garden update

I am not sure why, but I have simply not been compelled to write a garden update this year. It's real lunacy given how much I depend on them when I'm garden planning each winter.

Honestly, I think I've been waiting for some real bad weather or frankly a reason to sit in front of my computer for an hour... but neither has happened. That being said, if you want to know about the storage box options for my office shelves... I've got you covered. I researched the heck out of that.

The garden this year has been successful, more so than I anticipated... and as a result I'm consistently behind in my pruning and harvesting. I am also a real big fan of several of the new varieties that I planted this year.

  • Blush - first to ripen! Incredibly productive plant. Like I have so many ripe tomatoes and no idea what to do with them. If they were red, I would just make a whole bunch of sauce.... But yellow sauce? I'm not sure about that.
  • Tomatoberry - 2nd to ripen! Holy heck is this also thriving... in spite of all the care I do not give it. This plant is in the back row of my garden so I never make it all the way there for pruning before having to start over the next week. Love the shape of this babe.
  • Chocolate Pear - 3rd to ripen! Very cute... and also productive. 
  • 4th of July - always a favorite! The fruit size is perfect. This will always be in my garden.
  • Red Currant - This plant is going bonkers. I had no idea how well it was going to do. It always seemed so tiny and weak... but sweet lord, I have so many teeny tiny tomatoes. They are really cute. I would highly recommend this plant each year cause its fun.... Just try harder to control it :-)
  • Black Truffle - I'm eagerly awaiting this one to ripen. The fruits just started to turn in the last couple days... so I'm getting close. It is always my favorite tomato plant. So much flavor and not the rough look of a traditional heirloom.
  • Tangerine Mama - These babes are big. Like, real sizeable fruits. I picked one a couple weeks ago for a lady dinner that I had. In hindsight, it wasn't quite ripe... because now they have this incredibly rich looking orange yellow color. It worked in the salad but wasn't the "best" for a caprese salad.
  • Big Rainbow - This was a real mixed bag last year. I think I only got ONE tomato... and this year is shaping up to be a minor improvement over that. I've got a big one that is ready to be harvested so maybe I'll get one more after that. It's such a shame because this is such a GORGEOUS sliced tomato. It is one of the most beautiful ever.

Others that I have no report on right now:
Pink Berkeley
Mr. Stripey
Tasmanian Chocolate

Ok, the rest of the veggie garden updates:

  • Snap peas. I fought the good fight with the bunnies earlier in the season. After fencing off most of the garden, the peas came back to life. I only got a couple weeks out of them.
  • Eggplant. This is incredibly productive... but I can't seem to give it away. Nobody wants baby eggplants.
  • Green Egg Squash. So far so good. I think covering the entire garden in weed fabric has helped to keep the pests at bay. Squash will keep for several months so I'm slowly building a stash that I can eat in November. Win.
  • Delicata Squash. This was a late add to the garden from my aunt. Several blossoms but no squash yet. 
  • Peppers. They were majorly struggling when I had them planted in the garden. I think in late June / early July I moved them into pots and moved the delicata squash into the garden. They aren't as productive as my dad's peppers but they are doing better.
  • Kale. Solid so far. I've had a few bugs on them so some leaves have been eaten up by that. I should be better about freezing this for the winter. 
Next steps? I'm going to try and can some sauce in the next couple days and perhaps freeze some kale. I also have a lot of eggplant and it would be great to find a home for some of that. Maybe I need to make my first ever batch of eggplant parm? Maybe.

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