Summer is almost over and so is my vegetable garden. Oh, there's still a lot to be picked yet, but a lot of veggies are done for the year too. My vegetable garden isn't pretty anymore, and ya'll know how I like to have a "pretty" vegetable garden. It's still weed free, but the leaves of many plants have yellowed or died back leaving things more unsightly than I'd like. If you missed last month's Midsummer Vegetable Garden post when everything was still healthy and green (or if you just want to compare photos for growth, especially my pepper plants) be sure to check it out.
Let's begin the vegetable garden tour in the garden right in front of the screened in porch. This garden has/had broccoli, kale, carrots, a few potatoes on the left with peppers, broccoli, and tomatoes on the right. All the broccoli heads have been harvested already, but I leave the plants in the ground because they continue to produce little shoots of broccoli until frost. In one morning I can harvest as many little shoots to make one full head of broccoli. So it's worth keeping those plants around!
The kale is still going strong although I did lose two plants for some odd reason. That's ok, because obviously I have more kale than I could ever use. I just pick what I need for recipes right now, but I will harvest it all and freeze it before the first frost.
This is the same garden just viewed from the opposite end. Since this photo was taken, I did pull the lettuce you see on the right as it had gotten seedy and I also harvested half the carrots.
On the left of the brick path are my peppers. I was so surprised they did so well in this spot as it is quite shady. They grew up to my chest and they have lots of peppers on their branches.
Here is a trio of peppers.
I'm still waiting for some of them to start changing colors. This yellow pepper is almost ready to be picked.
This red pepper variety grows long and narrow and is available to harvest much earlier than regular red peppers.
And this is "Big Bertha"; I just love that name 😆. This variety of green pepper grows larger than my had and is very prolific.
On the back patio I grew broccoli, cauliflower, and a couple of cucumber plants.
I always have more cucumbers than I need so I only grew three plants this year, and one died (it's been a terrible year of squash bugs) leaving me with two cucumber plants, but I still have more cucumbers than I need 😆. You should always grow more than one or two plants in case one dies. Unfortunately I learned this lesson the hard way with my spaghetti squash as I lost my one and only plant and now I have no spaghetti squash for the year. Next year I will be growing TWO spaghetti squash vines!
The cauliflower has all been harvested, but here's a picture of an almost full head I didn't get to show you last month. It was a great year for cauliflower.
In my largest vegetable garden off the sunroom I planted tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and winter and summer squash.
The winter squash was not as prolific this year as it has been in past years; I don't know why. I did have a serious squash bug infestation which killed two summer squash plants and my spaghetti squash. I am constantly picking those little buggers off my plants. I will definitely have to grow more squash next year and read up on how to keep squash bugs away.
In last month's post I was explaining how I grow my squash plants up to save space. Now you can see how easily they do that. See those big giant butternut squash just hanging from the beam? Amazing isn't it? There is no support for them to hang like that, the vine just strengthens on its own.
Because I ran out of fence panel space, I grew the Butternut Squash right in the center of the garden. I started with just a small trellis that I stuck in the ground and then when it was tall enough to reach the white beam I tied it to that and the rest the plant did on its own.
Surrounding the Butternut Squash vertical vine were zucchini plants that died and the potatoes that are finished growing for the year.
The freezer is completely filled to the brim. I don't know what I'm gonna do with all the peppers when those are ready to freeze.
On the new deck garden I grew peas, onions, more tomatoes, potatoes, and broccoli and strawberries. The first photo shows bean plants hanging over the top raised bed. The beans were insane this year. I was picking a bushel full of beans every other day. I was so tired of picking beans and when my freezer was full of beans I said "That's enough! I'm ripping out those bean plants".
This next photo shows the deck garden without the bean plants. I also pulled out the last remaining onions too. It's starting to look pretty sparse!
Here's the view of the deck garden as seen from the opposite end. The birds were kind enough to plant a sunflower for me. Those are potatoes in the foreground.
This is a first year strawberry bed. I couldn't believe how fast the mother plants shot out runners and created new plants. I only had two plants flower, and I pinched the blooms off right away because I wanted the energy to go back into the plants this first year.
In the other two raised beds on the deck we grew more potatoes and trellised cherry and grape tomatoes.
The tomato plants have been insane this year, but small. AI says either "too much nitrogen, too much water, too little water, overspent soil, or improper pruning." 😆. Thanks AI. I still have no idea why. But regardless of tomato size, they did produce a LOT of tomatoes. I pick two bushel barrels a day and preserve them by canning or dehydrating almost every afternoon. The real small ones I dehydrate; oh they are so yummy!
Here's a photo of what I have canned so far. By the end of the season, this entire shelf will be full of canned goods. And yes, by spring every single one of those canned tomatoes will be used. We use a lot of tomatoes in our diet. It seems almost every recipe I make requires a "can of tomatoes", plus I make my own spaghetti sauce.
For herbs, I grew oregano, basil, thyme, lemon balm, cilantro, and parsley. I use them fresh, but I also dry them. It's so much work, but I use a lot of basil and oregano in my spaghetti sauce so it is so worth it.
The basil is the background with marigolds in the foreground.
And pictured below is Sweet Basil (the purple plant) with oregano in the foreground.
Herbs are such pretty plant and can easily be grown in a flower bed. I was even reading that Flower Farms are growing herbs so people can cut and put them in their flower bouquet for scent. What a great idea! I love the smell of a fresh bouquet of basil! I never would have thought of adding them to a flower bouquet though.
Pictured below are oregano leaves I picked and put in a colander ready to wash and dry.
Oh, and before I leave I wanted to share a new way I discovered to eat beets: fry them in the air fryer! Oh my gosh, this is my favorite new way to enjoy beets. Just peel and cut up, drizzle with olive oil and spices, and fry them 15-20 minutes. So yummy!
I hope you enjoyed my last vegetable garden post of the year! And now what about you? Did you grow any vegetables this year? Did you have a good harvest?
Have A Great Day! Amy
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