It’s been a while since I reported on the garden (or wrote anything else here, for that matter!). The fall garden is started, though the summer garden isn’t quite finished, so it seems like a good time for an update.
Summer Garden Results
The first cucumber showed up on July 5th, a little under two months after planting; I think it was a “Slice Max” (rather than a “Diva”), but I can’t be sure. We’ve had a steady stream of cucumbers ever since, and there are still a few to come. I expect to plan cukes again next summer.
The red peppers were very tasty and fairly productive, though they took longer than claimed; the yellow peppers were also tasty, but far less productive. Both pepper plants have given up the ghost; I suspect it would have been cheaper to buy peppers from the supermarket or at the farmers’ market, but it’s fun to grow them, and I’ll do it again next year.
We’ve had a good crop of tomatoes (both the Early Girls and the cherry tomatoes), and they have been delicious. We harvested some today, and a few more may ripen, but the end is near if not already here…until next year.
Watermelons were not as successful; we had a bunch of 4" melons, many of which were completely white inside. We did get four or five edible melons, but they were tiny and not terribly sweet. We took the last melon today, and I’ve ripped out the vines and repurposed the EarthBox.
Fall Garden Plantings
We didn’t do anything with our actual dirt garden patches over the summer, but we planted lettuce seeds there today (after adding a half-bag of planting mix to each patch).
We sowed one patch with about half a packet of “Chef’s Gourmet Spicy” mesclun mix; the other patch has the other half packet, plus a full packet of “Asian Salad Greens”.
And the EarthBox that hosted watermelons over the summer now has six arugula seedlings; I kept most of the dirt, but did add a bit of new potting soil at the top.
I’m not sure what we’ll do with the other two EarthBoxes when we take out the last of the cukes and tomatoes; we’re not really big pea eaters, which is the obvious thing to plant. I’m thinking of putting strawberries in one of the boxes in hopes of an early spring harvest, but maybe that’s foolishly optimistic. On the other hand, it would be really tasty if it worked!
David, it all sounds like fun and so tasty. I have been buying fresh produce from the Growers’ Market here in Farmington all summer and am totally spoiled by all the fresh fruits and veggies. Am renting so don’t know if I will make the foray into vegetable gardening next year or not…but am considering it. I have enjoyed getting perennial beds planted and watching them grow. We have 4 seasons here in the 4 Corners area and many of the plants which grow in VA will grow here as long as they are watered regularly with a drip system. Have a great day & thanks for sharing your garden news.
It is fun, and definitely tasty — and pretty easy, at least at the level I’m doing it. An EarthBox is a lot of help (and you can take it with you if you move), and it’s water-efficient, too.