Monday, August 9, 2010

Need a Garden This Size for a Family of Two this Year





Being gone for a week was good for our psyches, and the garden grew so much in that week!  The euphoria lasted a while, but then we went from being pleased to have a few peppers and eggplant to take to market to puzzled at why it's still taking so long.
We did finish the garlic harvest--about 7000 head.  Teri of course slaved away as we vacationed.  It looks really good on the whole.  A couple of varieties were in the ground too long, but I guess that just means more garlic powder.  I'm working on a post with breakdowns by variety and descriptions of each variety.  Hopefully it won't take as long as the tomato census which I started months ago but never finished.
The beans started blooming and I harvested the first cucumber.  The corn is tasseled out--the earliest varieties are those which had the worst germination rates.  But I think there will be enough for us and friends.  Hopefully some will come to market.
People are getting impatient for tomatoes, and I can't blame them.  Even the cherry varieties just aren't doing much.  We're having some problems with cracking since we got a crazy thunderstorm week before last.  I grabbed those off and made our first batch of salsa.  I'm ready for more!  Plus I need to do a lot of canning this year as I mostly canned sauce last year.
We're trying to get motivated to put in a late fall garden--spinach, lettuce, more beets, etc.  I had a bunch of non-garden things to do this evening, so hopefully I can motivate tomorrow night.
I harvested two of our peach varieties that are ridiculously early--they've never produced anything before, so apparently this is the weather they've been waiting for.  They're ready at the same time as the apricots--strange.  Lots are bug-nibbled, but they do taste good.  I'm trying to decide whether we can eat them all or if I should can some.

Good gravy, I figured out captions!!!!!  This is what happens when you abandon your zucchini--baseball bats.
Bloomin' bean.
Empty place where the garlic used to be.
Carmen (sweet pepper we're growing for the first time) approaching ripeness.
Itty bitty artichoke.
One of my favorites.
Our peaches.
Apricots--yes, they are about the same size as the peaches.
  

Had to add panels to the garlic shed.  Note Teri at right of frame.
Garlic art, by guest photographer Ralf Meyer.
A fine sunflower in amongst the tomatoes.
Overviews, by guest photographer Teri--that's Catherine in the red shirt.

For Teri, who despairs that there aren't pictures of us on the blog.



1 comment:

  1. Aaah...never occured to me to click on "0 comments" to make a comment. Well, just wanted to say thanks to Teri for the great photo of Shawn and Catherine.

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