Garden in July - the hits

So yeah, I had some missteps. And that is just the veggie garden! Not touching the flowers and such! Here are some of the more promising developments in the ol' garden.

1) I like the square foot gardening method. The boxes are attractive and orderly, and some day, when I get my act together, the garden will be a little more like a retreat kind of place. I'm a fan.

2) We have about 8 tomato plants, in two boxes. One box is producing a lot more ripe fruit than the other, mostly grape and cherry tomatoes, but now the Black Krims are coming in (as of today) - cannot wait to try them!




3) Broccoli - We are so happy that we grow broccoli. It grew nicely this year, though a couple times we missed our harvest time and they started to get flowers/bolt/whatever you call it before we could get to it. Dang.

4) Lettuce - From May on, we've enjoyed salad after salad after salad. Right now, our romaine is all done, but we're enjoying some soft, loose leaf type lettuce pretty regularly. Yum!

5) Cabbage - First year growing it, and so far so good. Harvested one head, made a slaw, it was good!

6) Sugar Snap Peas - First year, again, and delish!!! Loved picking 'em right off the vine and popping out the peas and noshing on 'em. Mmm.

7) Bush Beans - Just about the only thing we grew from seed that grew well. I have blanched and frozen tons of the beans (and broccoli) for use in the fall/winter. We used a lot for dinners, and they taste so much better when you eat them 10 feet away from where you picked them!

8) Random structures - As my small wire "supports" became epic FAILS, I started hauling through the random pieces of wood in the garage rafters and constructing more stable supports for tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. They are totally hillbilly rigged, with twine and chicken wire accents, but they do the job nicely. I think when fall comes I'll start making more permanent structures for next year. Maybe starting it in the fall will keep my memory fresh as to JUST HOW HUGE tomatoes, zucchini, etc. get! Looking at the pictures, maybe they should be back in the MISSES post! But they are getting it done.

Tomatoes before supports
Tomato support structure 1
Hey, it was all random wood from the rafters, it ain't pretty!
Ahh, the cucumber cage. Someone said it looks like a jail. I guess the chicken wire resembles barbed wire a bit.

The structure I WAS actually proud of was my strawberry pyramid (also from scrap wood in the garage). However, it took a beating from the dog (see misses).



9) Onions - We've had tons. None of them are getting HUGE like the ones you'd buy at the store. I've been picking them for green onion use, and some of the smaller bulbed ones for burgers and cooking. Is it because SFG doesn't go deep enough for them to really settle in and get huge? I really wanted to dry some, too. They are delish, though!


10) Raspberries - OH MY GOSH - they grew out of control in the spring. Canes sprouted up EVERYWHERE and we just kind of ran with it. Cut down a whole bunch of them, let a whole bunch more stay where they were, and have been munching on tasty raspberries all summer, just about. It seems like production is dying down a little, not sure if it is because we just had a huge storm, or just end of season for them. But I've been loving picking it straight from the plant and popping 'em in my mouth - the kids have, too!

Anyway, though I don't think the harvest numbers are anywhere near impressive enough to say "oh, we saved a ton by growing our own veggies this summer" I have still kept somewhat track of what we've yielded. Obviously some stuff didn't get weighed (especially berries, as they were just munched outside!). Here's the rundown (in pounds):

Lettuce: 5.05 (We didn't weigh all of it in the early harvesting days of May)
Strawberries: 1 (that made it into the house for weighing)
Raspberries: 1.05 (ditto to above)
Broccoli: 4.58
Beans: 2.22
Sugar Snap Peas: 1.15 (see strawberry and raspberry thing)
Tomatoes (Grape): 1.38
Tomatoes (Cherry): 1.54
Tomatoes (Black Krim): 1.3
Tomatoes (Yellow): 1.10 (That was just one tomato!)
Onions: 2.14
Cabbage: 1.25
Cucumbers: 2.09
Zucchini: 2.66

I thought I saw, at some point, a counter widget for blogs that you could use to track your harvest...anyone know where I can find that?

How is YOUR garden growing?