Better late than never

I noticed that I unloaded my manure on March 19, which is more than four months ago! Can I get back on track and post some snapshots of the creatures in my garden? Let's try!

It has been my experience that volunteer plants do very well, often better than those planted by design. The volunteers, of course, come from my black gold, my lovely compost. Here is one example, a watermelon that spilled out of my raised garden, and is growing well:

And here is another, one (of two growing) cantaloupes that popped out of a container in my greenhouse:

Not far from maturity, I would say.

And here are some tomatoes, also in my greenhouse, spontaneously grown, not by plan:

These are my old faithful heirloom tomatoes.

I suppose the moral of the story is that I should quit planting things and just wait for them to come up on their own... and dispose of my spate of spades (some are gifts from loved ones--couldn't do that) and other tools:

Not so fast! My beans are doing well, and those I planted, along with red chard, also doing well. What is not doing well is spinach, but I will try another crop as the weather cools off. And off I go...

Time to unload my manure

 Here it is, a pick-up load of good horse manure

Return to my blog?

I spent half the afternoon trying to log in to this account, and then I did it, but don't know how ... We'll see if I can actually start posting again.

Summer summary

Summer's over. The tomatoes and the beans were a success. The big disappointment: Eggplant. A lesser disappointment: Squash.
I have a good supply of tomato sauce in the freezer, and here is a batch about to be made:

Frozen green beens, too, fill our freezer. My squash is waiting around, looking like mutant specimens:

In the greenhouse I am experimenting with broccoli and beets, still at young sprouts stage. There is still a bit of chard, some bok choi, some arugola, and quite a bit of basil growing. We'll see if the broccoli and the beets will bear fruit.

Garden update

Except for the eggplants, the garden is doing well. Beans are producing well. I have harvested over 3 kg, and they are still going strong.

The red chard has produced well, and is still producing. Some plants have gone to seed, so I will have them to plant again.

The two pepper plants have produced plenty, and are still producing. I have pickled two jars of them.

Zucchini, light green and dark green, are also prolific:

The heirloom tomatoes are blushing:

I am satisfied with my summer produce.

Tomatoes

My tomatoes are coming along. Some (the small tomatoes) are getting a bit of blush,

and the heirloom tomatoes are getting bigger, but are far from their eventual sizes:

And here are the first green beans:

My eggplant are suffering from a major aphid infestation. I have sprayed them three times with insecticidal soap. The flowers keep coming off. All else is well...

Garden update

Back from my trip I found my garden in good shape. The friend who looked after it had harvested nothing, and I found my snap peas past their prime. I harvested them anyway, and we have enjoyed a few meals with peas as side dish.
The fava beans gave me the seeds for next season.
I also harvested four long yellow peppers:

which I will fry with yellow potatoes and a few snap peas for a delightful side dish tonight.

The tomatoes are growing and promise to yield well: