I went out to take some photos of the garden and boy is it muggy here in Maine this morning! The vegetables sure like the high humidity though, that’s for sure.
Everything in the kitchen garden is doing well and as soon as the cucumbers are done, I’ll be ready to get the broccoli and fall cabbage in the ground.
Speaking of cucumbers, the Boston pickling cucumber plants and going bonkers! This year was sort of a test run to find out if we liked the variety {we do!} and to see how well they’d perform.
Next year though I think I’ll plant at least 24-36 starts so I’ll have enough to can pickles for the pantry shelves rather than make refrigerator pickles.
The pole beans I planted along the picket fence {and the ones down in the religious family garden} are coming in nicely too. I plan on blanching another batch today to tuck into the freezer for later this winter.
Yesterday’s harvest. 🙂
The tomatoes are starting to roll in. Too many to eat fresh and not enough to can so I’ve been dehydrating the extra ones to pop into soups this winter.
I keep forgetting to tell you about my little patio garden I have out back.
After we planted the fruit trees out in the field, I filled them with soil and planted 2 of the pots with zucchini and the other 2 with tomato plants. {I also started a couple of flats of chives too}.
Last night I was able to harvest 2 zucchinis from the back patio. How cool is that? 🙂
No tomatoes yet. But soon.
And last week someone asked how my lasagna garden was doing so I thought I’d give an update. This is the lasagna garden that I started last summer.
I put down a layer of cardboard and then throughout the summer added layers of grass, wood chips and then topped it off with last summer’s garden compost.
The HH made fun of my little lasagna garden and kept telling me how awful it looked from the road. But the joke was on him because my goofy little lasagna garden has the BIGGEST vegetables of all. HA HA HA! Take that HH. 🙂
The only problem of course is that there isn’t a fence around it so Bambi is using it as his own personal supermarket. If you look closely you can see he ate nearly all of the tops off my sunflowers.
And almost all the beans I had growing up the teepees. But hey, apparently he doesn’t like pumpkin plants or tomatoes… yet. Maybe he’s just pacing himself?
Talk about what a difference good soil makes.
The lasagna garden is on the right and the soil the HH simply turned over this spring is on the left. Can you see the difference? {I know I can!} 🙂
So clearly, we’ll be amending the soil this fall once we get everything harvested. That is, if Bambi doesn’t get to it first.
Gardening, every year is a little different.
And I kind of like that.
~Mavis
P.S. How is YOUR garden doing these days? Are you managing to keep the critters out?
Kathy Wolfe says
Your thumb is Green!!! Beautiful!
Margo says
Bee-u-tee-ful! Amazing how your lasagna garden is so fertile! I have finally dried the last of my excess cherry tomatoes, but planting more starts today. I have half just dried plain and half dried with a sprinkle of oregano and basil. The seasoned ones dried are like little savory bites and I hope I can do some more to last through till next winter. Good in soups, stews, and snacking. Happy gardening!
Leah says
I would love to have more details on how you are drying your cherry tomatoes. I tend to have an excess of them! Skins on or off? Whole or halved? Any extra info helps. I like the idea of having them for savory bites for snacking!
Margo says
I halve them, then sprinkle with a little bit of dried basil and oregano. Then I pop them into my dehydrator at 165 degrees until they are dry. I store them in a glass jar and they’ll last until next season.
Leah says
Thank you! Sounds delicious. And a wonderful way to use up all the the cherry tomatoes that pop up as volunteers each year!
Diana says
You’ve had wonderful harvests, so far!
Most of my spring planting has produced what it will and the plants have been pulled. I’ve started my ‘fall’ planting already. Two watermelons, two cantaloupes and a couple of squash are on the vine. Most of my tomatoes are done – the plants got diseased. Not much of a harvest this year. My surprise was growing them out in front of the house. The tomatoes plants are gorgeous – lush and fluffy – and I’m seeing flowers, but no fruit yet. It’s in a spot that gets early morning sun and dappled shade the rest of the day. Interesting.
Second planting up, so far, is zucchini. I’m debating whether I should sow my brassicas outside in their garden or start seeds indoors. I’m thinking I’ll just sow outside this year and see what happens. It looks like the worst of the heat has finished in GA and we’ll be a LITTLE cooler for the next month. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Donna says
Something that may help. You can freeze the whole tomatoes until you have enough to can. The bonus is the skins peel off very easily after freezing.
Tammy says
I don’t know why, but my husband is *vehemently* opposed to lasagna gardening or using the hugelkultur bed method, or even the no till method (where you clip the dead plants and allow the roots to decompose. Haha I don’t know…he is the one who prepares the beds each summer so I can’t complain! We use compost (he manages that too!) and that puts enough good stuff in the soil that we have great soil.
Your garden is looking great! We don’t have deer, the “critters” we have after our plants are insects. It has been too rainy to spray, but I need to get my tomatoes sprayed soon.
Dee from NE TENNESSEE says
I am old enough to be your gr gr grandmom, but , sad to say , I didn’t learn any kitchen skills from my sweet mother. She just had her hands full and limited time . She always blanched and froze her green beans, and they were the BEST. We won’t be able to do anything this year due to husband’s health , but praying we can next year . I have “ figured out “ how we can blanch and cool the beans , but what I cannot determine nor recall at all if my mother “ dried “ the green beans before she froze them. I know she had extremely limited counter space ( same here ) …I just don’t know if one is supposed to try to pat them dry … We are so fortunate to have access to two varieties of heirloom green beans locally . Thanks for your time !