It is October and the garden just keeps on going. Finally ripped out the beans and the summer squash but the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers aren’t ready to give up yet.
Oct. 4 harvest. Time to make eggplant parmigiana.
These mums in the corner bed are a bright spot of happy while the rest of the yard is starting to fade.
The last 6 weeks have been crazy at work — way too many vacations has translated into me working way too many hours. When I’m not at work, I feel like all am doing is harvesting and processing the extreme bounty out of the garden!
Aug. 17’s harvest.
Aug 19 harvest
Processing tomatoes. And making sauce to freeze. Some of it will become my favorite veggie lasagna, with zucchini instead of noodles.
The freezer is already full of bags of processed tomatoes and beans. And there are still weeks left in the growing season. Thanks again super awesome irrigation system!
Remember how I said that I may have planted too many tomatoes?
Yup! Full-blown jungle. Rest of the garden is doing great too. Super thankful for the new irrigation during our ridicules heat wave!
Annual Fourth of July tomato check-in.
Last year I went to this plant sale — Master Gardeners’ Mother’s Day Sale — that everyone told me was suppose to be the end-all be-all of plant sales. But I went on Sunday afternoon and it was completely picked over. I ended up with a lemon cucumber and few tomatoes but no squash, eggplant, etc. I was really disappointed. That said the stuff I did get did great, so I resolved to go on Saturday this year.
On Thursday, I met up with some friends and mentioned I was planning this and one of my besties asked to come too. So Saturday morning I hauled my butt out of bed at reasonable time, fetched Angela and headed into the bowels of Vancouver for the sale. We both hit the motherload and I am came home with everything I wanted except for a few varieties of pepper — but they are easy to find at Fred Meyer or Lowes. Super bonus is that veggies are only $1 each — so the whole garden for less than $25!
The Plan — Many a cold winter night went into dreaming about this!
Spent all day Sunday getting things planted:
4 kinds of Eggplant, 2 winter squash (hubbard and delicata), beans and peas. And some very sad onions. Also argula and lettuce (they were planted a few weeks ago and had sprouted nicely.)
Peppers and radishes (a few weeks old too).
Tomatoes — 8 different kinds (Stupice, green zebra, lemon boy, orange, San Marzena roma, Pink, Brandywine). May be too many but I love tomatoes and they freeze well. Carrots and beets planted on the edges.
Summer squash (zucchini, yellow, patty pan) and Butternut winter squash
Cucumbers — Lemon and regular
Overall — Looking great and really excited for harvest time. And with the new irrigation system, hopefully everything won’t die!
Bonus Buy:
A happy little maple tree
Angela wasn’t really into veggies so I spent some time looking at trees and perennials with her. I couldn’t resist this awesome little Japanese maple — especially for only $9! Not sure where it is going to live yet but it makes me happy to look at!
Summer is always the worst time at work because everyone wants to be on vacation, meaning those of us left in the office are swamped. Thankfully the yard is taking care of itself and looking very lovely.
The beans are going nuts. And the new bed along the back of the house is filling in and looking cheerful.
The cucumber and winter squash bed is doing great and producing. Letting the argula bolt was a very good idea.
Some cute color in the front porch corner
Rose bush is looking really nice this year. Hoping I am finally getting a handle on the black spot.
New hostas are being a favorite under the front window.
First big squash harvest! Also lemon and regular cucumbers, beans and the first of the grape tomatoes! Oh, and an eggplant.
The red monarda has been a showstopper this year! And the hummingbirds are loving it — and that means I’m loving it!
Every time I go outside there is at least one, and usually more, hummingbird enjoying the monarda!
More highlights of yard cute right now …
Siberian iris and mom daisies in the front yard
The shasta daisies Mr. Kern gave me are blooming and being super cute in the front yard
The front bern looks lovely right now
Lovely yellow coreopsis at the berm end.
The pink monarda is also blooming but the hummingbirds don’t love it as much. looks cute with the lavender and feverfew.
Latest big harvest.
Harvest — radishes, strawberries, beets, basil (trimmed off to encourage bushiness)
This gallery contains 4 photos.
