Tell me about loving the veggies your raised!

[catherine]

I'm an on-again/off-again gardener. Some years the spring flies by too quickly, we have work commitments and we just don't get around to it, and other years we manage to grow a few things.

This year is an on-again year. Although we started a little late, everything is doing pretty well--but the cucumbers are thriving! Every day I'm picking one or two.

The funny thing is, oftentimes when I buy cukes from the supermarket I forget about them and they go bad and I have to throw them out. But I'm SO protective of my little green babies and I plan meals around them. I'm totally into gazpacho and also cucumber salad with homemade tzatziki sauce, or even more simply, just yogurt and fresh dill. I LOVE my cucumbers. And I'm loving my little baby jalapeños that are coming along. And I ALWAYS manage to find time to grow herbs in containers. There's nothing like stepping outside to pick your basil or your parsley or your dill or chives or cilantro.

So tell me about your garden veggies! What do you do with them? How do you show your love?

[Tussiemussies]

Well we didn't get to have a garden this year, but one thing I have made in the past that we really liked were zucchini fritters, they were very tasty as an entree and easy to make too.:)

[cattledog]

My strawberries have come and gone already. We had a few big bowls for snacking, but then I made hubby stay away from the rest so I could make strawberry jam. The garden is finally producing tomatoes and peppers, although the tomato production seems down this year. I have all the herbs in patio pots (basil, thyme, parsley, dill, etc.). I already make some pesto for the freezer. I'm still waiting on my green beans. There are a lot of leaves, but not much flowering. I think I harvested just six already. My zucchini plant is getting eaten alive by bunnies (I actually caught one in the act yesterday!), so nothing there (doesn't bother me too much since zucchini is super cheap at the markets).

For fall, I'm hoping for a good crop of broccoli, cauliflower (I can see the heads popping out), cabbage, onions, watermelon and butternut squash. I'm on the fence about ripping the watermelon out though. It's flowering like crazy and growing really long vines, but I don't really like watermelon that much and my garden really isn't that big enough for the squash (which I adore) and the watermelon. Seems like a pity though.

[iris lily]

Honestly, not all things grown in the garden are better than store-bought. Just sayin'

DH's carrots taste like soap and I stopped eating them years ago. I buy a 5 lb bag from the store. His onions are wonky--sometimes good, sometimes not. This year he grew "vidalia" ones which were NOTHING like the one sin the store, our have oddly hard exteriors. This time of year we are up to our ears in zuchiinis and summer squash.
Last year it was broccoli--I got mighty sick of it.

[Rosemary]

Nothing beats homegrown peas (sugar snap and snow), asparagus, and berries. We use the peas & asparagus on salads, in stir-fries, and steamed. Usually we eat the berries as they are but this year we had so many that I made 4 batches of low-sugar jam.. we'll be eating them all winter!

I'm not this into my garden every year, but I caught the bug a couple weeks ago and started reclaiming space from the marauding strawberries and raspberries. Then discovered that my strawberries had a fungus, so am solarizing 2 garden beds now after removing the plants. Will research varieties more carefully next time for fungus-resistance. I'm also creating a new landscape bed around the vegetable garden in which I will mix flowers and deer-resistant edible plants.

[CathyA]

My snow peas were great this year. Wish they lasted longer.
My cucs were very prolific, but they're really slowing down now. I love them. I've made pickles and Danish cucumber salad lots.
The green beans aren't making much yet, because of the heat.
And my zucchini have only made male flowers this year! What's up with that??
Tomatoes are just starting to ripen and are always good. Peppers are good too.
Won't know how the winter squash is until later this year, but its usually wonderful!

[Dhiana]

My high-rise garden has had both great success and sad failures.

The Red Pepper plant was able to create a couple of peppers (SUCCESS!)
but a typhoon 1000 miles away kicked up so much wind the poor little things broke off =(
Thankfully the plant itself is super healthy and is just starting to produce a second crop of blossoms :)

3/5 spinach seeds I planted sprouted, YAY!!
The same typhoon literally blew one of my little spinach seedlings away =(
Planted 2 more seeds in the pot and they have both sprouted!
So far I could make 1/8 of a small baby spinach salad.

My little high-rise garden will be grown with more luck than skill this year.

[Tiam]

My garden is a flop this year. The tomatoes aren't tasty, the squash favors male flowers, the cucumbers are languishing. I do have a monstrous head of cabbage and was moderately successful with peas and onions. Just one of those years. Not sure why. I did lots of ammending. Oh the lettuce was spectacular while it lasted.

[CathyA]

Tiam..........just curious about your squash having mostly male flowers. What zone are you in? Are you in a drought with high temps like I am? Just trying to understand why my zuchinni are only making male blossoms.
I've only had a couple of my tomatoes, but even though I have taken care to water them enough in this drought, they weren't tasty. :(

[awakenedsoul]

I love hearing about everyone's gardens. This is the best year ever for mine! I've been harvesting zucchini every morning. same thing with Early Girl and heirloom tomatoes. My banana chili peppers are delicious! I made a batch of tacos and it was nice to have the fresh veggies for toppings. I've harvested three gorgeous Cinderella pumpkins. They are such a pretty decoration. Looks like I'll get a few more. I have a couple of giant pumpkins still on the vine, but they are quite small...oh well. Popcorn looks beautiful... am waiting till the silks turn brown to harvest it. I have some beans growing that will climb the popcorn. My strawberries didn't produce much, but I have melons in that bed, and they are doing well. The heirloom lettuces were terrific until it got hot, and they bolted. It looks like they are reseeding with the mesclun greens. I have giant Russian sunflowers along the driveway. They look so cheerful; I love them! My rhubarb plant is huge! I've been harvesting the stalks regularly. I'm going to go out now and plant some cucumbers and red peppers. My artichoke plants look ready to divide for next year. Somebody ate all but one of my onions. (I planted thirty-five.) Just harvested a few bulbs of garlic. Had a nice batch of Santa Rosa and cherry plums. The fruit trees look promising: pineapple guavas, persimmons, pomegranates, and citrus are all growing very well. I love growing my own food! It's so rewarding...

[Jemima]

My garden hasn't done well at all this year between the drought and me being sick for several months from prescription drug side effects. I just didn't have my usual enthusiasm or energy to do the watering and weeding that needed to be done.

The early spring crops, such as snow peas, did well as did collards, which are still standing up to the heat. The perennial plants with deeper roots (blackberries, grape, currants) are holding up, but the two year old blueberries have needed some nursing along. Most herbs are doing well except for the lavender and chamomile which seemed to have fried in the sun and heat.

The annuals did really poorly. Green peppers and tomatoes are either stunted or dying and squash seeds never came up at all. One of four tomatoes has fruit on it, but it seems to have stopped growing in the small, green stage.

I'm going to have to re-think my gardening strategy for next year since the same type of growing season is predicted for several years to come. Right now I'm wondering if it's too early to put in fall crops like broccoli and cabbage.

[awakenedsoul]

Sorry to hear about the drought and how it's affecting your gardening. That must be frustrating. I'm always surprised at what does well each year. It's always different. This was the first year I've been able to grow tomatoes successfully. I planted them right after Easter, and I put in plants. I think I was planting them too late in the season in the previous years. I need to get my winter vegetables in the ground, too. I have the seeds, but I think I should spread the beds with composted manure, water it in, and give it a couple of weeks. The straw mulch I order once a year seems to really help, too.