Garden Update

I haven't posted a garden update in awhile so I thought I would let you all know how my garden is doing in the final few weeks of summer. Well, to start with, it finally did stop raining. It stopped raining at the beginning of August. Now, it hasn't rained since. However, I really don't mind! I would rather water a dry garden, then spray for fungus. This year's garden can only be labeled as poor to mediocre at best because of all the rain we have had.

I will start with the good news. I picked lots and lots of tomatoes. More than I needed. All of it has been turned into sauce of some kind. Last week I made cocktail sauce. (I love cocktail sauce but it doesn't like me. I have to make my own to be able to eat it.) I am going to do one more batch of spaghetti sauce with meat and then I will pull up the tomatoes.

The squash plants are doing much better since it stopped raining. I got 35 squash during the month of August and they have continued to flower. I really need this space for the peas but I don't have the heart to pull them since they finally decided to produce. I need at least 120 to get one years' worth so this is not going to be a goal I make. I will shoot for the goal of 30 more before October 1st. Then, they must be removed to plant the peas.

The Green beans are still going strong. I need 52 quart jars to get one year's worth so I need the green beans to keep going! I am only at 33 jars right now. I spent some time picking them this morning. I only did about 1/3 of the plants and this is what I got. It was a lot more but my husband let Molly out to 'help' me and she ran right over to the basket and started eating them. When I go back out to do the rest this afternoon, I will make sure she stays inside to 'help' my husband work!

Strawberries are still producing well. I picked a bunch on Saturday but forgot to take a picture. I don't have any ready now to show you. Take it from me they are big, and quite sweet!

The peppers are still producing too. I stopped counting at 75 peppers currently on the plants. (I only have three plants total.)  I have dried 135 already. These are for next year's insecticide. This crop was hugely successful.

I don't know what the peanut crop will look like. I have been planting peanuts for years and this is the first time I ever had a fungus problem with them! I sprayed them, but the Spanish peanuts didn't bounce back. The Virginia Jumbo did!  I am guessing I will have mixed results. I won't know for sure until they come out of the ground in October.

I am sorry to say the tobacco was not successful. I had 14 plants this year and most of them drowned. Tobacco really likes well draining soil so the roots don't stay too wet. Well, I couldn't control the rain, so most died. I did manage to get two plants to thrive. I let them go to seed so I have plenty for next year. To make my insecticide next month, I am going to have to purchase some. 

Many of my herbs died too. I dug up the woad and lavender to try to save them. They are in pots but not happy about it. I think I will put them back into the ground this month. The savory, thyme, sage, soapwort, pennyroyal, St. John's wort and marjoram died. The rosemary, basil, oregano, chives, chamomile, and stevia did just fine so it wasn't a total loss. The second try at the parsley did well too. I planted them next to the squash to save them from the lawn man trying to eliminate the 'weeds' in my landscaping beds. I will leave them there and just plant the peas around them. Hopefully, next year I will get some seeds!

I am adding a new raised bed to my back yard. My plan is to have it completed by the end of the month so I can plant onions and garlic in it. I will post pictures as I build it!