Gardening 2017: June, July

All of a sudden, we discovered that we could grow a fair number of plants.

Just not squash. We got a D in that class this year.

From left: potatoes, onions, garlic, spinach, beans, peas, radishes, carrots, beets, lettuce, cabbage, celery, broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomatillo, tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, pepperoncinis, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, nasturtiums, and sunflowers.

What failed: yellow squash, broccoli, golden beets, pumpkin (mostly), berries.

Then the weeds came. And we spent too many hours and days removing grass and weeds.

But we did win the battle of the goatheads. 

Sarah helped so much with weeding during the summer.

(Her shoes are on the wrong feet.)

The little herb box was cute until...

(1) the herbs matured and multiplied

(2) the marigolds exploded and took over

We grew rosemary (not from seed, because that is not logical),

dill, basil, cilantro, parsley, sage, and thyme.

Easiest thing to grow, ever.

Some early harvest items.

The early beet greens were good - very much like chard.

We picked the mini watermelon to see what it looked like inside.

This one actually turned out to be overripe. It was really hard to tell. Most of the ones we picked later were underripe.

The giant sunflowers quickly came into their own, topping out at almost 8 feet tall.

Interestingly, they all faced the morning sun.

Except the shy, droopy one.

Here are some early potatoes.

The feeling of growing and then harvesting one's own potatoes for the first time was exhilarating.
I felt like a real farmer from Idaho.

As the summer progressed, the garden really filled out (so did the weeds),

and we ate vegetables as they came ready.

May/June: radishes

June: spinach and peas

June/July: tomatoes, lettuce, beans, tomatillos

July/August: beans, beets, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, onions

September: garlic, sunflower seeds, onions, tomatoes, carrots, beets, cucumbers, celery, cabbage

November: apples, brussels sprouts

Here is a meal made from the garden except for the pita, chicken, and yogurt sauce.

Points for plating.

And here is another.