Time has flown by this summer and it feels like it’s been awhile since I’ve made a garden update.
Gardening is a continuous learning process and learning is definitely something I’m doing this year!
New seeds make all the difference!!!! Most of the seeds used this year are almost 10+ years old. When we got married, we both had seeds and I wanted to use up what we had before buying more.
Well, lesson learned, once they expire, they have almost zero viability and even if they germinate, those poor old seeds just don’t have much in them to actually grow.
But, here is where things stand at this point in the summer.
In the main garden, I planted 6 different types of beans. I had two of the kinds not pictured grow exactly 2 stalk each, but they never grew to the point of getting any leaves. The Black Beans grew, but they have only grown about 8 inches tall. They are growing beans, so that’s good. I’ve decided to let those dry to use for seed next year.
The Bush Beans that were planted (2 rows) grew 3 stalks and I have harvested a whole 4 beans from them. I’ll be ordering new seeds for next year.
The cucumber that came up was after tossing an old pack of seeds on the grow to see what would happen. ONE grew!! It is actually growing some cukes, but those pictured haven’t really grown in the last couple of weeks. With more watering on the garden, maybe they’ll get to a size that I can actually harvest 2-3 cucumbers.
In the rest of the garden on that side of the yard, we have the last remaining summer berry producing. I think it is a Boysen berry, but it doesn’t look like the other Boysen berry plant we have. But, it’s producing really well with a TON of berries on it.
We have a tomato, but I’m seeing several other plants are blossoming and starting to grow the tomatoes. Now, I’m hoping we still have enough summer left for them to finish ripening. I don’t think we live in a place that big tomatoes flourish. We don’t get enough hot weather for long enough. Next year, I’ll stick to smaller varieties – cherry or maybe try some smaller paste tomatoes.
I used seeds from the little peppers from CostCo to try to grow a couple of plants. I have 3 plants, but only one has had even one blossom. If it actually grows a pepper, I’ll save those seeds to plant next year. Again, because we don’t get a lot of hot weather, I’m not sure peppers will do all that well. But, I’ll keep trying!
And the apple tree directly behind the garden is FULL of apples….on half the tree. I’m already collecting the apples that have fallen on the ground to use for apple cider vinegar. The apples from this tree go bad fairly quickly if we can even get good ones that aren’t bug infested. Next year, I will try to get some vinegar hung in the branches after they’ve been pollinated to see if that helps keep bugs away.
In the rest of the yard, we have things growing, but only time will tell what we can harvest!
The alpine strawberries are still producing pretty well. I think we’ll get a LOT more next year after the plants are a bit more established. But, in the meantime, I’ve had several days that I’ve been able to pick 5-7 berries. They are so tiny, it’s only 1 mouthful of berries. They are very sweet and have good flavor, but being so small they have a TON of seeds for their small size.
We have another spot that has tomatoes, chives and thyme growing. The chives and thyme have both blossomed, but I haven’t yet harvested them. I’ll try to get a few sprigs of thyme and will dry them. The chives aren’t something I think about grabbing to use, but I need to start. I’ll snip some of those and dry them as well.
The delicata squash is growing beautifully! This is a good example of how much of a difference new seeds make. The seeds used were harvested from a squash I purchased at a farmers market last year. Blossoms have started showing up, we’ll see how quickly the squash develop and grow.
Goji berries are coming in strong for their second harvest of the year. There are a TON of blossoms that are attract the bees and hummingbirds.
The rhubarb on the side of the house has come back strong this later summer time. I won’t be harvesting anymore this year as I have a ton in the freezer. Rhubarb, the food that just keeps giving when you don’t really want any more! 😛
The Sweet Potato in the pot appears to be doing well, but I can’t see what’s happening under the soil. Time will tell.
And the tubers are doing well. However, the neighbors fence was ‘finished’ and something was spraying on it. Time will tell if that affected the tubers and the raspberries that are right next to the fence.
And finally, I purchased new seeds for fall planting – cabbage, onions, spinach, kale and shelling peas. Everything that I planted a couple weeks ago are coming in really well! Again, lesson learned that new seeds really DO make a huge difference in how the garden produces.
Harvest total so far this year as of 8/17/24: 52.64 lbs
I’ve harvested spinach seeds and will be harvesting radish seed pods in the next few days. The radish seed pods are edible and seem to be able to be pickled. I’ll give that a try while also saving a few of the pods to use for seeds next year.
Keep learning and experimenting….looking good!