This has been an almost catastrophic gardening year for me: first we had a disastrously cold and wet spring - I think this is true throughout the whole northeastern USA. We had a stretch of more than six weeks without a single sunny day.
Then I had what-turned-out-to-be bursitis of the hip. I couldn't walk without extreme pain for six weeks (it took a fairly long time to be diagnosed, being something totally unexpected), and I did not even get out to the garden for all of June and half of July. (The bursitis is gone now.)
So a lot of things were planted very, very late and maintenance of the garden was sketchy at best.
My husband did what he could, but isn't knowledgeable - although he's far more so now than he was earlier this year! He had his hands full with other things anyway, as I couldn't cook or clean or do much of anything without pain for quite a while.
Then we had two hot weeks, and we've had a surplus of rain most of the rest of the summer. Nevertheless...
FINALLY...abundance! It's lovely. :)
Today's harvest:
- 8 patty pan squash
- 6 yellow crookneck squash
- 9 zucchinis
- a laundry basket full of (large) tomatoes
- 2 cucumbers
- a 5-gallon pail full of Swiss chard
- a large colander full of cherry tomatoes
- basil
- a large colander full of string beans: half purple and half yellow
- 1 green pepper
We gave some of the squash and tomatoes to a neighbor, and are selling some of them: they're already spoken for and will be picked up tomorrow. Our local supermarket is charging $1.49/lb for zucchini! In August. :) Unbelievable. I can't believe that they're actually selling much of it at that price.
I'll freeze the chard for winter eating. We'll have some of the string beans tonight, and I'll freeze the rest of them. I dried tomatoes yesterday, and will probably dry more later on this week. I dried shredded zucchini yesterday also - it can be rehydrated and used in meatloaf, pasta sauce, zucchini bread, etc.
I am continually amazed at how little work it really takes to produce so much good food using either raised beds or container gardening.
Pat