We’re halfway through the summer, and I realized I hadn’t actually done that gardening update I promised. Whoops.

The garden is going well.

June in Raleigh was mainly hot and dry. If I didn’t head out to the patio to water my plants in the morning, by afternoon they drooped. So, needless to say, I’ve watered daily, and for the most part, our plants have produced.

So far, we’ve harvested squash, green beans, okra, cucumber, blueberries, herbs, and a ton of tomatoes.

Yellow Squash

Last year, I grew zucchini and we had a ton of it until we went on vacation and it withered up in the heat.

Zucchini is okay, but it’s not my favorite squash. I’m a big yellow squash person, though.  Despite the fact that I knew yellow squash needs to be watered even more diligently than zucchini, I gave it a try. I

Results? Hard to tell. I’ve gotten a few squashes off the vines, and they’ve tasted pretty good. But the squash was one of the plants the deer managed to get into when we were out of town in May, and so our yellow squash yield was a lot lower than last year’s zucchini yield. We’ve had less than I expected, although I’ve had some available whenever I wanted to eat some. It’s probably something I’ll continue to grow.

One thing I’ve noticed with my squash (and also my pumpkin vines) is that the vines have had similar problems that seem to come with growing in pots. The vines get heavy, and then they rub against the sides of the pots. The stems get damaged by the rubbing, and then the vines wither, even if they are watered regularly and otherwise look healthy.

Now, in general, I’ve left a fair sized gap between the soil in the pot and the rim. I think for squashes, I’ll need to fill the pots more rather than less to minimize the rubbing in future years. At least, it’s a thought.

Green Beans and Okra

Green Beans and Okra don’t seem to do super well in pots, or at least not the little pots I’ve been using for them. Both types of plants have only grown a foot or so high. While the plants have produced their respective vegetables, they haven’t produced enough for actual side dishes. I’ve had to add them to store-bought produce to have enough for dinner.

Which is not the worst thing, since at least green beans and okra are pretty cheap to buy right now. And they are my daughter’s favorite vegetables.

But I ran into another issue too…I didn’t know when to pick them, lol. I let the okra pods get huge, which meant that the okra I grew was woody instead of tender by the time I chopped it up to fry.

Unfortunately, I left the green beans on the vine too long as well. I was just stubbornly waiting to get enough to cook my own. In the meantime, my green beans went from vibrant green to kinda old looking. In other words, this round ended up with more compost than usable vegetables.

I’m not sure how I feel about growing these two veggies next year. If I do them again, they will definitely benefit from a raised bed or a much larger container. They just don’t have enough space to develop the root system for a decent yield right now.

A Ton of (Grape) Tomatoes

I picked out two kinds of tomatoes this year, and put them in a huge half barrel instead of individual pots.

We’ve had a ton of grape tomatoes, and they’ve been delicious. We’ve mixed them in salads, tossed them in salads, and sliced them on sandwiches with fresh mozzarella. Basically, we’ve been eating tomatoes every day. Putting the tomatoes in the barrel planter worked wonderfully.

Unfortunately, the summer has been less kind to our larger slicing tomatoes. I’m not sure why, but we’ve gotten very few, and they’ve been smaller and less developed than I expected. I don’t know if they’ve been overcrowded where the grape tomatoes were not, but they’ve been a bit of a bust. I’ll buy tomatoes again, but probably not that particular variety.

Looking at the vines, we should have tomatoes for another week or so. I’ll miss being able to grab them off the vine and having them easily available all the time. It’s been our best part of summer.

Herbal Update

For most of the summer, we’ve kept a pitcher of mint water in the refrigerator. Little Bit drinks it even more often than I do. (I need my coffee, at least for breakfast.) So most days, I’m wandering out to pick some mint leaves for the pitcher.

For whatever reason, we’ve had far less basil this year than last. On the other hand, we’ve had more than we’ve needed.

Our dill and cilantro both went to seed, and if we’re lucky we’ll get another crop of each. I didn’t use either nearly enough, though I did better with the cilantro than the dill. Meanwhile, I should have a decent crop of coriander from the cilantro plant. It’s not something I’ve used overly much in the past, so I’ll have to look for some decent recipes.

Meanwhile, the rosemary took a long time to sprout, but now appears to be growing slowly but healthily.

Still in Development

We’ve gotten a single small cucumber so far, but there are more small ones on the vine. Thinking back to last year, we didn’t see any cucumbers until late July or August. I wish they had come in together with our tomatoes so I could use them for our favorite summer salad, but we’ll have plenty of cucumbers on the way.

Our bell pepper plants are still pretty small, too As I recall, we got them in late summer last year, so I really shouldn’t be surprised, but I feel like we planted them earlier this year.

And our pumpkin vines have beautiful blossoms, but I’m not sure the vines will stay healthy enough to produce actual pumpkins. At least they’re pretty.

I also planted some heirloom purple beans that haven’t produced much other than a few flowers. In part, that’s because the deer got into the plants in May more than they did the regular green beans, Still, I’m a little disappointed they didn’t come in at the same time as the other beans, and I’m hoping to get at least a few just for fun.

Thinking about Fall

Looking at the patio, I certainly have some empty pots and some plants I think I’ll soon need to clear away, and my plan is to start thinking about fall plants now. Many of them will need to be planted in July or August to thrive in fall.

I just need to figure out what I’d like us to have.

I didn’t do much at home last year. Only a couple of cabbages that really didn’t produce. Romaine, which did well in the community garden, might be a good option for us, though, and I’d like to give Brussels Sprouts another try. And it’s evidently a good time to redo cilantro and dill. And maybe parsnips or radishes, I really like both.

Fortunately, I still have a few weeks to work it out. Meanwhile, I probably need to go water my plants again.

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