This is such an exciting time in the garden, with things changing daily. We love walking the garden, seeing how everything is growing and starting to harvest produce. Of course, that growth also means hours logged watering and tending to the plants. We spent Saturday morning sweating buckets, trimming and trellising the tomato plants {keep reading for that dramatic transformation!}, but before long, we’ll be savoring the first fresh tomatoes.
Let’s take a wander through the garden together, shall we?
Our Tiger Eye Beans are extremely happy, and don’t seem to mind sharing a panel with tomatoes. These bean pods are so cute, but it will be some time before harvesting: Tiger Eyes are a dried bean, so we’ll let them mature and fully dry on the vine.
The cucumbers recovered from mild wind-and-frost damage, and we’ve already been enjoying the fruits of their vines. I made my first batch of cucumber cream cheese, and it was beyond delicious.
The Marvel of Venice green beans are also doing quite well, enough that we’ve been able to enjoy them ourselves and share with friends and family.
While I may not appreciate the intense heat wave we’ve endured recently, apparently the nadapeno peppers disagree. They are healthy and thriving, with blooms already!
The broccolini and squash are still doing their thing, with enough squash being harvested that we are going to try some new recipes.
The cabbages have been harvested and stored {we were even able to make a batch of kraut from cabbages we grew!}, but the kale is thriving. I’m hoping if we keep it watered and picked, it will hang out through the Summer, because kale salads are my new favorite thing.
The star of the show, of course, are the tomatoes. Here is the promised before-and-after of our labors taming the jungle. {How perfect is this sliding image for the transformation?!}
There are already so many tomato blooms and green tomatoes, of all sizes! I am impatiently waiting for them to ripen, and making lists of ways to eat them once they do.
We dug our potatoes, and it was a pretty decent haul. The vines died back sooner than we expected, but I think the growbags just ran out of room. There is something extra satisfying about eating potatoes mere hours after you’ve unearthed them.
We’re also pulling a few onions to use in meals, and it won’t be long before we harvest them all and start the drying process for storage.
Our sweet corn experiment looks happy; we’re waiting for it to start tasseling now. And we’ve got watermelons and luffa gourds freshly in the ground, so hopefully by the July tour they’ll have perked up and be ready to show off.
Garden feasting season is the best season, and we are trying new recipes and methods of preparation this year. Growing lots of veggies is rewarding, but there’s only so many times you can make the same dish in one season, so we are experimenting. Be on the lookout for more cooking-oriented posts as we share our favorites!
No garden is complete without a pop of color. The calendula is not as pink as I anticipated, but maybe the color will shift as the season continues. And my zinnias, while not in the garden, are so cheerful and bright I had to share them.
How does your garden grow?
Do you have a go-to method for preparing squash? What about cabbage? We have enough cabbages stashed in the fridge to experiment a little!
Have you ever grown dried beans before? This is a first for me, and I am very intrigued.
