
Out carrots are doing very well. We planted a short sweet variety. And even though I thinned them, the tops are so bushy, that when I dig down to check on the progress of the carrots, I have to move the tops aside to find where the carrot root actually begins. We hopefully will have a good yield. I did a second planting about 2 months after the first planting and the second planting it almost as mature as the first planting. I am planning on freezing some of these for the winter. I am hoping to get a third planting in next week for a late harvest.
This little squash plant was a from a couple of seeds that I found hidden in a packet in the bottom of a box. The seeds were about 10 years old and I had one little bare spot in the garden, so I just planted them the end of July and figured, "what the heck, let's see if they grow". What do you know - it looks like I might get a summer squash from one of the seeds. I can taste the sauteed squash now with a little butter, salt, and pepper. My mouth is watering already. And it didn't cost me anything.
And of course I can't forget the star of our household, my basil pot. This plant has been around for about 4 years now. I bring it in every winter, baby it clipping only a few leaves during the cold months to keep it growing. Then in the summer as it grows by leaps and bounds I use the lots of leaves of the plant in sandwiches, sauces, pizzas, and Shelle even made a delicious basil lemonade for the 4th of July using some of the leaves from the plant to supplement her basil leaves. This plant has truly been a godsend to our household. We love this little guy. Whenever the dogs walk by and swish it with their tails, the scent fills the patio with a wonderful aroma, and when I clip the leaves my hands carry the wonderful scent for a few hours. The house always has a wonderful scent when I cook with this herb.
Well there it is - our garden. This year is not as good as past years at our other house, but next year and in coming years as we add to the soil, we hope it will be more productive and bountiful.
