Finishing up Summer

Went by the garden today. I hadn't been in a week. Luckily, the rain we got yesterday made it out there too. There are about 6 tomato plants putting out new growth and blooms. The peppers still look healthy and the butter beans are blooming again. Lordy, the lady peas are still producing--I picked a big bucketful today. Sweet potatoes may be ready for digging up--I took out a couple last week and they looked pretty good.

The onions, beets and carrots were sprouting. And, I think I may see some zinnia blooms next week.

Winner and Champion 2012 garden product is.....

LADY PEAS!

The garden has been a great experience and I've learned so much. Hopefully writing it down in this blog will help me remember better next spring what I should and shouldn't do. One of the 'shoulds' will be planting peas. I have had tremendous success as Steve had predicted I would. They have been producing since early July and it looks like we'll still be picking at the end of August.

Today I picked about a gallon of lady peas and 1/2 gallon of purple hulls (which were shelled and fixed for dinner.) I also dug up my first 2 sweet potatoes. I'm not sure when the right time to harvest them is. I was just anxious to see if there were any tubers underground. When I dug around one plant, they just popped up. One is fist sized, the other smaller. I also worked the ground around the Hhappy Place sign and planted red onion,  2 kinds of carrots and beet seeds. I'm not sure what happened to my green onions. A few sprouted, but so many dill volunteers had also sprouted--those suckers were everywhere! After awhile, I just gave up trying to separate the 2 and proclaimed the green onions a lost cause. I'll try replanting them if I can ever find my packet of seeds.

It's more like the "I've been HHappier place"

I was at the garden for four hours: watering, hoeing that stinking field grass, and trying to salvage the tomatoes. I trimmed the withered up dead stuff off the vines last week. Today I pulled grass and fertilized. They are showing new growth which is encouraging. Found a new tiny honeydew. The lady peas remain the star producers. Really really need to get a tiller.

Bringing in the Peas

The corn may have been wimpy. The squash and zucchini have succumbed to the bugs and heat. The tomatoes have been productive, but it's been a battle.
Then there are the peas. Apparently, that's where I'll really succeed this year. Gallons of of pods--all needing to be shelled. The results are very satisfying. There should be plenty of dry pods for seed for next year.

How do you know someone has a garden?

Look at their kitchen window.

Like a Good Neighbor...

I'm enjoying this gardening experience. I've learned a lot, though I'm not sure how much I'll remember for next year. One thing I'll remember is to FERTILIZE THE CORN! I picked the last puny ears today. The deer had gotten into it last week, but now even they are avoiding at my sickly stalks. My biggest haul today came from my neighbor, Wilson. He had a truck bed full of corn and told me to take all I wanted. I shamelessly took about 12. Then he offered me some white potatoes, green beans and an eggplant. He and Willanda are so nice and generous. I'd love to offer them something, but my produce is pretty meager compared to theirs (sigh).

Pea-pickin' Good Day

It's been a week since I stepped into the garden and all I can say is, "thank goodness for Caroline and Greg!" they made sure plants were picked and watered while Steve, Garrett and I were at Greers Ferry Lake. Even with them and Mom picking there were still bunches of produce to pick today.

It's been >100 degrees all week, so I was nervous the garden would all be shriveled up. Other than the deer getting into the corn, things look pretty good. I brought home about a gallon of lady peas and 3 gallons of purple hull peas to shell. There's 10 ears of corn for Sunday dinner and little onions, banana peppers, tomatillos, and lots of tomatoes for salsa.