Sunday, November 11, 2012

My Vegetable Garden


So, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it? What’s been going on? Well not much to tell the truth. We’ve been busy with life and I guess I’ve been ignoring The Witch’s Island a bit too much. Thanks to those of you have kept in touch anyway.

The vegetable garden in August 2012, just before the harvest started.
It was a fantastic season for the vegetable garden this year. Lots of sunshine and heat, the plants loved it. Everything produced very well and we had so much that we couldn’t use it all and ended up setting up a table at the end of the driveway to give away the excess. The neighbours seemed to appreciate the gesture and we even received a nice thank-you note from one of them.

The onions were huge this year.
In my last post I mentioned that I had bought most of my seeds from Heritage Harvest Seed. Well their stuff worked great. We planted some of everything I listed except the Steeve’s Caseknife and Jacob’s Cattle beans. There just wasn’t enough room to get those in so they will have to wait until next year. Just about every single seed from Heritage germinated and grew into healthy plants. I always plant more than I intend to grow because there are usually some plants that die but these ones beat the odds. I had so many starters that I was begging my friends to take some. I still ended up putting some healthy little plants on the compost heap. What a shame, but I’ll know not to start so many next spring!

That's one BIG Tomato!
That's one BIG Tomato!
Just about every single seed from Heritage germinated and grew into healthy plants. I always plant more than I intend to grow because there are usually some plants that die but these ones beat the odds. I had so many starters that I was begging my friends to take some. I still ended up putting some healthy little plants on the compost heap. What a shame, but I’ll know not to start so many next spring!

Another thing I learned was that four rows of tomatoes are way too many tomato rows! Even in a poor year it would have been too many and it prevented me from putting in some other things like more beans. Next year I’m going to keep it down to just 2 rows.

Even the ceramic owl seems surprised that that tomato weighs almost a kilogram!
Even the ceramic owl seems surprised that that
 tomato weighs almost a kilogram!
I taste-tested all the tomatoes as they ripened but I never did really manage to find a favourite variety. There was obvious differences in size and shape but they all tasted great. I guess if I had to pick I would choose the Bonny Best, Uncle Joe and Sylvan Guame varieties but they were all fantastic!

We used as many of the tomatoes as we could. I made mustard pickles, hot dog relish and even some home-made spaghetti sauce and I ate a lot of cheese and tomato sandwiches this year! I'm going to miss them this winter when all I can get are hot-house tomatoes from the grocery store.

The rest of the garden turned out great as well. It looked pretty, too. Everything was so lush and full that it was hard to get down the rows to do the weeding. I guess that's a good problem to have!

The Red Peanut beans ripened very early and we put them into the potting shed to dry and then shell. we had about 12 or 15 plants (half a row) and they produced a total of about three pounds of dried beans.I haven't eaten any of them yet but we will be baking them this winter. Mmmm...

All the tomatoes from Heritage Harvest Seeds did very well and were heavy producers.
All the tomatoes from Heritage Harvest Seeds did very well and were
heavy producers.

This was the first time I tried planting Asparagus Peas from Vesey's. The description sounded intriguing:  

"Tasty and attractive addition to your garden. Small winged pods taste similar to asparagus when steamed and topped with butter Red blooms make this plant attractive as well. Low growing and spreading. Continues to produce pods throughout the season. Can be started indoors or planted outside once all chance of frost has passed" 
The plants were very attractive and they were still producing blossoms and fruit right up until the end of October when we cleaned out the garden. They were unusual to eat and were best when they were very young. I will probably put them in again next year just because they looked so nice.

The Asparagus Peas were still blooming late into the year.
So besides the garden, what was I doing this summer? With all the beautiful weather I spent as much time at the beach as I could. The new beach tent worked great and went up and down easily and quickly. It made it so much more comfortable the the old umbrella could have.

I also started geo-caching again and even hid one of my own for the first time. It's a fun hobby and it gets us out of the house and exploring in out of way back roads.

Hubby put the final touches on the gazebo. He added power outlets and a couple of strands of rope lights and then panelled the privacy walls with some nice pine boards. It's a beautiful place now to sit in the evening and watch the world go by.

I guess that that's enough news for now. I'll save the rest for the next time, hopefully it won't be six more months before I write again, but, just in case, Merry Christmas! Haha!

