Veggie Garden Show & Tell

Now that we are beginning to enjoy the fruits of our labors at nearly every meal, I thought I should give you a little  veggie garden tour.  Despite getting a month-late start, the past two weeks have been great growing weather and it is starting to catch up to where it should be.

Of course we must have squash blossoms at Squash Blossom Farm!  All the varieties of both summer and winter squash are suddenly blooming exuberantly -we ate blossoms in our garden salad yesterday.

The golden zucchinis are ready to begin harvesting.

Brendan planted carrot seeds just 4 weeks ago, but they are growing fast.

We have been eating rainbow swiss chard and a couple varieties of lettuce for a while already.

Now we have snow peas galore!

The poblano peppers, the first peppers I planted, have cute little peppers growing.  Can't wait for chile rellenos!

The potatoes are in bloom.  this year we have the standard Pontiac Red, Kennebec, Yukon Gold, and a few mixed  of heirlooms- including Cranberry and  All-Blue.

Cabbages are beginning to form little heads.

Look at our lovely raspberry patch! Sara and Cadence dug 75 canes from  somebody's yard they wanted cleared two Novembers ago, so this is their first significant crop.
Brendan spent lots of time weeding it out and Bethany and I staked and wired the rows.

 The berries are now coming on fast and furiously -- they  are so scrumptious!

We have a few gooseberry bushes that are also loaded with berries, just beginning to color. Must keep chickens out of berry patch!!

The beans were only planted a few weeks ago, but they are beginning to climb and some have blossom buds.

We have a few watermelon and cantaloupe vines, and after just sitting there reluctantly for weeks, they are starting to stretch out and explore.

Trellising the tomatoes  is always a dilemma. This year I finally bit the bullet and invested in several cattle panels ($$!) as recommended by Mother Earth News.  As the plants grow, we just weave the  branches through the openings. The panels were so fast to install, are wonderfully strong and sturdy, and will store flat. I got enough for about half of our 60 tomato plants and if we like them, I will purchase a few more next year. If we decide we don't like them for trellising, we  can always use them for livestock fencing.

The tomatoes are now all blossoming and some are setting fruit.

This morning I found the first tiny cucumber starting - maybe it will be ready  the same time as the first tomatoes for tabouli.

Eggplant finally has buds.

This is the tidiest our garden has ever looked, thanks to our industrious interns!  They are proud of their work (rightfully so!) and having fun cooking meals from food grown by their own hands.