Garden Update

"A garden is never so good as it will be next year."-- Thomas Cooper

We have started harvest season.  So far, we have harvested basil, lettuce, kale, a couple of beets, a handful of peas, Armenian cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes.  Our peas and beans did poorly this year, and we only grew one pole bean.  However, a few of the other plants did better.

We just harvested most of our basil.  I missed one plant and left a few leaves on the other plants in hopes for more basil this season.  Brooke turned all of the harvested basil into pesto.  She used organic spinach, garlic, fine aged sheep's cheese, and olive oil in her pesto.

I have started planting for a late fall harvest.  So far, I have planted beets and carrots in my containers and raised bed.  Root vegetables like good drainage.  I am watering the containers daily for 8 minutes - just long enough to saturate the containers.

We thought this plant was broccoli, but now I am pretty sure that it is Brussels sprouts.  I am going to trim back the lower leaves to see if I can promote growth on the little leaves.

Our pop-corn was a slow starter.  Only two plants survived.  I hope that two is enough for a little bit of pollination, otherwise we will have no corn.

The tomatoes have outgrown their supports.  Although there is a lot of greenery on my tomato plants, there are few fruits.  I am going to use my own advice next year when growing tomatoes.

We have baby asparagus plants!!  In two or three years, we may be able to harvest a couple of stalks of it.

Here is our trusty watch-hawk as scale for the asparagus.

Our squash trellis is awesome!  I love it.  My squash no longer dominate all of my garden space, and most of the fruits are lifted off of the ground.

So far, we have harvested several large Armenian cucumbers, most of which have become cucumber salad.  Does anybody have a decent Armenian cucumber recipe?  We might try pickling the leftover cucumbers.  I hear that they are not actual cucumbers, but muskmelons, which is why I might be having moderate success with growing them.

Overall, I am very happy with our garden progress!