As summer draws to a close I am getting the last of the veggies out of my garden. I haven't been good about documenting it's progress but I did just update the 2004 garden project page and created the 2004 veggies harvest page.
It has been an eventful growing season. I continued my reputation as a freaky carrot grower with bulbous, round carrots that I had to harvest early due to Oscar plucking them out of the ground and eating them. I got scads of super long cucumbers and shiny, purple eggplants that brought a tear to my eye. When it comes to growing broccoli and cauliflower however... I stink. Regardless of my crushing failure to produce those two vegetables, we did have a whole meal the other night made up of only garden items. Next year... zucchini!
I read somewhere that tomatos are competetive and if you line the bed around them with red plastic, they actually grow bigger and faster!
ReplyDeleteThat dog.. is far too cute for his own good! Those carrots are actually a particular type.. thats the way they grow! All those vegetables look so eatable! I remember when I was little we'd plant carrot seeds in a window box, but we never had as many as here though!
ReplyDeletejust make sure you don't plant too many zucchini plants...those things produce like crazy, and you will have more than you or your friends would ever want (this coming from a zucchini lover).
ReplyDelete-arden, arden.m@gmail.com
Another problem with zucchini is that they can grow to be monsterous if you don't watch them carefully. While it's really neat to see a 3 foot long zucchini with a 7" diameter in your garden, they don't taste as good as the little guys. With just one that big, though, you could make loaves upon loaves of tasty zucchini bread. yummm....
ReplyDeletelucy
lonely--girl.com
wow! you're veggies look oh so yummy!
ReplyDeleteAll summer long I'd been planning on making "quick" pickles since the process had gotten lots of press this season (MS Living, NY Times Food Section, Epicurious, etc). I made it in just under the wire last night before summer was gone for good, and they turned out really well! Great idea fo ryour "scads" of cucumbers.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
jb.
Ahh green thumbs!
ReplyDeleteStunningly beautiful eggplant. One of my favorite restautant meals is the eggplant at Tucchi Bennuch in Chicago--parmesan crusted eggplant spears set in a pool of spicy marinara and dotted with drops of ripe goat cheese. Yummo.
ReplyDeleteMary
explosive.net/shade-n-froyduh
Have you thought of planting yellow squash next summer? They are super easy to grow and are yummy with zuchini.
ReplyDeleteHere's helpful advice I learned from my former neighbors a few summers back. My husband and I were playing in our garden, weeding and whatnot, and my extremely green-thumbed neighbor came over, and after observing for a few minutes, said "Have your zucchinis come out OK? You really shouldn't plant them next to the yellow squash because they'll cross pollinate." Sure enough, a few weeks later, when the flowers turned into squash, we had a herd of freaky vegetables on our hands. And if that wasn't enough, the cucumbers got in on the action too, so all our vegetables were weird. The zucchini and yellow squash looked weird but tasted fine, but the cucumbers were a little...off somehow. So there you have it, don't plant related kinds of plants near each other, or you'll produce mutant crops. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest! We had a so-so year...early in the season all of our beds got infested with nasty grubs. They were in the dirt we had delivered and didn't find out until we noticed nothing was growing. So, we are hopeful for a rockin garden next year.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The eggplant turned out great!