August Garden Update

With it being the end of August, it's time for a little garden update. 

The beans started producing in July, and have done so clear throughout August. I suspect we have a few weeks left to go as well. I've had to pull a few bushels out that were clearly done, but the rest are still going strong, especially the ones that climbed the trellis. Every couple days I go through and pick what I can find, and usually come away with enough for a meal that night. I especially love it when I find one hiding that clearly I've missed for a while....those are the monster size beans!  

 

 

Our smaller strawberry bed wrapped itself up in July, but our new strawberry bed, with starts gifted to us by our neighbor, is doing amazing. These berries get big and juicy. Starting back in late July, the plants started sending out runners. I love when that happens, because it's fun for me to move and place the runners where I want them to go. It was just a few here and there to start, and then things got wild! I'm pretty dang excited about this new bed.  

 

Last month I saw the start of  just a few teeny-tiny buds on my raspberry bush. I was crossing my fingers I'd get some raspberries this season, and I did! It wasn't more than about 25, just enough to pop a few in my mouth each time I went into the garden over the course of a week, but that's better than nothing! Since nothing is what I was expecting. I savored each and every berry. They were delicious! I hope this means next year will be a great year. 
 

Sammy's tomatoes continue to do well. If it's been a while since he's come down to snack on some, I go ahead and pick him a bowl full and bring them up to the house. I'd say we have another few weeks before they are done producing. 

The corn keeps chugging along. Nothing is ready to be picked yet....but we're getting there. We had a slow start to the growing season, so it's just taking longer than anticipated. That's ok. It was really fun during the pollination period. The bees were madly buzzing about and it freaked me out each time I had to go water, hahaha. But eventually I was like well, obviously they don't care about me, and so I got over it. lol

Remember how last month I noticed our surprise pumpkin plant actually had a pumpkin starting? I really hoped it would do well. I am happy to report that it is doing amazing! And it's starting to orange up! We actually have two pumpkins growing. Though I've only taken a photo of the one. The other one is really tangled up inside the corn bed so I haven't tried to get a photo. I can't wait to pull them! I also got some great flower pollinating photos. 

 

 

After harvesting our first round of beets too soon last month, we wanted to give it another go. I really want a whole bunch to pickle!  We planted another round the last week of July and vowed to not rush the process, lol. Everything was going great at first, until I came down to the garden one morning to find all the tops of my beet leaves chewed up! I was seriously pissed. I have no idea what was getting at them, but covering the bed with bird netting did the trick. It took FOREVER for them to recover, and I was starting to think I failed again, but finally, a month later, and I've got some good growth. So far so good on round two of beets! 

We harvested our first round of carrots last month, and knew right away that we wanted to plant another round. This time we planted the carrots in the bed next to the corn, where the broccoli originally was. That wasn't the best move, as the corn throws too much shade in the afternoon and covers half the bed, so the left side of the carrots get more sun and are growing great, whereas the right side of the bed doesn't get as much sun, so isn't growing as great. Live and learn. They're at a month of growth now, with still much more time needed before harvesting. We plan to pickle them when we do! 
 

Back in June we harvested our bed of radishes. I didn't realize how much I liked them. They are super easy to store in the fridge whole in a gallon size bag, and slice up for salads as needed. After we harvested in June, we left the bed empty for most of July. When we went to plant our second round of carrots and beets the last week of July, we figured we'd go ahead and plant another round of radishes as well. Radishes grow FAST! Just a month later and they were ready to harvest already! I wish everything grew that fast. This time I sliced some for salad toppings, but the rest we pickled! I haven't tried our pickled radishes yet, but I am excited to! 

 

 

  

I feel a lot of peace when I am in the garden. It's one of the only times when I can just "be" and allow everything else to just slip out of my head and let the weight of life go. I haven't done a great job at keeping stress at bay, but the garden helps. 

 

 

With love,

Mama Hauck