It has been too long since my last garden update.....So here goes!

Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Plan-a-Family-Garden with a little Zeke design goodness

It has been a great summer full of holiday and business, music and sailing.......and gardening! For those taking their first peek at my blog or garden, a couple years ago, I set out to reclaim lawn, build some garden boxes, and learn with the family the ins and outs of gardening. I had very little gardening experience but a green thumb and desire to learn which is good fuel to start for sure.

The summer started slowly, critters ate my cucumber sprouts, but we had a great experience. Here is how things are wrapping up towards the end of the garden season.

Tomatoes

Last year, I ended up growing 50 large beefsteak tomatoes, which almost all ripened at the same time. As you don't freeze that type, I had tomatoes on everything and many friends received baskets.

This year, I decided that I should split the breeds between Beefsteak, Cherry and Roma. The Roma Tomatoes have done the best though they took quite a long time to get ready, Now, I have enough to eat fresh, and freeze to use for sauces and salsa! It is neat to see them grow as big as they are in the grocery store.

The Cherry Tomatoes turned out really great. They ripened the earliest but not all at once. This meant you could probably get a half dozen or so each day to add to salads or simply snack on like my ladies enjoyed doing.

After my bumper crop of Beefsteak last year, it has been a challenge this year. The plants didn't seem to flourish quite as well and the long cold beginning of the summer really delayed their ripening. There have been a few and they are really great but not the onslaught of last year. There are still many green ones out there that @shadowspub and @artemisnorth are trying to get me to fry up but I feel guilty picking them before they are nice and red! I do have to try that though.

Tomato Lessons:

• Don't plant all beefsteak tomatoes unless you intend to give many away
• Tomatoes LOVE compost so be sure to mix in plenty before planting
• Cherry Tomatoes seem to do well enough in planters so give that a try even if you don't have a garden
• Be sure to fertilize at the beginning of the summer (with the compost) and again a month or so in at the latest for strong vines and big fruit.

Peppers!

This year's biggest addition to the garden was the second raised box I build and filled with all kinds of peppers. I made the walls a little lower than the main box to allow for more sunlight and not take so much earth to fill. With more sun in the middle of the yard and the all new mix of triple mix, topsoil and compost, the thing is bursting at the seams with peppers. I will have what I need to concoct a crazy hot sauce!

Since I had room for lots of peppers, I decided to add Ghost Peppers to the garden. These are supposed to be so damn hot that they will hurt twice when you eat them. I assumed the plant would be smaller because of the heat of the pepper but it really grew quite large and produced many ghost peppers. There are probably at least 30 of them on that one plant and you can see they are FINALLY starting to change colour. I am not sure if orange is just a transition to red but they looks so damn good and they should REALLY add some heat to the hot sauce.

Jalapenos have to be the best pepper with the great taste as well as the healthy heat. This turned out to be the tallest pepper plant which also produced at least 30 peppers. I have been eating them on everything I can and loving them. With September hitting, some of them are appearing to turn red! Neat surprise and I wonder if they all will? Maybe my hot sauce won't be primarily jalapeno green after all?

The Habanero Peppers were the slowest of the peppers to bear fruit. They have caught up nicely and there are bunches of the hot little bastards on every plant. These are primarily destined for the hot sauce as well because of the heat and variety in taste. I have always thought they were hotter than they were tasty but I will have to sample them fresh from the garden to see if that is the case.

This is the second year of Chili Peppers and they are coming along well. Last year, I dried many of them and used them crushed up to put some zing in pasta and pizza sauce. Such a great warmth and taste for sure. Again, another of a variety of peppers I will ferment in my hot sauce. They are just now starting to turn red and it will be great to harvest them for their tastiness and versatility.

It did balance the heat out with a row of sweet green peppers. I didn't go with orange or yellow ones because I found they never decided to change colour in this Canadian climate. So, they have enjoyed their season apparently because we have had grocery size green peppers for weeks now. They seem to have such a great taste and even a bit of a zing without any heat. Best fresh in salads with the cherry tomatoes.

