It’s time for a garden update, guys. I know last year we posted about our progress out there a lot more, mostly because we were just so darn excited that anything was growing at all, but now that we’re knee-deep in kitchen renovations, the garden has taken a little bit of a backseat. So, that’s why you’re getting a July garden update on the almost-last-day of July.

Not that the isn’t producing. You can follow us on instagram to see our #DailyHarvest pictures.

For some reason, the three tomato plants we planted early in the season weeks ago got really wilted and the leaves were really curled up. So we dug those up and moved them (in case they weren’t quite dead) over by the house. For what it’s worth, we know it still looks mostly dead, but has been producing a few ripe tomatoes a week…so we’re totally stumped. It makes no sense.

The other one we moved out of the garden is doing much better! It took a long time to get it healthy again, but basically all the old stuff was trimmed off and it has put out new (healthy) growth.

Then, we added a couple new plants in hopes of better luck.

So far, they both got sick and look pretty icky, too. I have no idea why. Very weird.

And, I planted a seed I got for free at an event here in town. It’s doing awesome!

So far, none of the plants are really doing well in terms of producing, but at least two of them look fairly healthy.

We’ve had like 15 little cherry tomatoes, most of which came from the plant we moved because we thought it was dying. Weird.

The peppers are also not doing too much.

The cucumbers are going a mile a minute, which is crazy because we actually ended up planting more this year…for some crazy reason. I guess I like feeling like I’m living in cucumbers up to my eyeballs. Maybe if the kitchen still isn’t done by the time we reach out max fridge capacity/cucumber ratio harvesting, we’ll eat them raw for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It will save plates an silverware if we just eat them like apples, peel and all.

The peas are done, but the beans are taking over their space anyway and doing really well.

I’ve never grown peas before, but it was fun to see them climbing up the little support we made them. And then we were shocked when we couldn’t keep the beans off the same trellis. I knew beans would vine, I just didn’t know they wanted so desperately to vine. And also, something weird happened when the beans did start vining up into the peas…

See the difference?

So I’m not sure if there’s some kind of odd cross breeding going on or the beans just grow differently when they are vining, but it’s weird, for sure.

The eggplants have done really well, which is fun because I think they are one of my favorite things to grow. There’s something so rewarding about picking a big shiny, purple (or white) eggplant from our own garden.

And the most rewarding of all? We have zucchini! After losing two sets of plants last year, Wyatt and I raged war on the dreaded squash borers this time and seem to have won/slowed them down enough for a decent harvest. We’ve already had 12-15 zukes, which is awesome. They are my favorite vegetable and I was devastated when we only got 2 last year. It’s been super exciting to actually harvest some this year, although it’s been a lot of work.

Also, we had some interesting wind recently that brought one of our neighbor’s tree branches over the fence. Luckily, Wyatt was able to fix it without chopping it off.

 

Oh, and I am now greeted by these cute little “weeds” every time I go out to the garden. A free perk for avoiding weeding the flower beds we’re planning to rip out…someday, if we ever get the kitchen done.

How is your garden doing? I’m jealous if you have tomatoes, as a few friends have posted on Facebook, because ours aren’t doing anything! Also, if you don’t have a garden, maybe our adventures (misadventures) can encourage you to try!