right now

right now

Aug 5, 2009

Garden of Life....And Death!

Last night I waited until temps dropped to 90, lol...and headed out to harvest and do some chores. The bounty was huge and every bit of it went in to work with my next door neighbor! Without hubby home to help eat eggplant, there wasn't much I could do with it, and the jalapenos and tomato processing this week would have surely turned me against gardening forever! This week has been tough, the temps alone I may be able to handle but the humidity outside has had me in a funk all week, and the next 7 days looks to be more of the same. I noticed the other day that it was so thick and hazy I had trouble making out the tomato beds at the other end of the yard! Selling at the Farmer's Market is not an option this week either, since I would have to tow the kids along and selling out of the back of the car with 2 whiny kids and 100 degree temps doesn't sound like "making good choices" to me, lol! Last night alone netted 3 lbs cherry tomatoes, 3.1 lbs jalapenos, 7 lbs eggplant, 13 oz bell peppers, 4 lbs cucumbers, & 9 lbs Heirloom tomatoes. Hopefully my neighbors' co-workers will appreciate them more than I can this week!


What did pick up my spirits a bit was the Edamame bed. Note to self: grow more of this! These plants are ready to be harvested this week and are the most well behaved little garden dwellers I have ever seen! They stay in their boundaries, can be crammed into a bed and produce tons of yummy pods per plant.


Below is a close-up of the 'Beer Friend' Edamame:


Other than the harvest, I finally got around to pulling out the dead sunflowers. They are getting a new life in my "lazy girl's birdfeeder", lol!

This evening's death and destruction took the form of bacterial wilt in my squash bed! You may remember how gorgeous the bed looked a few weeks ago...well, tonight they looked horrid and along with that were covered in cucumber beetle eggs, and they had jumped the bed and taken over my berry patch as well. I ripped out the lot of them and packed it all in the trash can. Now I have an empty bed, which I admit is exciting stuff.

Here are the 3 Hokkaido Squash that were in the bed, immature but pretty nonetheless. I was really looking forward to this since I have never grown squash and am not a big fan, but so many people rave about it that this was going to be THE YEAR I was going to choose, grow, and learn to love it! I will still try some, but will have to get it at the Farmer's Market. I ripped out the cukes from that bed too since the bugs were moving in and I already have plenty of pickles put away. I have one lone cuke vine over on my fence that will give me just enough for salads.

Now I need to research what I can put in that bed that won't be susceptible to the wilt virus that's in the soil. I will definitely grow squash again but now that I know how many bugs, etc enjoy it and how invasive it is I will plant it near the fence away from my raised beds where I can control it more effectively. The best lessons learned are from experience, right??


This made the sweaty mosquito-ridden evening bearable. Fresh picked Edamame pods cooked and chilled and sprinkled with Kosher salt and a glass of homebrew. Delicious! Now I know what I can do at night when the kids are in bed this winter instead of eating Cheese Nips and other garbage for snacking! I will be eating and freezing as much as possible and am even planting a second bed full tomorrow! Go SOYBEANS! Nature's perfect snack!

As an afterthought: I decided to add a counter to see just how much produce we are harvesting and NOT using for future planning purposes! Not that I don't love to be able to give away veggies, but it's something that would seem valuable to know!

9 comments:

  1. I love that you are recording your harvest in the side bar. It is such a cool idea!

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  2. too much food? if only that was everyone's problem, lol! is there a food bank in your community? i never have had the virus problem you have, have you thought of putting neem or tea tree in the soil to kill off the spores? excellent post, no matter how YOU may feel about things, you sure do have it goin' on! peace for all

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. I tried twice this year to grow soybeans, but they never worked for me. I'm trying to talk myself into trying again.

    Goodenss, how many eggplants do you have to grow that many eggplants?

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  5. The deleted comment was nothing dramatic, Ruralrose's comment was just duplicated, LOL!

    Our foodbank just this year okayed homegrown produce but the dropoffs are only twice a month, so I have to give stuff away so it doesn't go bad! HipHomemaker, I actually got the sidebar idea from fellow bloggers, but you are right, it's made me much more aware of much of a difference we make in our food bill and eating habits have improved! Ribbit, I have 3 of the purple eggplants and one Thai yellow that is just starting to produce fruit.

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  6. All that luscious produce . . . and so FRESH, too. I'm betting the lucky recipients appreciated it. And it's good to expose others to what really fresh veggies taste like. There is SUCH a difference from store bought produce that can be a month old!

    My son-in-law was sampling (and relishing!) the raw peas I was shelling the other day and he asked, "Are these really the same kind of peas that come out of a can?"

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  7. That's too bad about the squash. I'm having really good luck (knock on wood) with the old Waltham Butternut squash this year. When everything around it is suffering from powdery mildew, it's just pretty and green....and huge and prolific!

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  8. Only four eggplants huh Erin?!? Is that what I could have in store next month,lol?

    Sorry you had to rip the squash out, thats too bad. I think I would melt in that heat and humidity, can't blame you for avoiding it as much as possible.

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  9. Ouch! I would have needed a beer (or two) after all that death and destruction, too...and yours looked really good. I'd love to try homebrewing, but hubby can't drink and it would be just cruel to do that to him...

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