The Boring Gardening Post for Folks Who Can't Plant Good and Stuff

This boring garden update has been a long time coming, but the delay has worked to our advantage in the fact that there's a lot more to report on now than even a week ago. So more pictures of real stuff instead of just buds and leaves, yay! [Except the grapes. Those have got some time yet].

We inherited quite the garden in our new house, and for the first time this summer we became the proud owners/growers of:

Inherited:

• Strawberries
• Rhubarb
• Raspberries
• White and purple grapes
• Blueberries (only two small bushes which produced a grand total of one blueberry that the rascally rabbit got to before me).
• A preach tree (no fruit this year, we think it got hit with a late freeze last fall)

Planted this spring:

• Tomatoes
• Beans
• Cabbage
• Winter squash
• Carrots
• Various herbs
• Lavender (never germinated)
• Spinach (got one minuscule leaf that dried up)

So here's a review/report on the current state of affairs for the stuff that actually made it to an edible state this year, in order of best to worst.

We got some pretty bad hail damage a few weeks ago that shredded leaves and pitted the surface of some fruit/vegetables (and flooded part of our basement, yay). But for the most part it seems everything survived the damage and is still growing.

The rhubarb is taking over and I've lost all motivation to attack it back to a manageable state. I am not a baker so I have to figure out what to do with it besides give it away. A friend sent me this jam recipe (make that two recipes now, another from another friend!) that doesn't look to difficult to make...if it ever cools down enough around here again to turn the stove on I might think about attempting it.

We eat the strawberries regularly (if we can get them early enough in the morning before the rabbits) and we also have a bumper crop of yellow cherry tomatoes from only two plants, with at least four or five at every picking. I'm the only one who wants to eat them--more for me!

We pulled and ate our first carrot the other night, and made the carrot pulling (picking? Uprooting?) a family affair. It looks like we'll have three or four more before the season's out.

And out of one measly, meager-looking bean plant that for weeks has seemed like it's on its last legs, we've gotten a surprising amount--four beans, two big, two small.

And we just discovered our first ripening raspberry out of our two big rows of raspberry bushes that are chock full of buds and berries in the making. I can't wait to try them!

Update since I wrote the above: the raspberries have ripened beautifully and were absloutely delish at first picking. But after soaking them the second day I found a little white squirmer. And after breaking open another raspberry, a second little one wriggled out. Upon researching, it looks like our entire raspberry crop has been compromised by these nasty buggers that probably hid in the soil all winter plotting their attack. So who knows if we'll ever have raspberries worthy to eat or if I'll just burn it all down...because yuck. (But not really--we abide by some very necessary fire laws around these parts!).

The cabbage and squash are up for harvest next but both have a ways to go before they're edible, and we haven't seen any buds on the grapes yet. But according to our one meeting with the previous owners, the two vines produce a TON of grapes. I'm counting on Peter to learn how to make wine for me.

One thing I've learned: homegrown might be smaller than store-bought in some instances, but tastes SO MUCH BETTER. The tomatoes are so sweet. The strawberries, just to die for. That one worm-free raspberry was everything I was dreaming about. And as Ethan said regarding the carrot, "hey Mommy! This tastes like a real carrot!!!"

Welcome to the magic of gardening, buddy. It's growing on me, too!

Whasshup, Doc?