Small Garden

Usually by this time of year the garden is in full swing and we are getting ready for the fair. There are piles of tomatoes and zucchini and we are canning like crazy and giving the stuff away. This is not the case this year. This past weekend we finally had a break in the hot weather, Sunday was overcast and cool so it was time to work in the garden. The main goal was to move the irrigation hoses around to only water where there were still plants. We also cleared out the weed and dead plants, this resulted in showing how truly small the garden is this year.

So what do we have left...well there is the kale

...and a tomato plant.

Here is Katie with the kale.

Katie with the peppers, there are three plants.

There is a random volunteer tomatillo that hasn't produced yet but looks healthy.

The corn is doing good and getting quite tall. This is all popcorn so we are in the drying out phase.

The pomegranate tree is doing good but no blooms yet. The near by peach tree did have three peaches but the birds ate them before we could get them. 

And here is the wide view of the garden. There are two watermelon plants and a cantaloupe but so far the melons are really small and I don't hold out much hope for them producing.

I had thought last year the garden was low producing but this year makes last year look like a great year. I have not found anyone who has had a good year. There are a variety of possible factors including the severe drought, usually hot weather, etc... Given the current state of water in California if there isn't rain this winter we may not be doing a garden next year just to conserve water. 

How is the garden growing?

I have had several people ask how the garden is doing this year. I keep taking pictures intending to post but then more changes and the pictures feel out of date. I took these pictures last Monday and it has grown since then.

This is what we got out of the garden on Monday. The beets were ready so that is about 30 of them, quite yummy. Of course lots of squash, it is growing well and I have it everywhere in my house. We pick it almost daily.

This is the largest tomato plant. We planted a lot less tomatoes this year but they are growing well and have small green tomatoes we are waiting on to get ripe.

Something new this year was planting garlic, that is what these thin plants are.

There are peas growing up the netting along the fence.

The kale has done well and is huge.

Here we have cucumber and some other plants. We have them climbing the cages to help save on ground space.

The pepper plants have been attacked by bugs this year, only a few have survived and they are quite small but there are peppers growing on them.

Here are the squash, a wide variety are growing and they are all doing well. No pumpkins yet but the hubbard are going a little crazy.

We have already harvested and eaten the artichokes.

Here is another looks at the peas and garlic.

Not pictured is the corn with has grown about 5 inches in the last week. They are planted around the peach tree and rhubarb on the other side of the yard.

Fair Time

This year we entered more items in the AV Fair than last year. I entered two quilts and we entered canned goods and fresh vegetables. Warning lots of pictures!

Here are my two quilts:

Cartwheels Quilt

Easy Strawberry Fields Brick Quilt

In fruit and vegetables we had 15 entries.

Japanese Eggplant 3rd place

Yellow Cherry Tomatoes 1st place

Large Tomatoes

Yellow Pear Tomatoes 3rd place

Tomatillos 3rd place

Sunflowers

Roma Tomatoes

Red Pear Tomatoes on vine

Red Cherry Tomatoes 1st place

Yellow Zucchini Squash

Cantaloupe 1st place

Hubbard Squash (very ugly) 3rd place

Zucchini Squash green

Watermelon 2nd place

Pumpkin

Canned goods we had 8 entries

Apple Butter

Tomatillo Salsa

Nectarine Jelly 2nd place

Orange Marmalade 

Pomegranate Jelly

Applesauce 1st place

Apricot Jam

Raspberry Jam 1st place

Garden Progress

It has been awhile since I have posted about the garden. It is taking off a little slower this year but we have started to get zucchini, squash and tomatoes in the last week. Here is the view from my back door.

This year we were able to get some sunflowers to grow, they are in the row closest to the house.

This row also has kale, various melons, tomatoes, tomatillo and probably a few other things. I saw about three cantaloupe in there today.

The next row has peppers and eggplant.

The third row has a watermelon and tomato plants, also another one that I am not sure of the identity.

The final two rows can best be described as a tomato forest.

On the other side of the yard things have gone crazy. This area has corn, pumpkins, zucchini, crookneck squash and a few other things.

Here is a little closer look.

The coming weeks I anticipate the amount of food coming from the garden to vastly increase.