I'm going to take a victory lap! Even though the whole universe was against it, we have green beans growing. The mail order seeds which replaced the rabbit eaten plants arrived quickly and even though there were only six weeks before the first average frost date, cold weather has arrived two weeks late. Beans are growing in every previously empty spot. Harvesting is like a treasure hunt, a bean plant here, another one there....
Some of the plants in the back of the garden where the hungry rabbit did the most damage managed to survive and those newly planted are producing.
Even the Volunteer half runner pole beans are cranking out beans at a surprising rate. They will definitely be back next year. They beat anything else ever grown by a country mile.
All of these canned green beans are from the new plants. It will be more than enough for us. Everybody might think I am crazy for being so happy but to go from nothing to an unexpected abundance, has me dancing. It feels good to gamble against Mother Nature and win.
Yellow blooms appear and after pollination they form a peg which grows a stem down into the ground forming the peanut. In this area, they sprout quickly choking out weeds and then enjoy the hot, humid, miserable summers.
This is the dismal harvest. If we had grown an orange variety like in past years using the same amount garden space, the harvest would have overfilled a wheel barrow. Next year will be dedicated to finding a better variety.
The weather is expected to drop to 37 degrees tonight so we picked these today. I'm not complaining - I'm bragging!
Another big surprise this year has been the peanuts. They were harvested earlier this month to give plenty of time to dry. The peanut row is in the center with the winter squash surrounding and growing across.
Most people spread them in their yards for a few days to dry but we stack them on the porch away from squirrels. They don't dig them up but wait until after the hard work has been done to steal them. There will be more peanut rows next year. The plan is to put them in the empty areas as ground cover since the garden is much larger due to the new fence. We never have enough peanut butter and this might be the answer.
Planting zucchini squash under nets to stop the squash vine borers did not work at all. Either they found a way inside the fine mesh or maybe they hatched under the net from the soil. Even the coverings that were never damaged or opened the whole time didn't keep them out. What almost worked was planting at the middle to end of August in hopes of avoiding the second infestation; however, even though we missed the borers, most of the plants died by a virus that looked like fusarium wilt. That hasn't happened to anything in the garden for many years. It was not what was expected.
There is good news - the four plants that made it to the bitter end are prolific! If all 15 plants had survived, my freezer couldn't hold it all! Once again, I learned from my defeat but have not really lost. Next year more experiments will be tried.
Two years ago I discovered some delicious white sweet potatoes at the Amish. We loved them better than the orange varieties so a few were grown in last years garden. They were difficult to sprout, slow to grow and the harvest was minimal but since we loved them so much, five big rows were dedicated in this years garden. Below is only one of the rows. My thinking was that even though they didn't produce well, I could make up for it by growing more. Wrong.
We dug them yesterday and each mound was either perfect or worthless. Even though they were side by side, the difference was puzzling. The split potatoes were numerous.
This is the dismal harvest. If we had grown an orange variety like in past years using the same amount garden space, the harvest would have overfilled a wheel barrow. Next year will be dedicated to finding a better variety.
Even though the sweet potatoes were a failure, the winter squash's outstanding performance has earned them the place of honor in this year's muffins and pies.
The biggest Bullet Head Wax melon was weighed on the bathroom scale, which is not perfectly accurate. (It never weighs me correctly) It was a difficult task getting it up and equally balanced so as to trigger the digital screen. Our best guess is 44 pounds although it felt like a ton when rolling it around. It had a bad spot forming so it was lugged to the compost pile. The insides were gone by morning.
Storage space for winter is a consideration so one was gifted to our amazed mail carrier when a package was delivered. She was thrilled. No promises were made as to its edibility but I did wish her luck. At least she was in a mail truck and could haul it home.
At present, they are sitting on the floor in the living room beside the heating vent drying before being drug to the root cellar (basement). The weather is forecast to become cold and wet but they must be well cured for winter storage. One will be cut next month and the second will be stored long term to see if the flavor improves. The test results will be shared with everyone.
We live in the country. All of our company understands and are not shocked by the décor.
The summer garden has ended. It was a hard season because of the drought. We only got two good rains the whole time and spent much time watering. In spite of the difficulties, the harvest has been plentiful. We have more than enough food for us and to share. That is a win.
Let the winter gardening begin!
