My Garden Produce

 

This has been the best year I've ever had for lettuce and strawberries. I'm currently on my second bloom of strawberries. In April I ended up freezing 3 bags of strawberries and I was getting more than I could eat.

I haven't had to buy lettuce from the grocery store since February. It's June now, and the lettuce has finally exhausted itself and died off. I still have some chard that isn't ready to be done yet.

With the strawberries, the heat here is getting to them. The leaves are getting burned from the sun and the heat exhaustion is getting to them. There are still a lot of berries coming in, but for now my hope is that the plants can hang in there until September. The heat here is so brutal.

My tomato plants have grown into a jungle. I planted Big Beef tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. My cherry tomatoes are flooding in regularly now. I did get quite a few big tomatoes, but the fruit flies have been my nemesis. They've destroyed about 5 of these big beautiful tomatoes so far, which is so irritating. So far nothing has worked to get them away. I'm still fighting, and hoping that maybe the brutal heat will help to incinerate them.

I finally got garlic for the first time in 3 years of trying. 2 whole bulbs. Right now they are hanging in my pantry to dry out. I can't wait to crack them open and cook with some. Then plant it again in September.

My jalapenos and poblanos are finally starting to come in. Lots are on the plants, but not quite ready for picking yet. The hotter the weather get I'm told the hotter the peppers will be. Funnily enough I haven't had many pests going for the peppers. That makes it easy. And the green onions grow like weeds. 

Carrots are doing really well, though I did not do well at thinning out the sprouts when they came in. As a result a large amount of them cannot grow very large. My fault. I'll do better in the fall when I plant again.

Blackberries are flowering, and while I do have some berries nothing is ready for picking yet. As for the watermelon, I see a few teeny tiny melons forming. I'm really hoping I get some this year.

But I definitely can't complain with the harvest I've gotten. I love that the food I'm eating comes from my own garden. I've had more salad than I ever want to eat again, made myself sick on strawberries, and am now at the point of making homemade salsa with all my peppers and tomatoes. I've also made some jalapeno poppers and stuffed poblano peppers. It's so rewarding. So much work. So many mosquito bites. So much money.