Pepper Lessons:

• They seem to be forgiving even when planted a little too close together.
• More sun = good
• Jalapenos turn red?!?
• Ghost pepper plants get up to 3 feet high
• Habaneros take a little longer to product peppers

Others

Cucumbers: I am a little disappointed in the cucumbers this year. I planted small pickling ones, english and a breed called slicers. Something simply couldn't wait to eat them and munched them as sprouts. I did save a couple and they are starting to produce. I will have a new strategy next year because they are so great on everything, and can be turned into Pickles and Relish. There will be hot pepper relish and I might just buy a basket of pickling cucumbers from the store in shame.

Green beans: just grow so well right out of the ground with no need to start them indoors. They produce beans early and often as the stalk grows. You can build any structure and have them climb all over them. Mine is a metal fency thing with long bamboo like shoots jammed in the top of it to lead to the fence. The ladies have been bringing in handfuls to add to dinner as a good steamed veggies. I will grow these every year and try Sugar Snap Peas again not I know they do better not in a planter pot.

Raspberries: These take a couple years to get situated and then the go buck fucking wild. I think this is the third or fourth summer for these bushes which were only 2 skinny little $15 bushes. They take up so much space but it makes you happy because they are hearty, lushly green, and spend a month spitting awesome berries at you. Next year, I know I will have to cut some back and tie some up. Otherwise, they will become a brier patch and battle the lilies, mint, begonias, roses and everything else.

Flowers

I initially had flowers because they add colour and take up space where weeds would grow. Since then, they have become less of a guilty pleasure since I developed an appreciation for bees and pollinators. Besides how obvious that is to our survival as a species, I have since come to learn some flowers are edible and server purposes. So, I am a full on, flower-loving old lady now. That lily is NOT edible for the record.

Nasturtium: These are cool crawling flowers that were our first edible flowers grown. My veggie picks them right off the plant and eats them. Supposedly, some are a touch spicy while others taste like cucumber or lettuce? I would never know because I am a kind meatatarian who wouldn't murder poor flowers for food. The seeds are picked right off the plant at the end of the season, dried over winter, and can be planted right in the ground in the summer where you want them to grow.

Morning Glories: I always liked these because of the neat vine they grow and wild colours they produced. You can pick the seeds right off the plant and plant them in the ground for new ones next year. They are also edible. According to theexaminer.com, "Not only beautiful but edible, the morning glory variety in Southeast Asia is a popular vegetable. They call it water spinach or swamp cabbage (ong-choy). In 2005, the state of Texas acknowledged that water spinach is a vegetable and it is grown in many locations for culinary use." Supposedly sweet after washed and steamed? I may assign my little one to find out.

Marigolds: Apparently, these are edible as well. According to https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/marigold/growing-edible-marigolds.htm "Marigolds have an extensive history. They were revered by the Aztecs and used medicinally, ornamentally and in religious rites. The Spanish and Portuguese explorers seized upon these golden blooms, not quite gold but golden nonetheless, and brought them back to Europe. There they were referred to as “Mary’s Gold” in deference to the Virgin Mary as well as a nod to their gilded hues." Herbs and food and dyes and bee food.

I grew them because they were supposed to repel some garden insects. I also made the mistake of allowing my little one to liberally sprinkle seeds among the tomatoes. They have flourished and kinda taken over a section of the garden. I will make sure to reign that in next year with strategically placed, indoor started individual flowers. Kinda neat to see them do so well this year though.

Lupins: Last but not least, I owe @lyndsaybowes an update on the Lupins. My little one planted a few seeds in the spring before I discovered these should be planted in the fall to live in frozen ground over the winter. They were not supposed to pop this year but did against the odds. They will spend this year making good roots and producing no flowers. Maybe next year, if they survive the winter, they will grow and stick above the other plants with some blooms. I will sprinkle some seeds in the fall to make sure they have company in the spring. Until then, they battle with the Begonias (EDIBLE!) mint (Edible!) clover (edible I guess) and the rest of the jungle. They are the 10-leaf circular inverted umbrella looking things and they have survived so far.

This last month's link to join all the green thumbs of STEEM http://steemit.com/gardenjournal2019/@simplymike/steemit-community-garden-journal-challenge-august-with-steem-bounty Be sure to follow @simplymike for her awesome content, and not miss out on the next challenge (Like I did last month!)

How is your garden turning out?