You might have noticed there was not a garden tour in July. Between the heat, some much needed rain, and the garden growing like a jungle, “touring” slipped through the cracks. But rest assured, it has been thriving. Mostly. We’ve had a very strange tomato year, for reasons unknown. More on that later. While this post is not a proper tour, I do want to take a moment to document the garden.
Most of the time, beans don’t like heat. The tiger eye beans we grew this year seemed to love the heat, growing with gusto, and absolutely slammed with beans. Once they dried on the vine, we harvested a Whole Foods bag full, and there are actually some late beans still out there. After shelling, we ended up with just over 2 pounds! Not bad for a single pack of seed.
We will pick out the best beans to save for seed to use next year, and then I’ll heat-treat the ones we’re going to eat. Apparently, there’s a weevil that could be present, but sliding them in the oven at a low temp for 30 minutes will kill off anything that may be there. And make them store better. This is the first time I’ve grown dried beans, and I’m so excited to try them!
After a promising start, the watermelons sort of fizzled. There were several golf-ball sized ones that partially developed. But we did have one that grew to proper personal size, from the “scrap” vines we had dumped into a bag as filler dirt. {Isn’t that how it always goes? The garden is amazing for teaching life lessons.} All summer I’ve been watching this watermelon grow and slowly start turning yellow – the way you know they’re ripe.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one watching for peak ripeness: a furry critter helped itself one night! At least we know it was delicious? We will continue to try and figure out watermelons, especially since the chickens and I absolutely love them.
Speaking of things fizzling … it has been a very strange year for tomatoes in our garden. After such an exuberant and promising start, roughly half the vines started dying. We’re not sure if it was bad timing on trimming, or if the weather played a part, or maybe genetics starting to fail from saved seeds. Some plants did make it and have been producing very lovely tomatoes – including Carbon, a new-to-us variety that was included as a freebie seed pack in an order from Baker Creek. We loved them so much we ordered a pack of seeds for next year. We are actually going with all new seeds next year, because sometimes you have to give the gene pool a refresh.
In spite of the lackluster tomato performance, we were still able to can 9 quarts! Thankfully last year was such a bumper crop, we have a few quarts left over. Between those stores and our new quarts, we should have enough to indulge in pastas and soups through the Winter.
The cherry tomatoes also deserve a shout-out. They have been extremely happy. Like, cut out half the vine, and they still produce more than we can eat happy. We grew three varieties this year:
- Spoon: these itty-bitty bites are perfect for salads, or popping as a snack. They don’t require cutting, and are not so big as to make a juice explosion in your mouth.
- Blondkopfchen/Blonde Girl: We love these, and they are prolific. We’ve been using them to make pasta sauce, and while the color is not what you expect, the flavor is so good.
- Black Cherry: These were new, and oh my goodness. They’re almost like a cherry-sized roma: so meaty and flavorful. We’ve used them to make pico de gallo, and also pasta sauce. They’re excellent in salads as well.
The heat has not bothered the peppers at all: the plants are more compact this year, but they are producing an abundance of gorgeous peppers. We’re mostly using them in cucumber salads, pico, and sauces, but I’m hoping to indulge in a batch of poppers before the Summer ends. We may also try canning some, or even make pepper jelly.
Surprisingly, the cucumbers have also been fairly unperturbed by the heat {usually once it hits 90, the cukes are over it}. While they’re starting to show signs of the end, we’ve been getting a gallon every day or two. And they are delicious. With lettuce being off the table this Summer, we switched over to cucumber salads: all the toppings, none of the leafy greens.
After a rough patch in the Spring, with the voles/moles tunneling through their bags and disturbing the roots, the onions actually did amazingly well. We harvested around July 4th, and while the onions were smaller than expected, they’ve been delicious. There weren’t enough to try and store for long-term, but we’ve been enjoying them while they last.
As with any garden, there will be wins and there will be losses. It’s a learning experience, and trying new things – or figuring out why something did not work – is part of the fun. {The other part, of course, is being able to eat things we’ve grown!} We’re making plans for next Summer, while also preparing for the Fall garden: starting seeds for brussels sprouts and cabbages, as well as late cucumbers and squash. We’ll also get the kale going, to have fresh green salads again. And in another month or so, we’ll be starting next year’s onion seeds!
Hard to believe the Summer garden is slowly winding down, but time marches on and the seasons will change. Honestly, I’m ready: we’ve had more than enough heat and sweat, and am now I’m hoping for a lovely, lingering Fall.
In my neck of the woods it’s summer that lingers…we’ll be sweating through October. XD Glad August is half-over, though. The Alabama Department of Memes (a joke page) just posted a review of Alabama seasons that declares August “Hell’s Front Porch”!
