“How could such sweet and wholesome hours be reckoned, but in herbs and flowers?” ~Andrew Marvell
Even as I am nursing my weeding wounds, I am still making it out to the veg garden to pick whatever is growing. You can’t let it go too long when the garden gets in to high gear, or you will be over run
especially with beans. I am pleased to share what has happened in our August kitchen and cutting gardens. I am joining in again with Dee Nash@Red Dirt Ramblings for her virtual garden club called, Dear Friend and Gardener.
We are having a great bean harvest. There are still a few bush beans, and loads of pole beans (pictured here). And we finally have tomatoes ripening, with tons of green tomatoes bursting their cages. The first one I ate was soooo sweet it was better than sugar in my mouth.
And yes those are sweet frying peppers (pictured above) finally ready for picking. Lots of peppers this year. Even the green chiles in the portable bed are finally forming fruit. And of course pickling cucumbers are growing well.
Here’s what else we have harvested. Yes we pulled a load of red potatoes out of 3 grow bags. Lots more potatoes to harvest, but we are spreading it out over the next 6-8 weeks. Zucchini is finally producing, as we are again growing ‘Cocozelle’. Very creamy, meaty and few seeds. And it does not get mushy when you cook it.
The eggplant is producing lots of flowers this year, and about half a dozen eggplant so far in various stages of growth. Yes those are radishes. I planted 2 squares of radishes next to the bush beans. And they were shaded enough by the bush beans during the heat of July, that they produced some radishes.
We pickled some bush and pole beans, as well as cukes, a couple of weeks ago. We used our standard pickle recipe, changing up the spices and always including dill and garlic from the garden. They are so delicious.
What is this? It is a surprise tomatillo blooming. This plant was a tiny sprout we planted out in June. And with the heat of July, it sprung up recently, and is now blooming. This was a last-minute veggies we decided to try this year, and I think we will be planting more next year.
And look at the Squash bed. Yes there are some squashes forming, but the surprise here is the Swiss chard and lettuce regrowing. We cut them back in late July. Then the weather shifted and cooled in August with some rain and all these conditions helped them to regrow. The voles were devils in this bed, and were eating the carrots so I picked all the remaining ones.
I am planting more beets, radishes, greens and carrots in hopes of a fall garden although I am late with planting this year.
Near the veg beds I have Calendula (center) finally growing between the lemon balm that is everywhere. And next to it are the volunteer borage (bottom left) growing like crazy along the tomato bed. I pulled most out of the tomato and bean bed, but some are still popping up.
The beans are the scarlet runner beans I grew for the hummers who did visit the red flowers. I also learned you can eat the beans when they are young just like pole beans. If you let them grow bigger and longer, then you can harvest them as dried beans to eat. So I chose to leave them so I could harvest them as dried beans. The top two herbs are dill and bronze fennel. The dill also seeded freely in a couple of beds from last year’s plants. The fennel is in the garden near the pond. We are hoping it will like this spot and return next year.
You can see the meager nasturtiums growing. Great flowers but the plants are small in the containers mainly because I used shallow containers. I will have to reconsider what containers I use next year.
Here are the container sunflowers. And the snapdragons (Antirrhinum) and alyssum (white and purple) I grew from seed are flowering. And yes finally the burgundy cosmos I planted in the cutting garden are blooming.
What have you been harvesting this month? Did you have any surprises?
Soon it will be time to celebrate the change of seasons. I know it is hard to say goodbye to summer as autumn soon will begin. And even though we may not like to see autumn come so soon, I hope you will join me in the celebration of this new season. I welcome those Down Under who will be celebrating the coming of spring to join in too. You can read the fall Seasonal Celebrations kick-off post on August 31st.
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In A Vase On Monday
With some the cutting garden/container flowers finally blooming, I thought I would cut a few and combine them with the container sunflowers ‘Junior’ for a couple of vases. I did cut these a few days earlier then usual before the flowers were past their prime.
You can see some Orienpet lilies were spared from the lily beetles and the deer. One plant had about 20 lilies blooming so I had to cut a few.
Also in this vase was the one zinnia and one tithonia that bloomed in the cutting garden so far, as well as the deep burgundy cosmos and a variety of Antirrhinums.
The second vase also had the sunflowers, Antirrhinum, cosmos and lily as its base.
But I added a gorgeous purple gladiolus, purple Phlox paniculata and a burgundy Phlox paniculata almost the same color as the cosmos.
I really love these vases with the vivid colors from the perennials and cutting beds/containers. I certainly will be trying to get more flowers to grow in the cutting beds and containers next year. And I will be planting the small container sunflowers again. They really last a long time in the vase, and they just are too darn cute.
I am joining in with a few memes this week as I prepare these vases: Cathy@Rambling in the Garden for her wonderful meme, In a Vase on Monday, Today’s Flowers hosted by Denise@An English Girl Rambles and Judith@Lavender Cottage who hosts Mosaic Monday. Please check out these wonderful blogs and link ups.
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Next up on the blog:
On Monday, I will have a profile of a favorite native bush that has finally taken off in the bog garden. And on the 31st, I will have the kick-off Seasonal Celebrations post.
I will be linking in with Michelle@Rambling Woods for her Nature Notes meme. It is a great way to see what is happening in nature around the world every Monday.
I am also joining in I Heart Macro with Laura@Shine The Divine that happens every Saturday.
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