Fruit of My Labors

I know, two posts in one day but I had a rough week and just didn't have the energy so I'm catching up!

Yesterday I uploaded a phone picture to Facebook of the three sugar pumpkins I harvested this year. Here are a couple of better quality shots.  First the pumpkin vines got hit with powdery mildew.  I attempted to deal with that but it took off.  The worst was the squash vine borers.  They found my squash and pumpkins and did too much damage to support more pumpkins, and the last and smallest pumpkin didn't even have time to complete ripening on the vine before the vine died.  But I have three organic sugar pumpkins I didn't have at the beginning of the summer.  So no complaints.

 The largest pumpkin has the name of my adopted grandson.  As I described in an early blog post I scratched his name with a nail.  The pumpkin then creates a scar over the damage resulting in a really fun effect.

 I was surprised at the size of Joey's pumpkin.  It is huge in the world of sugar pumpkins.  I can't wait to weigh it.  I can't wait to make pumpkin pies!

Today's harvest -- Suyo long cukes and cherry tomatoes

After taking photos of my deck garden I headed out to the backyard garden beds to harvest cucumbers and tomatoes.  Lots and lots of cherry tomatoes.  Usually I eat what I find but every week or so I go out and gather all that I can. There were several bunches with green tomatoes on them still which I left to ripen.

These little tomatoes are so flavorful but not sweet.  I can taste the goodness, the healthfulness contained within.

And I have been ecstatic with the Suyo long cucumbers.  My vines are covered in cukes right now.  I used to buy the hothouse cucumbers from the grocery store because I prefer not peeling.  The largest Suyo long I have harvested so far was about 17" long.  Believe it or not there were only a handful of fully formed seeds in that one.

Next year I will definitely grow some pickling cukes for my pickle-loving sons.

 To harvest seeds from one of these cukes I will need to leave it on the vine, allow it to turn yellow, and then scoop the seeds out and ferment them for a few days.  I am not looking forward to doing this because it will signify the end of fresh cucumbers for the year. 

The summer growing season draws to a close an end. 

Garden Update

The tomato plants have created a jungle.  I never got around to staking them which I will most likely regret.  Most of the tomato plants in this bed are cherry tomato varieties.  I won't know which are which until they ripen.  I am hoping for at least one plum tomato variety.
The lettuce bed was partially destroyed by our dog.  I found her laying in the middle of my lettuce plants after digging a little spot for herself.  I guess she thought that would be the coolest place to chill out, literally. The garlic is doing well.  I will definitely plant more garlic this fall for early spring garlic next year.

My snowpeas (which I thought were sugar snap peas) are a little large here but make a great shot.  I haven't been getting out to the garden every day since it got so hot so these little guys are not so little by the time I pick them.  My 12yo son loves eating the peas out of the pods and then eating the pods.  He doesn't care if they aren't as tender.  He just loves these veggies.

Oh, and I continue to pick blueberries from the many varieties and cultivars growing at the perimeter of my yard.  I have frozen three bags so far. I sent my 12yo son out the other day to pick. He seemed to enjoy the activity but enjoys popping frozen blueberries in his mouth the most (he just grabs a handful and enjoys).

Canned tomatos

I had a few tomato seedlings left over after planting my garden that were just poor, little, pitiful things.  I saved these cans from cooking over the winter (I make huge batches of black bean chili) and thought they would look really interesting with tomato plants growing in them.  I planted these 4 days ago and they have more than doubled in size and are finally green instead of that stressed purple.

Moskovich tomato -- about 3.5 inches across

My first slicing tomato is growing so quickly I hope it doesn't split.  I planted this tomato in the pot on my driveway along with oregano, Cosse Violette pole beans, parsley, chives and a pepper plant which didn't make it.

I harvest several beans a day and although I don't really like string beans, these purple beans are so pretty I just like looking at them.  I might eat some, too.

This is my favorite gardening project, this container garden.  It inspires me to once again buy some large pots and plant a deck garden.  I might do that even though it is so late in the season.  I just might.


My next big project is a solar dehydrator.  I have a dream . . .