Garden Update

My garden is nearing the end of its season.  It was a good year, and it kept me very busy.

The tomatoes had blight, but I picked so many that it didn't matter.  I was lucky they got blight.  I dried the multitudes of cherry tomatoes and cooked salsa with the big ones.  I think I will plant less of them next year.

My peppers also had blight, and I got very few of them.  I did plant a row of green beans with them, so the space wasn't wasted.

I had way, way too many green beans.  The pole beans only produced for a short time, but I picked a lot of them.  The bush beans are still producing.  What I didn't use at the time of picking, I dried.  I have so many dried beans.

The dried shell beans did very well.  I have nearly 2 quarts of them.  It is silly to plant then in the sense that they are so cheap to buy, but I like to look at them in the jars all winter.  Plus, I set some aside to plant for next year, so I don't have much invested in them.  I try one new variety a year.  I also plant them in an area that nothing else thrives in.

The lima beans and the butter beans were extraordinary.  I picked loads of them and many are now in my freezer.  They are still producing.

The tomatillos and ground cherries did pretty good, but not as good as last year.  They are still loaded with fruit, so it depends when we get our first frost.  Most of the plants were volunteers.

My summer squash did well enough, but I got so many from the barn that it didn't matter.  (285)  I have some lovely winter squash that I will be picking soon.  Many of them were volunteers.

My cukes were lousy for the amount that I planted.  Most of the problem was they were over run with winter squash.  Since I pickle most of my cucumbers, it didn't matter much.  I just pickled the squash I was picking at the barn.  It is nearly as good.

Our first frost is usually the 3rd week of October or later.  The last 2 years, the frost was in November.