What a wonderful harvest! I have some tomatoes growing but have only gotten cherry tomatoes so far. The big ones haven't ripened yet as the last couple of weeks the nights here have been very cool. Its warming up again though so I hope all the green tomatoes will turn.

I had a surprise cucumber land at my feet. I was clearing out an area at the side of my backporch which had alot of oak trees growing. And in between the hedges and weeds I saw a big vine and went to pull it. And out popped a 12 foot long cucumber. I have no idea where it came from but it sure tasted good!

Wonderful pictures. Happy harvesting.

Peaches

Wow! They look yummy! I agree,the kids are more likely to eat what you grow over what you buy! And it is better for them! Thanks for sharing,your veggie garden is really lovely! :)

Looking good! Real good! It's not only the kids - big people would rather eat home-grown than store-bought too! Like me ...

Question - do you plant your veggie garden using the square-foot gardening theory? That's a lovely garden you've got there, and so much stuff in it!

PV

Peaches, the vine was 12 feet, or the cucumber, LOL?!

Thanks for the compliment Angie! I've tried real hard to keep up with staking and pruning the tomatoes, and keeping the garden weeded, since it is in the front yard, and very visible from the street.

Bonnie

Oh you are so welcome,it is a well deserved compliment,and if I was driving by your place,my head would definitely turn!:)

I forgot to ask,how did you plant your carrots? Did you do them in the ground? If so how did you prepare the ground for them? I was going to do carrots this year and I was planning on container gardening them because I have such rocky soil. I never did get them sown,I was a little nervous about it and figured I would wait until next year for them after I did more research. Yours look so great,I would love to hear what you did for them! :)

And I agree PV,fresh from the garden is the only way to go! I was out there this morning before I even had my coffee munching tomatoes right from the plant...lol...neighbors think I am a nut! But I dont see a better way to start the day! :)

Pvick, I've used the intensive plant spacing recommendations out of 'The Postage Stamp Garden Book' by Duane and Karen Newcomb, and also the guide I found at the Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension website.

I don't layout the strings, like they do in square foot gardening because my garden isn't square or even rectangular, it's curved to match the perennial bed on the other side of the front yard. I didn't use Mel's mix either. I just made the bed last spring with a load of compost I brought home in DH's pickup truck. This spring I added probably a dozen bags of mushroom compost, and used a fish emulsion fertilizer after everything was planted at the beginning of the summer. The only other thing I've added is my used coffee grounds. I probably should get the soil tested, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. The only real problems I've had so far are the grasshoppers, a few cutworms, and by late summer powdery mildew. Well, there has also been something digging in the dirt occasionally, but they don't seem to be eating anything, so I suspect it is a skunk looking for grubs or something.

Bonnie

Angie, I made the bed the old fashioned way, dug out the newly planted sod, and then about 8 inches down, to get rid of the rocks and some of the heavy clay, then stirred the compost in with what was left. If the soil is too hard, the carrots will be short and stumpy. I'm sure you could use the lasagna bed technique if you dug out some of the rock, or just do a raised bed and the carrots would grow just fine. If you do grow carrots in a container, it will need to be fairly deep, or again, you will have short, stumpy carrots, though they will taste just fine I'm sure : )

A lot of the garden was WS, or spring sown in containers and transplanted, but the carrots were direct sown in late April, and took over two weeks to germinate, since we had a very cool spring. The ones we have eaten have been nice and crisp, with no bitterness, but they will get even sweeter once the weather cools down.

I hope you'll give them a try next year!

Bonnie

I was gonna do carrots this year, but never got around to it. Since they'd be growing in a container, I decided to try the variety called 'Parmex', which is short and stumpy by nature.

Hopefully, I'll sow them next year. Or maybe I could start some now and get a harvest before winter sets in? Hmmm ....

PV

Here is a link that might be useful: Parmex carrots

Now that is a GREAT result! Good work and when can I come over for pickles?

:)

Thanks Bonnie! I was considering using 18 gallon totes for them,they are fairly deep,the only problem with them is they are not attractive,so I was thinking of painting them to blend in or do something cute,like paint them a background color and than paint some carrots on the front. I am most definitely growing them next year,my son seen your pics and sort of made me commit! ;)

PV,those carrots are adorable! :) I did get seed for some smaller types like what you are showing,I also went and got seeds for the purple and a larger orange. I think the smaller ones I will do in a smaller container on the porch.Next year will be a bigger veggie season for me,this year it was kind of on a whim,so all I did was tomatoes,peppers,beans and peas,and I guess you could count the herbs!

Oh, I absolutely count the herbs! I use them almost every single night, and will be sad when winter comes, and I can't go out and snip whatever I need. I'll bring a few pots of things in this fall for the kitchen window, but we always get fungus gnats something horrible every winter, and I hate to put chemicals on something we are going to eat. Last winter, by February I had to throw a lot of them out. Then I went into herb withdrawals until the perennials ones started growing again!

Here is the most recent picture I could find of part of the perennial herb garden I made this spring:

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All of the annual herbs were grown in pots on the porch, except I did stick quite a few basil plants in the veggie bed.

Pvick, those carrots are so cute! They almost look like beets don't they? Last year, I grew one called Short & Sweet that I found at Walmart, but they were more triangular shaped and about 4 or 5 inches long.

Bonnie

You have a beautiful little garden spot! I know my granddaughter eats things from the garden she would never try at home. There is nothing like fresh garden peas when compared to those nasty canned ones LOL. Love the pictures. Kim