It feels like I was just reporting on the progress of our garden, but looking back at those photos from only a few weeks ago has me floored at what a difference such a short amount of time can make. Nearly everything has tripled in size and we’ve already begun harvesting and enjoying much of it.
It’s funny – when we added the two new beds early this summer, I was concerned that it might be too much space to fill, and that we’d gone overboard.
Ha! Now I’m convinced that if we want to grow the same exact amount of produce next year, we’ll need another two beds (or more!) because pretty much everything it taking over – outgrowing cages and stakes, overlapping onto neighboring plants, creeping out into the lawn and over the fence into the alley… it’s crazy, but I’ll take it!
We’ve been picking and using up the zucchini in breads – like these – and baked donuts (I’ll share a recipe soon!)
The cucumbers have also been aplenty so far… I need to get a move on pickling them.
We have sugar snap peas!
The green beans and black beans are getting there – I actually just picked a handful of green beans this evening.
It’s been so nice having our own spinach, and I’ve begun experimenting with the Swiss chard, too.
The pumpkins and squash vines have gotten ginormous and many of the flowers are beginning to produce fruit. Beyond excited for homegrown spaghetti squash, which is the big one pictured here!
Loads of tomatoes have come on, now we’re just waiting for them to ripen.
I was able to pick a couple last night and was so excited, then set them down to tend to a few other plants and, having forgotten about them momentarily, totally stepped on and squished them when walking back inside. Oof!
Peppers everywhere – I’m actually going to try pickling some banana peppers for the first time this weekend. We love them so much – by themselves or on pizza or salads or sandwiches or pretty much everything.
The herbs have been back and forth this year. Some have really taken off, but others have just looked stunted and sad. I just recently dug a few up and placed them in pots, and finally they are all seeming much happier! I think I’ll stick to container gardening those from here on out.
The cantaloupe and watermelon vines are getting longer and longer, and the flowers are still holding on – hoping for the fruit to start coming on soon.
We have a few plants that we think may have cross pollinated (green beans and black beans) and a mystery plant or two, which I should probably pull up so they don’t take over, but I’m itching to know what they are!
Whew! Tending to this year’s garden has been a true labor of love compared to the past couple of years’.
While the watering and weeding is about the same, I’ve had to do what feels like endless amounts of pruning and reinforcing and tying up and guiding the trailing plants way from each other… just about every other day.
Fingers crossed it continues to pay off!
I’d love to hear about your summer gardens, and your favorite ways to prepare summer produce!
xo, Aly
[…] been twice as challenging and a hundred times as rewarding. (Check out my posts from June and July!) I’ve learned so much and taken so many notes this year. We’ve been harvesting […]