Here are a few more pictures, enjoy!


These are the edible portion of the Asparagus Peas. They look like green
beans with wings and they do taste like asparagus if you cook them right.
We dried the pods in the potting shed and then shelled the beans. They do
indeed look like red peanuts!
We stripped off most of the foliage late in the summer to encourage all the stragglers to ripen.
We stripped off most of the foliage late in the summer to encourage
all the stragglers to ripen.
The Sylvan Guames were not only huge but they were also very meaty and had very few seeds.
The Sylvan Guames were not only huge but they were also very meaty
and had very few seeds.
Here are five more varieties. There were definitely differences in texture, size, shape and the number of seeds.
Here are five more varieties. There were definitely differences in texture,
size, shape and the number of seeds. 
These are Uncle Joes. We used this variety while they were green to make Vera's Mustard Pickles.
These are Uncle Joes. We used this variety while they were green to
make Vera's Mustard Pickles. 
Forme-de-Coeur were nicely heart shaped as suggested by their name.
Forme-de-Coeurs were nicely heart shaped as suggested by their name.
The Forme-de-Coeurs were beautiful inside as well.
The Bisons were a good size for sandwiches.
Harbingers produced early and had lots of fruit.
The Silvery Fir Tree tomatoes had very distinct foliage on the plants.
The tomatoes were very tasty, too!
 These are Black Hungarian peppers. They produced very well.
The Matchbox peppers were very hardy. They were one of the last things
to come out of the garden this fall.
The Red Peanut beans were harvested when the pods turned bright red.

The Banana Spiders were back this year. They seem to be around whenever
the weather gets very hot and dry.
The gazebo was FINALLY finished this year! It got some
 interior panelling, electricity outlets and lights.


9 comments:

megan blogs said...

You've had a VERY busy summer, Witch! Glad to see you posting once again :0)

megan

Suz said...

I have such a desire for tomatoes now.....I burst out laughing as I scrolled down and saw your tomato rows.....wow what a crop..hee hee you must be dreaming tomatoes
and may I say that is the neatest veggie garden I have EVER seen....

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

We must be on the same wave-length, because just as I was reading your post, I received your comment on mine! :-)

Your garden really was amazing and the time and care you gave it shows in the beautiful produce you got from it! I'm glad you enjoyed your summer, and I hope you still have a few more evenings that you can spend in your gazebo!

Take care, and I do hope you're able to write another post before the holidays, which really aren't that far away, are they--If not, Happy New Year! :-))!!!

Gill - That British Woman said...

I can't get over how weed free your garden is, it puts our weed infested patch to shame. And all those tomatoes, I only put in 4 tomato plants each year.

Great to see you posting again.

Gill

Marguerite said...

oh yah! I've been looking forward to hearing about your garden. WOW, those tomatoes. How great do those plants look with all that fruit hanging off them. Your garden overall looks so darn pretty. Mine is never so tidy or well kept. and what's the secret to peppers and onions? I've been trying onions for years with zero luck.

its me, sam said...

Those tomatoes looked divine! Now I want a BLT... Hope all is well and glad to see you writing again!

The Witch said...

Hi, all.

I always find that the secret to a weed-free garden is knowing when to take the pictures! Oh, and lots back-breaking yanking and pulling. Ha!

Seriously though, we bought a "stirrup" or "shuffle" hoe a few years back and it's the best thing I've found for attacking weeds. You just run the blade at ground level or just below and it cuts those suckers right off.

We have been having problems with our onions for the past couple of years. They grow well but they rot soon after coming out of the garden. I think that we need to let them dry longer before storage.

The last few years have been great for the peppers, though. Especially the hot ones. We always string them and then hang them in the kitchen as they ripen and we now have enough strings to last for the next few years!

Suz said...

peppers for years...ha ha
and yes...give a kitty a home
...start with indoors....bond...come warm weather maybe kitty will want to go out with you..or maybe not......but I get how much some cats love outside...
I have been away from my kittties for a week...hubby has been holding down the fort...including Handsome....who knew hubs could handle them.....they'll go to anyone who feeds them I guess...cats!

Sara said...

WOW that's amazing! Seriously where you live looks like something out of a movie. Now I'm craving veggies :)