I haven’t updated you on our garden this year since 6 weeks in, at the end of May. And there’s a reason. The garden has been WIMPY this year.
The garden was happy when the rain started but by July with the weeks and weeks of rain and little sun, it was just done for.
Here is our garden not too long ago:
The big boy tomatoes have all been small and not in very good shape. I only was able to make salsa ONCE and even then it was not very good.
We’ve had a few peppers but without the tomatoes to make salsa, they’ve almost been a waste.
My zucchini plants died early on. I think I only got 2 or 3 zucchinis out of it.
The cucumber plant never seemed to really pick up. I got 2 or 3 very strange looking cucumbers.
My parsley plant I’ve had since last year rotted out.
The one bright spot is the cherry tomato plant has been giving us a steady stream of tomatoes all year. Scott eats them like candy and we’ve been able to give several small bags away.
Overall, I’m happy we did it again. I still love to watch the process but this was definitely nothing like last year.
A good reminder, though, that some seasons will be plentiful while others are lean and a lot of that has nothing to do with what we control. Same place, same plants, same gardener but different weather. To add some life to our garden, I got this porch swing so our visitors could enjoy being outside. Our hope lies in the fact this season, whether literal and figurative, will be over soon and we can give it another go.
If you have one, how did your garden do this year?
Tomatoes and cukes did great. Canned 23 quarts of tomatoes, 5 quarts of spaghetti sauce and still have 5 gallon bags of roma tomatoes in the freezer to deal with later. (probably more spaghetti sauce) Made more sweet pickles and dill pickles than i will ever use in a year. But that’s good because my cucumbers did not make anything last year. String beans were a bust. I think all the rain made beautiful vines but no beans. My squash and zucchini were pretty much a bust too, for me. They did most of their producing the week I was at the beach so the neighbor got them. A gardener’s favorite words are, “There’s always next year.”
Wow, wow, wow! That’s a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers! How many tomato plants did you have?
I think I had 25. But the thing is, some years I make a lot and some I don’t. I always plant more than I need because you never know. This years, they just showed off. The romas made like crazy. In fact, I probably gave away more of them than I kept because it just got to be too much. This is going to sound odd, but I’ve never grown a “pretty” tomato before. This year, the Celebrity’s were gorgeous. No blemishes, no blossom end rot. Just a pretty tomato. (Yes, I’m a garden nerd)