Summer Harvest

Hey everyone!  Sorry for the interlude, vacation called.  I've been meaning to show you all my garden, and it's definitely keeping me busy!  We've got this 30'X30' animal paddock in the back, with an attached chicken coop, that's as good at keeping animals out as it is at keeping them in. (Well, almost as good.  We had some visits from a groundhog, but lucky for him he gave up after tunneling in three times.  I was about to go Caddyshack on him if it continued.)

This was taken back in June, when I had a ton of weeding to do and everything was so small!  Those are the potatoes and onions popping up in the front.  It was so annoying weeding near them because they grow so close to the surface.

The photo above shows a pretty good picture of the garden and the chicken-less chicken coop.  I've got many interests, but chickens aren't one of them.  If I ever want farm fresh eggs, there are tons of people around me selling them, and I won't have to shovel crap to get them.  That's a win in my book!

Here's a list of what I planted, and how it did.  You might want to grab a snack, this could take a while.

Two dozen of the tomato plants are front and center in this pic.  I learned two things this year.  First, that's way too close together, and second, I need to pay better attention as to which tomatoes vine and which bush.  The vining ones seriously killed my ability to keep things orderly.  Also viewable, bottom left are the edamame beans that were a no show and the prolific zucchini in the bottom right.

• I planted over a half dozen different varieties of tomatoes.  I really did have a manageable amount of tomatoes to start with, like 20 plants, then my awesome neighbor came over with a dozen more that he was just going to throw away so I added them, too, because what's a dozen more?  A lot.  Like a whole lot.  Like picking 20 plus pounds a week lot.  The tomatoes have done well, almost too well, but I'll have sauce all winter!  In the meantime, burrata and tomato salad for days! 
• I tried for four different kinds of beans but they didn't pan out.  The yellow wax beans were great and so were the purple pole beans.  The edamame disappeared, probably a groundhog favorite, and the lima beans were a no show.  
• Zucchini.  Every July, I regret planting more than one plant.  We eat it multiple times and week and give some away.  But as it did last year, it died off in the July heat just before I was going to start using them as baseball bats.  Smart move.
• I also have four different kinds of peppers.  I totally regret getting two jalapeno plants.  They did so well and I can't eat them or pickle them fast enough!  The bell peppers and cubanelles are great but hands down the favorites are the shishitos.  Jon and I found them on the menu at a restaurant once, and the waiter described them as quickly charred and tossed with olive oil.  The fun lies in the fact that like one in twenty are hot and the rest are sweet.  A culinary Russian Roulette, if you will.  I planted two of these and wish I planted at least two more!

I snapped this pic before I went on vacation.  When I returned a week later, he was three times the size and made 6 friends.  

• Italian and fairy tale eggplants.  The Italian ones have already made a killer eggplant parmasan, and the fairy tale ones are only a few inches long so they're perfect for roasting or stir frying.  I also made an awesome baba ganoush with them, too.  

This watermelon weighed 24.4 pounds and I couldn't wait to pick it.  Turns out, I should have.  Thankfully there are still 5 more on the vine.

• Watermelon!  I'm happy to report that this year I have a half dozen growing from one plant, much better than the ones that died early on the vine last year.  I brought a 24.4 pound one on vacation, but it was on  barely pink inside.  Patience is a virtue I was not given.
• Another favorite of mine is cucumbers.  I can eat German cucumber salad on the daily, and the toddler loves them, too.  They were doing well until the July heat and fizzled out.  Thank you farmer's market!  
• Potatoes.  I hate potatoes.  Honestly, I only planted these because Jon insisted and Matt Damon grew them in space in The Martian.  (Great movie, but no, we did not fertilize them like he did.)  
• Onions, another Jon pick.  We got maybe a dozen out of the few dozen we planted, but really, the grocery has them cheap enough and they taste the same.  
• Blueberries.  We have three bushes.  I ate maybe 3 total and they were almost perfectly ripe.  The groundhog, however, thought they were the perfect snack.
• We're on our third harvest of kale and it's still great to have.  The swiss chard didn't grow back, but it was great sautéed in garlic and olive oil.
• Lettuce.  Ok, this one I'm peeved with.  I paid extra for seed tape for this, so the seeds are planted with the right amount of seeds and spacing.  I hate planting small seeds because I always end up planting too many.  I was so hyped for these but out of 48, only 6 actually grew,  and they only got to be a couple inches tall.  Talk about microgreens.  Sheesh.  

Here's a good shot from the first big harvest.  Notice the fairy tale eggplants are just a bit bigger than a plum tomato.  Also, I should have put the carrots in the front so they look bigger.

• Pattypan and butternut squash.  We planted butternut squash last year and seriously ate it once or twice a week for dinner until Christmas it did that well.  This year, I decided to plant that plus pattypan squash.  The pattypan squash killed it this year.  Not only have we gotten about 3 dozen already, but it also overtook the butternut squash and literally killed it.  Proving that just because you're family doesn't mean you'll get along.  Lesson learned.

Jersey perfect.  (Also, a sneak shot of the kitchen reno. Shh!)

• Corn.  Last year, we only had two rows and they did ok.  My neighbor said that they need three rows to cross-pollinate properly so that's what I did this year.  We got a few dozen ears of sweet, homegrown corn out of the deal.  I cooked up a few but most of it is in the freezer, to be added to meals later.

That's the sage and overgrown chives on the left.  That bare patch is where the beets, radishes and carrots were planted, and more recently, where the groundhog decided to make his side entrance.  Against the coop, you can just make out the basil and mint plants that survived the groundhog upheaval. They're MIA now, as is the groundhog.   Also, the huge leaves in the back right belong to the pattypan squash.

• Herbs.  So the sage and garlic chives both survived from last year, and the first round of new herbs I planted totally died on me.  By the time I got around to buying basil and parsley again, that darned groundhog decided that was a good access point for his tunnel and dug it up.  Repeatedly.  Maybe it will pop up again.
• Radishes and carrots.  Remember how I said I hate planting small seeds?  These both have small seeds that I hate to sow.  Because of that, I drop in too many and never thin them out enough so they end up super small until I really start pulling some out.  And by that time they've been in the ground too long and lose their flavor.  Sigh.  Maybe third time will be a charm next year.
• Beets.  More tiny seeds and a total no show.  I didn't even get to mess up not thinning them out properly because they forgot they were invited to the party.  Major bummer because homegrown means I get fresh beet tops to eat, too.  

And that's the list, I think.  It's been a great summer but I'm looking forward to the fall.  I said to my mom the other day that there are three peaks when I garden.  First, the excitment of getting all the plants and seeds in the ground.  Second, that first big harvest.  And lastly, the one I'm waiting for, when it's all done and I can start planning for next year.  

Tola wouldn't leave the tomatoes until I picked her a ripe one.  I can't blame her, they're delicious!

Have you ever planted a garden?  We tried when we were at the condo but rabbits and groundhogs ate everything in a day.  Busted.

Which fruit or veggie do you wait all winter for?  I refuse to eat raw tomatoes at a restaurant when it's not summer.  Life's too short to eat bad tomatoes.

Eventually I'll link up my recipes to this post, but in the meantime, if you want to know how I make something, let me know in the comments.