Vegetable Garden Update

I pulled these carrots out of the garden a few weeks ago. Obviously I did not thin the carrots well enough when they first came up. However, last weekend I pulled some more and they were all huge, and perfect and thankfully, singletons. I also dug around the potato plants a bit and picked a few potatoes that were pretty close to the surface. THEY were stunning and about a million times better than what is in the grocery store. I nearly wept when I ate them (the kids were unimpressed by the way) their flavor was so incredible. I have never grown carrots or potatoes before so I am feeling pretty full of myself right now.

The broccoli is pretty much done, but it was good while it lasted. I was able to freeze a few small bags, give some away and I also confess to letting a bag of it go bad in our fridge. I kept thinking I had time. Anyway, I am going to pull it out this weekend and plant another batch of carrots and peas for a fall harvest. I just planted a few more beds of lettuce and of course our squash is nearly killing us. I can't even get near the bed for fear of losing the outer layer of skin on my legs, so picking squash is Doug's job. I will be spending some time this week, blanching, or shredding the squash and then freezing it, to use over the winter.

Our beans were doing great until a deer got in a few nights ago and sheared off the plants. I put some deer mesh up around the bean tower, but it's a little tough to protect them as they get higher. We need to work on our outer fence, but considering I have been waiting for two months for Doug to hang a photo in our hallway (the wall is plaster and hanging stuff on plaster walls is one of the things I don't do around here) I seriously doubt getting the garden fence shored up is going to happens anytime soon. Um, fencing is also something I DON'T do. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.

Our green peppers weren't looking like they were going to produce anything but now all of a sudden there are a few small ones and many blooms as well. Getting a few cucumbers in now and a few eggplants too. That's another plant I haven't done before so it will be interesting to see how those are.

And holy batman are we in for it with the tomatoes! The plants have busted out of their cages, and I mean that literally, the cages came right up out of the ground along with the plants as they grew. Right now they are just sort of hanging from the tops of the plants, entangled. When the tomatoes do come in I will then spend many, many hours peeling and removing the seeds and then making sauce to freeze. I may also try dehydrating some of them this year, I keep hearing about what a good option that is.

We will be getting a pretty decent amount of food from the garden to store for the winter. However, there are quite a few things that we didn't plant and like last year, I will buy things at the farmer's market like onions, maybe red potatoes, more beans, peaches and corn to freeze for use over the winter. A few more blueberry picking sessions too and we will have plenty of blueberry muffins all winter. Mmmmm.

Super exciting update, just like I said right? Heh.