We’re about at the time that the garden is really getting productive. I got a little bit of a late start planting (what else is new?), so I’m a couple weeks behind where I’d like to be, but that first tomato makes you forget all your concerns…
Summer’s been a bit on the cooler side, and wet enough that I haven’t really had to water anything. It’s funny how things change year to year. Last year was good for tomatoes and beans, and not too great for squash and cucumbers (don’t think I got a single cuke). This year the beans are hot, tomatoes are pretty good (though the paste-types are lagging a bit), squash is okay, and cucumbers are (so far, at least) thriving. The one constant is the tomatillo, which reseeded like crazy, and continue their quest for world dominance. At least this year I remembered to plant them in the back, so they’re not shading everything else.
We added a few new things this year, including rutabaga (never eaten it, but what the heck), runner beans (really pretty flowers), and parsley root (not great germination, so seems to be a bust – I’ll give it one more shot next year, since I like root vegetables).
Took a couple things out of the rotation, like kohlrabi (not productive enough to warrant the space it took up) and shelling peas (again, took up a lot of space, and didn’t get a whole lot out of it). (Snap peas, on the other hand, are unstoppable, and are still coming on strong. If you’re looking for a good snap pea, Mammoth Melting Sugar.)
So the current year’s garden looks like this: garlic, leeks, onions, carrots, potatoes, lots of different bean varieties (since they tend to do well, I keep adding more, both for fresh eating and for drying), rutabaga, a number of different peppers, snap peas, a dozen different tomatoes, radishes, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, a variety of winter squash/pumpkins, a few different melons, tomatillo, eggplant, okra (trying again this year, since last year’s production was unfairly smothered by the tomatillos), corn (dropped the sweet corn, since it requires a lot of real estate and we can get it at any farmer’s market, but added a blue corn for making cornmeal), a bunch of different lettuces and greens, turnips, parsnips, parsley root, celeriac, salsify, beets, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, a couple kinds of kale, orach, and cabbage, plus the herbs used to flavor it all.
It remains to be seen how the cooler weather will affect the overall crop, and there will certainly be some winners and some losers. But we’ll enjoy the ride, regardless.
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