The garden is doing great! It’s a lot of work but don’t feel bad for me. I love every minute of it and it doesn’t bother me at all that it’s cutting into my sewing time. It’s a few months out of the year and the yield is so worth the effort.
As I walk through the back gate, this is what I see. To the left are a couple of rows of zipper cream peas. At the far end of those two rows are cucumbers. The next two rows are purple hull peas. The next two . . really about 1-3/4 rows . . are green beans. Going over to the right from there are the rest of the green bean row and one more in okra, then a row of squash, then the planting gets kinda wonky. The garden isn’t a perfect rectangle and because we had to leave room for “watering central”, there’s kind of a hodgepodge of rows. But, over to the right side, there are beets, a row of bolita bean, onions, peppers (pimento, ancho, poblano, bell, jalapeno, Tabasco), tomatoes (cherry, celebrity, rutgers, roma, and I can’t remember what else), potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, tomatillos, more squash, basil, sweet potatoes, fennel, cilantro, cantaloupe, watermelons and probably other things I’m forgetting! About every third day I’m picking green beans . . not enough to do any canning yet but enough for dinner.
To the right is a
shot of “watering central” as we call it. Water hoses going off every direction. Except for a couple of small areas, it’s all set up on soaker hoses so watering doesn’t take as long as it had been taking. Most of my time in the garden now is weeding, checking for bugs and trying to keep the watermelons and cantaloupes headed in the right direction. I don’t want them running outside the fence and then wild critters getting all the fruit.
Besides the gorgeous blue sky, in the photo to the left you can see the asparagus and strawberry beds in the “West Annex”. We’re going to add the “North Annex” for blueberries and raspberries. The grapes are going in an area closer to the house. We’ve done a heck of a lot of planting around here in less six months!
To the right are pimento peppers. I’m thinking of stuffing some of these this week and seeing what they taste like. I planted six of them and they’re loaded! I was thinking pimento & cheese when I planted them but I think I need to find another use for them. Otherwise, we’ll be eating a whole lot of pimento & cheese around here.
I had just re-tied these before taking the picture so they’re a little “stemmy” looking but these are the tomatillos and they’re loaded too. I may pick a few of those tonight and may make either Tomatillo Stew or these Chicken Enchiladas.
There are about a dozen eggplant plants and they’re pretty productive too. I think we’ll be picking eggplant by the end of this week.
We’ve been picking a few cherry tomatoes every day but haven’t gotten any full size ones yet. Bottom left is a full size tomato that’s getting ripe.
I can hardly wait for a BLT made with a fresh tomato and homemade white bread.
That’s about it for this garden update but there will be more . . coming soon I hope.
I’m so thankful that we have a good (so far) well and we’re able to water and keep our plants, fruit trees, shrubs, chickens and humans alive! It hasn’t rained here since the weekend my car got the hail damage (May 5). There was a chance of rain this afternoon but I see that’s gone from the forecast. We have a small chance of rain towards the end of this week and a better chance next week. Keep your fingers crossed for us please!
Krista says
Seeing your garden inspires me, and makes me want a bigger one. Then I remember your post about spending 2 hours a day keeping the weeds out, and reality hits 🙂 I have a really small garden – just planted it last week when planting season finally arrived way up here. There are already some green sprouts, so I should have a few veggies eventually.
JudyL says
Krista, you may not have as many weeds as we have but I also have more “disposable” hours in my day than you have right now. You’re doing great to have a small garden.
Judy D in WA says
OMG!!! Your garden is fabulous! And weed free and luscious and I am so very jealous.
Your hard work really shows. Good job farmer Judy L.
JudyL says
Thanks Judy. I love my garden and it’s not work at all since I enjoy it so much.
Ranch Wife says
I’m impressed woman! Y’all should get an ag exemption just for your garden! Mine is a raised bed garden, but the insane winds and lack of rain are not being kind to it. I love picking things for supper each night in the summer though!
JudyL says
The wind and drought makes it harder than it should be . . that’s for sure.
Dar in MO says
Your garden looks picture perfect to me. I know about weeding, but with 2 hours a day — mine never looked that good. You must be tilling between the rows in addition to hand weeding. I love all the variety you have in your garden. You do have the proverbial green thumb! Looks wonderful.
JudyL says
Nope. No tilling between rows. I walk the rows once a day with my hoe and chop any weeds that have popped up.
vickie van dyken says
That is a beauty!! I know it’s a lot of work but I’m thinkin it’s a lot of fun to!! The rewards of many fine healthy suppers are sure going to be worth it 🙂
julie says
Your garden looks really wonderful! And so healthy for you to eat from…yum!
Marsha says
Looks great. I’ll come in a couple of years to cut myself some asparagus! Fresh would taste so good especially grilled on the outside grill. Glad you are having such a beautiful garden. It’s great you are already eating from the garden.
Beryl says
Judy your garden is beautiful. I makes my back hurt just thinking about planting ALL those many plants, not to mention harvesting the produce! But all worth it, I know. You might have to open a vegetable stand…
Susie says
Oh how I wld luv to eat at ur table!
Quilter Kathy says
You really are the hardest working woman I know! Wow…that’s a lot of produce to keep growing and organize for harvesting!
pdudgeon says
looks fantastic! and just think how many rows and rows of full jars you’ll have in your pantry come Winter time. That’s a garden well done!
Doe in Mi says
Wow it looks great Judy. Seems to me it has grown really fast but, its been a long time since I’ve had a garden so….
Angie in SoCal says
Wow – what a tremendous garden! Are you going to be going to the Farmer’s Market with part of your crop?
Linda Steller says
Holy smokes! That Texas heat sure does produce veggies in short order. We’re a couple of weeks out from green beans, and tomatillos, peppers, and eggplant won’t be showing up until about late August or early September! We don’t have a very long growing season here. We do get hot days in the summer, but our nights are quite cool.
Debi McIntosh says
Looks fantastic Judy – what a great variety you have. Still don’t know how you fit it all in! I really enjoy your blogs and share them with friends.
Brandy M. says
Absolutely beautiful, Judy! We don’t get enough sun to do much veggie gardening, but I’ve got a ton of strawberries growing & a couple of tomato plants that aren’t growing like they normally do. Hmmpft! I might re-try to the tomatoes, starting with large plants (“starts”) to make up for lost time…
We’re also going to buy some sort of fruit tree for our back yard. Just need to decide what type of fruit we want. I can’t wait! 🙂