Tomatoes and crab shells, that’s what we’re swimming in right now. Especially the Japanese black trifele and sun golds. It’s crazy. Next year, I think I’m going to just grow two varieties of tomatoes though, sun golds {for snacking and salads} and San Marzanos {for canning and soups}.
And the yellow and red pear tomatoes? Blech. I don’t know what it is, but they’ve totally gone down hill in texture and taste the past few years. They just aren’t the same as when I grew them 10+ years ago.
Peppers though… I might try a few new varieties of those. This year we’re growing 5 different kinds and we’ve been happy with all of them. Especially the Jimmy Nardello peppers and the jalapenos.
Here’s a view from the top of our garden.
Our mammoth sunflowers reached 12 feet this year! 🙂
I think I’ll dry the sunflower heads and then set them out this winter for the birds and chippys to feast on.
I planted an entire packet of sugar pie pumpkin seeds along the fence and so far, all we have are 2 little pumpkins. Which is kind of disappointing.
But then again, they did have to compete for space with the shasta daisies and butternut squash I planted in the same area so it’s probably my own fault they haven’t flourished.
Speaking of butternut squash… So far I’ve counted 6 squash that I know we’ll for sure be able to harvest before the first frost and about a dozen or more that are a little iffy.
Fingers crossed we get them all because having 20 butternut squash in the pantry for winter sounds like a delicious adventure.
A view of the lasagna garden from the top. My has it grown. 😉 I haven’t measured it lately, but I think it’s a wee bit larger than our little kitchen garden by now.
Remember those seeds I planted in the field in June? Well after a slow start… they’re finally thriving!
We’ve got a few romanesco summer squash out there and a couple of delicata winter squash as well.
The delicata squash may not make it in time, {I didn’t get around to planting them until the middle of June} but at least I know the soil in the field is good enough to grow squash {and that it’s going to be even better once all those lasagna layers are in}.
Now I’ll just have to figure out a plan to keep the critters away.
Gardening, it’s one big adventure after another. And I kind of like that. 🙂
How’s YOUR garden doing these days? Are you harvesting pumpkins or other winter squash yet? Curious minds want to know.
Have a good one,
~Mavis
Carrie says
Bigger than you want for garden space is always better, we moved our garden last spring to a location where we could fence it (the dear had discovered it 2 years before). We expanded our garden boxes when we moved them, but we already wish we had more space. I think part if our problem is we transplanted the raspberries (the deer were really loving those stalks) and they have done so well they took over one while section. Now I have to convince my husband we should expand.
MEM says
This is my first year growing butternut squash. I have four beauties but don’t really know when they are ripe? They are tannish and hollowish when knocked on but still. I just don’t know.
Mavis Butterfield says
Harvest when you can barely pierce the skin with your fingernail and the stems are dry and cork like. To harvest, cut squash off the vine, leaving about 2″ of vine on the squash. Hope that helps. 🙂
MEM says
It does, thank you. Stems are still bright green but the squash is tan and hollow.
Noelle says
Mavis
Is your pumpkin hanging on something to keep it from rotting on the ground?
I live in the NW and even though we are having this crazy dry spell mine have already turned orange.
thanks
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes, it’s hanging on the picket fence.
kc says
Tomato flavor (and production quantity) is partly based on your dirt and significantly based on how much water they get (less water=more flavor), so tomatoes being different from season to (wet) season especially is not unusual. But once you find the right ones for your dirt and your palate..
Mel says
If you want a pear-shaped cherry with good flavor, we like chocolate pear. For yellow and red cherries, we like White Currant and Matt’s Wild Cherry. Zapotec is our new favorite larger tomato, but Summer Cider is still the best performer for us. I’ve never liked sungold since they are just slightly too large to be bite-sized, but they did do well for us this year.
I’m about done with the garden this year. I couldn’t keep up with the beans in torrential rain that took them from too small to too big and tough in 24 hours. Our tomatoes did pretty well, and I froze a bunch, but they got attacked by army worms, so now more are rotting than able to be picked.
I’m ready for Fall, but other than some pansies, I’m going to skip the Fall garden.
Diane says
The garden was kind of a bust this year. It was an epic battle with critters. I’m thinking squirrels and rabbits.
The last straw was when the squirrels ate the heads off the sunflowers just before I was planning to harvest them! I’m making plans to make some kind of barrier for next year’s garden, but don’t know how to battle squirrels.
I’m not fond of a total enclosure. Any ideas to help me plan would be greatly appreciated.
Mel says
We just feed the squirrels separately, and they stopped bothering the garden. Occasionally they’ll steal a strawberry or two, but not enough to cause problems. They’re sort of unpredictable though, so I don’t know for sure it would help, but we have tons of squirrels and no real issues now. Make sure they have water too–they often bite into tomatoes and things just for the water.
Diane says
Thanks, Mel!
I had not thought about providing a water source. I’ve been really good about not leaving water out due to mosquito concerns….but I’ll do it to save the garden!
Cathy says
If you want some ideas to keep critters out of your garden buy Discovery+ and watch Homestead Rescue. Those Raneys are really good at helping people protect their gardens!
Diane says
Thanks, Cathy!
I’d not heard of this series. Looking forward to it.
Dianne says
Very nicely shaped pie pumpkin. Good size. Hopefully, it will turn a pretty orange for Thankksgiving.
Dianne
Heather says
Gardening this year has stunk. We have been covered in wildfire smoke since the beginning of July. And for the first time in 30 years we have gophers or something. They have killed all of our zucchini plants and now are going after our cantaloupe plants. We are waiting for cooler weather and hopefully some rain.
Linn Louise Delamarter says
Mavis,
I just read an article about cooking a sunflower head for eating. I have never done this but I thought I would share this link, you might want your husband to cook this up so you can try it. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/sunflower/how-to-cook-sunflower-heads.htm
Also, have you even had squash blossom flowers cooked with goat cheese, they are delicious!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thekitchn.com/five-ways-to-eat-squash-blosso-87564%3famp=1
I just love your blog!
Linn D. in Florida
Emily says
I use deer netting over all of my vegetables with good success. If you want something you don’t have to lift on and off all of the time you could build fencing around the whole structure. To keep deer out it might have to be as tall as 8 feet, but it depends how motivated your deer are.
Tracy says
We like Grape Tomatoes instead of Pear, they are super sweet and have more texture.