It was a great week in the garden. A few hot days, a few cool/overcast days and we even had a bit of rain. What more can a girl ask for?
Despite the fact my garden was thrown together at the last minute I am very pleased at what I’ve been able to grow this year. Our tomatoes are just starting to turn red, we are in the middle of cucumber season and we’ve been enjoying green beans every few days with our supper. 
I planted green beans in three areas this year and so far I think the pole beans like climbing up the makeshift tree trellis the best. The people who lived here before {or the people before them} hammered iron hanging basket hangers into two trees on the property.
At the beginning of the season I was going to remove them {because I thought they were weird}. But the more I kept looking at them trying to figure out how to remove them, I realized that I could use them to my advantage.
Burgess Buttercup Squash, they make the BEST pumpkin pies!!! I hope my little squash makes it. The size is right for about this time of year so I think it will be okay.
Poppies! I planted 6 packets of poppy seeds a few weeks ago and the little seedlings are popping through the soil. I am trying to build a perennial flower garden in this area as inexpensively as possible and I adore poppies. So fingers crossed my $10 investment pays off. If all goes well I should be able to divide the plants next fall and move a few of them to the {what I’m hoping will be} additional perennial garden out front. 
The side garden. Cabbage, Swiss chard, strawberries and beets.
I think I’m going to harvest the four remaining heads of cabbage this week. Yes they are small, but I fear that if I don’t pluck them now, the slugs will get them. 
I have more cabbage growing under grow lights {red acre and chinese cabbage} so I’m not too worried. I’ll plant those seedlings out towards the end of the month in anticipation of a late fall/early winter harvest. 
Guess what I picked yesterday? Our first tomatoes of 2015!!! Wahooo! Happy days are here at last. Sun Gold and Stupice are almost always the early birds in our garden.
And check these babies out. It won’t be too much longer before I’m canning salsa.
What’s new in YOUR garden this week? Are you harvesting tomatoes yet?
~Mavis
This years garden is being sponsored by the awesome folks at Botanical Interests Seed Company. You can check out their website HERE, order their new 2015 Garden Seed Catalog, or see the seeds I’ll be growing in my garden this year HERE.
Up for a tour? Read about our behind the scenes tour of Botanical Interests Seed Company.
Preppy Pink Crocodile says
I’ve been picking tomatoes for a few weeks now. It looks to be my smallest harvest yet this year, despite having significantly more plants growing. Just a strange season with rain and pest issues. I’ve also been getting cucumbers, strawberries, still more rhubarb, kale, beets, and beans. I’m about to plant more beets, carrots, and peas for a little fall harvest.
After figuring out that I needed to protect my squash seedlings under a fabric dome for a month or two to avoid my nemisis the SVB, I *thing* this is finally going to be the year that I get a nice little winter squash harvest. I have three nice size butternuts already and lots of other babies that I am hoping make it. Next year I will just do that from the get-go! Lessons…
KK @preppycrocodile
Patty P says
With the Northeast’s exceptionally soggy spring, our garden got a really late start….as in most of the garden isn’t there. I have a few sunflowers that volunteered from last year…they are about 8 foot tall and gorgeous! I did start a “Back to Eden” garden, but it’s small this year (due to not having enough material to start a bigger one). Once I got it going, it took off! I harvested radishes the other night and have many promising tomato plants that I started indoors this winter! Beans are almost ready! My herbs (basil, dill, sage) are all doing well! I also planted my Canna bulbs along two sides of my little plot, and they are doing well too! We planted our Zucchini, Patty Pan Squash, Watermelon, and Giant Pumpkins in a totally new garden area this year. We have one giant pumpkin growing (it’s about the size of a really big softball)…so I’m not sure how “giant” it will get this year. 🙁 We also harvested some zucchini. Looking forward to a lot of fall harvesting!
Nancy C. says
I have a quick question. I have never used grow lights. Where do you have them? Are they in the house? garage?
Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
This time around I have them set up on the laundry room counter. Sometimes I have them in the garage or an extra bedroom. It just depends.
Emma says
We bought our house in PA in December 2014, it’s our first garden so we went crazy and just planted things all over.
We have been picking tomatoes for a week or so. Our zucchini’s are still going strong and our peppers went crazy. Today we harvested our last watermelon and 6 more peppers.
Our cabbage are doing well and our cauliflowers are growing. It’s got pretty hot here in PA and that turned our cauliflowers purple (learning as we go). We also made 2 potato towers, we knocked one down already, out of share lack of patience and inquisitivness. We did get baby potatos from that and are leaving the other tower to get larger potatos. It has been so much fun!
We enjoy reading everyone’s experiences and love looking at the pictures and ideas from other keen gardeners.
Thank you so much for keeping us updated and bringing people together 🙂
The Downey family
Susan says
Picked our first red tomatoes this week. We have HUNDREDS of the little yellow pear tomatoes. I need
to pick today. Corn will be ready to pick in a week or so. My squash plants didn’t do much. Very sparse.
Beans are still producing. Winding down.
It looks like we will have quite a few pumpkins. They are doing GREAT!
I recently planted a new row of snow peas and kale. They are up and growing.
We went to visit our son last weekend and picked plums, mulberries and apples there. I spent last week doing lots of canning 🙂
margret says
Garden and yard