This year’s garden has mostly evolved in a slow methodical march to where we are now. I should say that each year the garden is different. Some years by choice, some years by neglect, and all years have a weather/growing condition unlike the year before.
This year, I wasn’t able to plant indoors prior to transplanting outdoors. Instead, I went to the local greenhouses to purchase ready-to-plant plants. I was surprised to find how many plants were available, yet not many were the ones I needed. I guess the “late bird” doesn’t necessarily get a worm.
Even so, I was able to get plenty of plants — 20 to be exact.
I planted corn, green beans, peppers, melons, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, zucchini and crooknecks.
Zucchini and squash have a way of hiding and suddenly popping out. I’ve been stunned to find a zucchini that escaped detection multiple days in a row and then almost jumped out at me as if to say, “Surprise!” It’s zucchinis like these that make me wish I had some chickens to feed the big hummers to.
As adroit as the zucchini are in their hiding skills, cucumbers aren’t trailing behind. I make a mental note of the location of the cukes that just need one more day on the vine, and then I can’t find them. I look, and then I look some more, and a few days pass and I’m out looking for cukes and there it is — a giant! It’s like a kid in sixth grade who gets up one morning and he’s three inches taller than he was yesterday and none of his pants fit
I’ve also had a few of what I call “volunteer” plants. These are the ones you didn’t plant that grow in places you didn’t expect them to show up. This year has been wild. I planted raspberries for the first time, and amidst the red berries, I noticed a deep purple plant growing longer and longer. Eggplant! I have an eggplant! I also have a rogue jalapeño that decided to nestle itself in the berries, along with not one, but two tomatillos!
Other volunteers throughout the garden include a couple of melons and a stalk of corn. Mmmmm, corn.
Of course, gardens do have pests and weeds, and this year, I’ve had my share, particularly squash bugs and earwigs. Pro tip: dish detergent and water has a life-altering (maybe life-ending) effect on squash bugs, and tuna cans with a little vegetable oil will trap the earwigs. Unfortunately, some worms have found the ears of corn. C’est la vie.
That being said, at the time of this writing, I am being bombarded by crooknecks, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I have some Crenshaw melons. I love Crenshaw melons. I’ve eaten two of them and it looks like the rest are conspiring to ripen at the same time. The abundance is being dispersed to friends and neighbors.
While I am not finished with the harvest, I am enjoying what the garden has produced. I’m sure I will tire of repeated squash dishes, too much of a good melon, and searching for a home for extra produce, but it’s all part of the beautiful process of growing your own food.
Gardening is satisfying in all the ways — yes, even down to and the pinching of those dirty rotten, no good, squash bugs!
