After watering the garden this morning I snapped a few pictures of some of the vegetables we have growing in our backyard. Out of everything we have planted right now, I think I’m the most excited about finally having zucchini again. We had to plant zucchini seeds like 5 times this year because of all the problems we were having with slugs.
Next year I think I’ll be buying Sluggo in bulk! 😉
Ahh the Swiss chard. Isn’t it lovely?
Green beans! Our Kentucky Wonder bush beans are finally starting to come in.
So far we have only picked a few quarts of cherry tomatoes, no big ones yet. But I have a feeling we will be swimming in tomatoes in a few weeks and I can’t wait to be able to can some homemade salsa and tomato sauce.
We should be able to start picking burpless cucumbers sometime next week. How are yours doing? Mine seem like they are a little behind this year.
More lettuce! Maybe I’ll pick some for a salad tonight.
Maybe I’m weird but, I think I like looking at cabbage leaves more than I actually like harvesting cabbage. They are like little works of art. Don’t you think?
And last but not least, the pear tree. Yep, we are going to have a bumper crop this year for sure. If I had to guess I think we’ll end up with somewhere around 50 – 100 pounds. Maybe more. {I’m hoping for more!}
How is YOUR garden doing so far this season?
Are you ready for fall yet, or are you still having a blast in the garden?
~Mavis
Lisa says
Some of my tomatoes are doing very well. Red Brandywine, Oregon Spring, Medford, and Big Beef (bought in error) are all producing lots. I pulled out my Cherokee Purple yesterday (wasn’t doing well), and my two Aces look terrible. The cherry tomatoes are productive too, especially Sungold (our favorite) and Super Sweet. I have a Large Cherry, Black Cherry, and a Tumble too. The Black Cherry is just starting to color up. My mystery tomato (the tag fell off at the FFA sale) is a huge bush, lots of tomatoes giving no sign of color yet. I have a compost heap volunteer Rome cherry too.
I are getting lots of lemon cucumbers. They are the only kind I plant. 6 in the raised bed, 2 in a Topsy Turvy (first try with them!).
I am starting to get green peppers. If is like last year, I get a larger second harvest in late August.
I am harvesting enough beans once in a while for my 3 person family. I had to replant 3 or 4 times as the weather kept getting cold and wet. Then 105. I have pole beans, and bush beans. The bush beans are in the holes of the cinder blocks of the raised beds. One plant does well in a hole.
I am supposed to prepare the pea bed for planting in the next few weeks. But, it was too hot! Now it isn’t hot, but there are fires and the air is too smokey to go out and work in the yard. We are advised to stay inside. Peas and lettuce are all I bother with in the fall.
Ashley says
This is my first year having a little garden and it’s been the most ridiculous year weather wise. Snowstorms in May, 12 inches of rain above average in June, record high and record low temps in July…..I figure if my garden can survive this summer I can handle anything!
My beans and tomatoes are doing fine. I had to pollinate my zucchini by hand because the bees were nonexistent until about a week ago. I have a few cucumbers trying to growing (a bunch just shriveled up to nothing, I’ve been shaking the plants here and there hoping the pollen will reach its destination). The deer sampled my pumpkin plants, but they’re still doing great. I think my carrots will be a bust though….they got flooded a few too many times when we had all our rain.
It’s definitely been a learning experience!
Linda Huth says
beer poured out into jar lids and set in among the garden plants works wonderful for slugs. They drink it and it
swells up inside and kills them. I had such a problem with them this year in my strawberries and the beer worked
wonderful. No chemicals and very cost affective to use.
Sherle says
A little copper tape from your local nursery will keep the slugs away. Just put it around your plant and it will be a “no slugs” zone.
Though beer works as well, just might not want Lucy finding any.
suzanne says
Completely envious of your pear tree. Pear wine is the best of all the fruit wines IMO. Iv’e read that it takes at least 5 years to get a good pear harvest. Did you find that to be true?
Sarah L says
You should definitely plant more trees! Easy poundage. Growing up, my parents had a persimmon tree, cherry trees, apple trees, apricot tree, loquat tree, lemon tree, peach tree, pineapple guava tree, and italian plum tree. We had fresh fruit year round, and often more than we ever knew what to do with.
Mindy says
Our garden is at a similar stage to yours, not too many cherry tomatoes as of yet, just picked the first cucumber today and beans are coming on but not big enough to harvest yet. The blueberry is doing wonderfully and the raspberries are winding down (and I have your raspberry buckle in the oven as I type). I am STILL picking rhubarb – yay, and looking foward to that zucchini too!
Charla Echlin says
Mavis, how are you keeping your lettuce and chinese cabbage from bolting? I planted my bok choy twice, and had it bolt both times- I did get some lettuce but not like in years past- yours are right out in the open! I was thinking my cukes were slow this year too- I need to check my garden journal on that one. Also- my chard is doing really well- but I usually harvest as I use it- What do you do with all of yours after you harvest? Your garden looks great, I am almost a little sad that the season will begin winding down… but then I get excited for the things I will do next year! I love the seasons 🙂
Randi says
Crushed up egg shells around plants that slugs love works well..they don’t like to crawl over the sharp edges of the shells. I do start early in march with the sluggo to kill off the babies. Sounds brutal but slugs = unorthodox methods.
Diane says
I know you’re probably joking, but was concerned and wanted to mention to be sure…I’ve recently heard Sluggo is poisonous to dogs.
randy says
I only have cherry tomatoes. However they are my favorite:Sun Gold. I started my tomatoes late. I do have cucumbers, swiss chard beets carrots, basil lettuce. My garden is in Central Maine.
Tula Clay says
I want to plant a garden but I have a deer problem. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep the deer out?
Mavis Butterfield says
Sadly a fence is the only solution I know of. 🙁
Carlie says
All but maybe two of my precious babies were wiped out in a heat wave we had when we were on a long weekend away. Still hoping for some watermelon and peppers, and the asparagus is still hanging in there!
What kind of cucumbers do you grow – those spikes are huge and look very watery/bulgy?!