Garden Update

We haven't been very faithful to our garden this year. It's sad. It took longer to get the garden cage (for squirrel prevention) built, so we started out behind with everything. Then, with trips and projects scattered throughout the summer, the garden fell by the wayside. On top of being just plain neglectful, we were dealing with a new climate and different growing conditions. We definitely should have been more watchful and taken better care of our little garden.

Our plans didn't work out exactly like we had hoped. The former rose shrine area where we planted pumpkins and zucchini failed. The plants grew as one long vine that flowered, but didn't yield any fruit (except for one miniature decorative pumpkin). One main problem was that we didn't replace the soil, pretty much just out of laziness. We planted in the mulchy soil that was already there from the roses. That slowed down the growth, but a blight of powdery mildew pretty much sealed the deal. We didn't treat it in time and after we got it taken care of, the plants basically had to start over, in mid-June. Next time we will definitely take better care of that area.

One of the big differences in gardening in Illinois versus in Utah is the rain. In Utah, we rarely got any, so we soaked the garden every 2 or 3 days using the soaker hose system we rigged up. We don't really have to water here because we get lots of rain. Lots of rain, but less sun. This combination made our plants (the exact same varieties we planted in Utah, in some cases) very tall and leafy, but with fewer fruits. Our tomato and pepper plants were some of the tallest we've ever seen. Instead of building customized cages for our tomatoes, we used some cages we already had (I scored 5 large cages at a yard sale for a dollar). Consequently, our tomatoes are a tangled, unruly mess.

We haven't had the abundance we've had in years past, but we have enjoyed what we have harvested. For a while we were getting lots of zucchini which made for yummy side and main dishes, as well as zucchini bread and zucchini brownies (sounds weird, but they're delicious). We've had a steady stream of tomatoes, which is good with our little Tomato Monster around. We have lots of wax peppers and some bell peppers that I'm planning to cut and freeze to put in stir fry, fajitas, casseroles, etc. We also have carrots, potatoes, and green onions that we haven't sampled yet. I also need to figure out how to dry basil because we've got lots of that.

Eliza, the Tomato Monster, taking a bite out of a fun variety of yellow tomato. It's an heirloom tomato that has a marbled yellow/orange skin when it's ripe. It's meaty inside and looks like pineapple when it's cut up in a salad. Nearly every tomato in her bucket has at least one bite out of it. She was in heaven!