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Summer sometime lingers here too, but we’re swiftly approaching the point where the angle of the sun shifts enough that it’s not as bad as “true” Summer. I’m hoping for an early, genuine Fall that hangs around a while.
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Wow your beans did amazingly. Plus they look so pretty. Its fascinating how they can look. I think the ones we did at school were a kind of marbled purple if I’m remembering rightly 🤔 sorry to hear that the watermelons didnt go as well. Your story of a critter in the night stealing it reminds me of our cherry tomato plants in the past. We only got about two tomatoes on it, waited ages for them to ripen, then our dog nicked it off the vine 🤣
Sorry to hear about the tomatoes too. Its been such an oddly hot summer that I wouldn’t be surprised if thats to blame. I’m glad you found a new variety to enjoy though. And that the cherry varieties did so well.
Sounds like the peppers and cucumbers have done great and I’m glad to hear that the onions bounced back.
My cornflowers never materialised 🙈 but I managed to keep my two new dahlias alive (the second pair anyway, I had to replace my first two as the slugs got to them) and three from last year made a late return. I also managed to grow two different daisy varieties so at least some of my seeds came through. Although the sunflowers also got destroyed by slugs. As a combination of pinecones and slug traps saved the dahlias I think next year I’ll have to try the same to protect the sunflowers. As for the cornflowers I just don’t know what happened to them at all 🤔
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Growing up, we had a dog that would graze the yard, helping himself to blueberries, grapes, and anything else delicious-looking as it ripened on the plant. He liked the asparagus so good that he actually dug up the entire bed and ate it all: roots, stems, everything! 🤣
I’m definitely going down a “cool looking dried bean” rabbit hole 😉 LOL! But we do have limited space at the moment, so that’s a factor in deciding what we grow.
Fingers crossed some new genetics will help the tomato issues. The new varieties/newest seeds we tried did the best {other than our old cherry types, but we got new of them too} … so 🤞🤞🤞
Yikes to the cornflowers! 😦 I wonder what happened … but yay for getting some dahlias! Sounds like pinecones is a good trick to use in the flower garden 🙂 And now you’ve gotten some blooms, you can try more next year 😀
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Omg wow really? The one I mentioned also loved blackberries but I cant imagine she’d have gone to the effort of digging up vegetables like that. Let alone ate the roots as well 😂 the dog we had now won’t touch blackberries. Instead she eats the bramble leaves 🙈
Its amazing how many varieties there are. But we’re definitely limited on space too.
Fingers crossed that next year ends up being a bumper crop with the new seeds 🤞🤞
I truly don’t know. It bugs me that I’ve failed every single time. Yet they grow wildly on roundabouts despite constant exhaust fumes. Yes it definitely seems to have made a difference. And I’ve already got some seeds to try again next year. I’m going to make more of an effort and look tips and tricks up for each variety too. Especially those dreaded cornflowers that fail me every time. Did yours grow in the end?
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They did actually! I’m not sure I ever got a picture of the bed in full bloom 🙈 But they turned out gorgeous, with very little intervention on my part. Definitely want to grow more in the future. And fingers crossed you’ll find the trick to them! 🤞
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Im glad yours came out 🥰 I truly dont know what I keep doing wrong with them 🙈
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It looks like you’re having a good harvest in spite of the little setbacks! I can’t wait to hear how you like your dried beans. My mom had a similar thing happen to her tomatoes this year. I wonder what’s going on? She’s always had such great success with them in her greenhouse.
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It was the weirdest thing, with the tomatoes. And it’s not like we really changed much about the way we grew them versus last year, so … who knows. Hopefully fresh seeds/genetics will help next year! 🤞 Maybe it was a larger atmospheric issue since your mom had trouble too …
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It sounds like you had a great summer of gardening. And oh no, your watermelon! That happens to us every time we try to grow pumpkins. We love watermelon here too. It is our go to snack at night. We are loving the Black Diamond watermelons this year. (which we tried to grow but alas they pooped out on us)
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We’ve never really had a problem with anything eating our tomatoes, but something furry was all about that watermelon, lol … And I’m not sure if it was the skunk I saw one evening OR one of our many possums OR the raccoon that likes to walk down my driveway pooping out persimmon seeds 🤣🤣🤣 I’m not sure the rabbits, of which we have dozens, would be able to get into the melon. We will try growing them again! 😀
I am going to be sad about the end of watermelon season … as will the chickens.
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[…] the Blog:It was a slow month for posting, but I was able to give a garden report and share our amazing August feasts. There were cow-induced smiles and a look ahead at Fall-themed […]
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