So far this summer has been hot and hectic, but the garden is doing great. Following tradition, I made sure to snap some pictures of the tomatoes (and the rest of the garden).
Last year’s garden was kind of a bummer. The only things that were really notable were the beans and then the carrots (which I harvested the last of for Thanksgiving.) The winter garden was a total dud — which I guess is fine since it left plenty of room for the baby trees (most of which look like they are going to live — still holding out hope for the front yard dogwood, one crapemyrtle and 2 of the goldenrain trees.) So this year, I added the new satellite dish bed and a big plastic pot for potatoes. I also built the soil up with some good compost. Fingers crossed for a better year.
Started the adventure by going to what is suppose to be Clark County’s best plant sale — the Master Gardener’s Mother’s Day Sale — on Mother’s Day. Pretty much a downer! I did get 4 really nice looking tomatoes, but they were out of everything else. So Monday, I went to Portland Nursery to get the rest. They were out of pabalonos and padron peppers and pineapple sage (which is new favorite) and the herbs were pretty picked over. Everything else: one more tomato (total of 5), 2 eggplant, 6 peppers, 2 cucumbers, 2 winter squash, zucchini, yellow summer squash, pattypans. Already planted from seed: beans, peas (only one came up), beets (will probably resow yellow), radishes, 2 kinds of carrots, arugula. Neighbors gave me walla walla onion and chard starts. I had some little golden potatoes that I didn’t cook and started sprouting, so I threw them in that big black pot.
The veggie haul — all of the stuff I got at Portland nursery. There is also some bedding plants in here to fill in borders and pots. Also the herbs that will go in the herb bed.
Everything planted and looks good so far. I threw in some marigolds just to encourage pollination since the garden is kind of far away from the other beds.
The onions and radishes a week or so ago. The other seeds are also planted here but most have not made an appearance yet. You can kind of see the red beets at the top right.
Potatoes seem to love this black pot. I have already added soil twice and they will need it again in day or so. Crazy — I have never grown potatoes, so they fill me with wonder!
The garden is hitting its stride! Up to this point things have been trickling in at a reasonable pace — a few zucchini a week, some beans, arugula — enough that I have enough to enjoy but no so much that I am getting tired of things yet. I have been cooking a lot of my old favorites — grilled zucchini, sauteed veggies on coucous and sausage, awesome green bean tarragon potato salad — and adding a few new recipes to the rotation — “Fried” zucchini spears, etc. It is all helping me keep myself feed while I am so busy and stressed out. And cooking has always been another of my destressors — so win, win. But I have been eager for the tomatoes to start pouring in.
Today, a rare day off, I had my first really bumper harvest:
Beans, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, patty pans, cucumber and a pile of tomatoes! (and one random radish)
And I’m looking forward to more.
Peppers in the front — mostly not ready yet but lots going on there. carrots are still pretty small. 2 tomatoes — getting close to trickling in. zucchini and squash producing a few a week. Look at the big ole weed — gardening fail.
My favorite — the stupice — is pretty small but producing. The green zebra is proving to be the most promising. The black beauty is also doing pretty good.
The beans continue to be the top producers. The winter squash isn’t doing much at this stage. The patty pans aren’t as productive as the other summer squash but doing ok. Arugula has bolted and will need to come out soon. Other lettuces are really bitter and will probably end up getting composted. The cucumber in front is doing better than cucumber usually does for me, but that isn’t saying much.
OK, so I’m not growing oats or barley, however, I am growing beans. But I always sing that Raffy song in my head whenever I plant a garden. We used to listen to Raffy as a family when we were on road trips and it reminds me of happy family times and of home with veggies from my mom’s garden and makes me believe that by singing that song, my garden will be as prosperous as my mom’s always was. Hopefully with this lovely new soil, I’ll have bumper crops this year!
I followed my original plan. Hoping for a great bounty.
The count: 5 tomatoes, 6 peppers, radishes, 2 eggplant, carrots, zucchini, yellow summer squash, patty pans, acorn squash, delicata squash, peas, green beans, arugula, 2 kinds of mix lettuces, 2 kinds of beets.
The Overall[s] Adventure 
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