Prolific Produce

Craig and I are no strangers to gardening. We've both been growing in some fashion for years, even if it was just a few plants in pots on the patio. When we bought our house in Vienna, we had just one small patch that (barely) got enough sun for a vegetable garden. We had to battle squirrels, deer and the wilt to get the occasional tomato, but we did all right.

Weekend before last's harvest

So you can understand that the gardening possibilities that we have on the farm are pretty heady stuff, and I freely admit we have some pretty ambitious plans. But we tried very hard to start small and not bite off more than we could chew (literally). We staked out our proposed plot, then cut it in half. We said we'd stick to the basics the first year, and we mostly did. Tomatoes, peppers, cukes, eggplant, melons, and okra. Pumpkins because I love to decorate with them in the fall, and if I grow my own I don't have to limit myself to just a few. Sunflowers for Craig and zinnias for me, just to make it pretty. A modest garden to introduce us to growing in Georgia.

Modest, 9 foot tall sunflowers.

There has previously been a garden in the spot we chose, although it was many years ago. It has mostly been pasture for goats, cows and horses, also many years ago. I think that's probably the key: all those years of liberal application of organic fertilizer.

This Saturday's harvest.  

Because despite our plan to keep it small, we are being inundated with produce. I've joked about foisting veggies on visitors but believe me, if you come to visit you are taking produce home with you!  We can't really take credit for this bumper crop because we haven't done much.  We're amazed at how well everything is doing; far better than any garden we've ever had before.  There is occasional gleeful chortling on our parts.  Although I am a little apprehensive of what the okra is going to do when it gets going. 

The pumpkin patch

I mentioned our garden plot had been pasture before, but it must have also been the Wild West, because I think a junior cowboy lost his six-shooter there a long time ago. I tilled this up recently while weeding.  It was so heavy we weren't sure if it was a toy at first. Toys were better made back in the day, obviously!  

I'm just glad I didn't have to can it!

The thing with fresh veggies is, they don't stay fresh for long. You have to eat or process them on their timetable, not yours. I love cooking and canning, but I'm also in the middle of not one but two moves, plus building a house and working for a living.  Thankfully refrigerator pickles are pretty quick, and I've been freezing (rather than canning) the tomatoes and blueberries.  

4th of July harvest - 2 days after the harvest on Saturday.

I managed to work a good bit of our produce into yesterday's dinner.  We grilled burgers and dogs, and I made shakshouky (a Lebanese Taverna recipe for roasted eggplant salad) with our eggplants, peppers and tomatoes.  Plus fresh tomatoes and pickles, watermelon, and blueberry shortcake for dessert.  Yum!