Another month, flown by! Summer garden is almost gone! We never had much luck with sunflowers, but in August we got a really nice one from our wildflower bed. The squirrels loved it too and once the head of the flower got heavy enough to bend, the squirrels ate every seed.
We had similar luck with our few beautiful strawberries. None were had by us, but birds and squirrels reaped the benefit. We have gotten our strawbs to a good place. They much prefer pots, we find, but are sending out shoots and runners so we must come up way to encourage them to grow new plants.
Something else the squirrels love eating are our raspberries. Our bush has quadrupled in size this summer, but we haven’t seen a single ripe berry.
We have two water barrels that were both gifted to us, and this summer we have used their content as well as rainfall to water the garden almost exclusively. It’s a nice feeling not to turn on the hose. I’m sure this is having an effect of some of our plants, but being a new gardener, I’m not sure what it is. Our tomatoes and peppers are producing well, but by the end of Aug are looking a little scraggly. This could have something to do with the water situation.
This is a year of experimentation and we have done so much. Peppers from saved seeds, some in pots, some not, lettuce, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, zucchini, chard (the squirrels ate it all before it could grow more than a few inches), soy beans, onions, potatoes, wildflowers, new things for us to grow, or new methods of growing. A lot of things we are letting go to seed, in order to observe, or save. Many things have worked and we will try again next year. Some we plan to plant again asap for our fall garden. A new crop of radishes are planted, some using seeds from earlier this year. I want to try ginger and garlic in the fall.
Our yard looks crazier and crazier, especially when it’s not mowed, but it is a paradise of growth, a maze of meals. And we wouldn’t want it any other way. The greenhouse makes it all the more intese, but we haven’t even finished or starting using it. It will prolong our season, I’m sure.
Our first home grown zucchini looked like a duck. We’ve eaten a lot since them in Aug. We have tomatoes every other day or so. Our favorite way is fresh cut with mozz cheese and vinegar or in simple sauces, or fresh over pasta with garlic and olive oil. We eat a lot of peppers, pepperonchini, shishitos, poblanos (although our crop this year is nowhere near as prolific as 2019). Our new favorite method to enjoy is blistered with a horseradish cream dipping sauce. We’ve had edemame, pananella salad, zucchini parm.
Due to social distancing we have not given away as much as last year, not shared as much. So we have had to come up with new ways to eat or preserve veggies. We are not great at it yet, but hope to get better.
We have had a very mild Summer here and I’m interested to see what September will be like.
What have been your biggest crops this year? What are you favorite garden meals? Have you been able to share with friends and family?