Vegetable Garden September Update

Clearing out the garden...end of season

Middle of September and the vegetable gardening season is near its end. Here is an update on what we have removed from our garden. You can see from the photo, there are large empty spaces now.

We have pulled out:

27 pole bean plants, the first planting

8 foot row of jade green beans

8 foot row of yellow wax pencil pod beans

8 foot row of purple beans

My DH reports we harvested approximately 50 pounds of beans from these rows. We are currently harvesting the next planting of pole beans.

We saved five large pumpkins for our grandkids. The punkins, not the kids, each weighed about 25 lbs.

Pumpkins and butternut squash harvested and area now planted in new strawberry bed (see previous post on 9/15/11)

One lonesome zucchini left

Pulled muskmelon and watermelon plants

Last planting of corn

Removed four plantings of sweet corn. There were four eight foot rows in each planting. We planted Northern Extra Sweet..each planting got sweeter! We ended up with short ears of corn due to the dry weather. Still tasted good.

Dug all potatoes--Red Pontiac, Yukon, German Butterball, and Fingerlings (which grew the best and our first year to try them)

13 Avalon butternut squash

Next posting I'll tell what is left in our September garden!!

Not All Beans are Green

Here are green beans, plus purple and yellow beans in the green bowl.  Peas in the yellow bowl.

Green beans. But not all beans are green. We enjoy growing the yellow and purple beans too. Purple? Yes! They are tender and tasty. When they are cooked, they turn green. The kids love to see this. Try them next year if you haven't already. 

Bean plants picked clean

This year we have not had the normal bean production. It may be due to the long, wet cool spring we experienced. But I'm happy we have a mess today. 

Easy Recipe: We cook up a pot of beans with bacon end pieces, onions, and potatoes (new potatoes if you have some). Sometimes we use ham or sausage instead of bacon. Mighty good summer eatin'. 

Preserving Green Beans

How do you preserve all the green beans, string beans, snap beans that are waiting on the vine for you to harvest? The fruits of the gardener's labors have come to fruition. Some years are better than others, but if you are lucky enough, you will have oodles of beans to eat and preserve. I found an article in Dave's Garden weekly newsletter on Preserving Beans: Canning versus Freezing by Angela Carson. It lays out clearly the equipment, the process, and storage for canned beans and frozen beans.

An individual's preference in taste and texture determines which method to use. The frozen beans remain a bit crispy even after cooking and they keep a brighter green color. The canned beans are cooked more thoroughly and lose their color. Try both methods and see what you think.

Dave's Garden Article on preserving beans.

Dave's Garden website is packed full of information for gardeners. Check it out and sign up for the newsletter.

Garden Check Up

Checking in on the progress of our veggie and fruit production. Yes, I have to include fruit because the strawberries are absolutely going bananas! In our patch that we planted Spring 2008, this year we are taking out 12-15 quarts of berries every other day. AND they are nice sized berries, and may I add, delicious. The neighbors and our kids love them too. Yes, we are sharing rather than making jam or freezing. Check out my strawberry pie recipe in an earlier blog if you are in the midst of berry season.

The following is my husband's garden report in a nutshell:
Have bibb and romaine lettuce galore, but with the heat it is starting to bolt.

The first sweet corn I had planned on having by 4th of July tassled out at 2 feet, so it will not have ears worth a darn. It has been too cold this spring and early summer.

I planted tomato seed the end of April and those plants are just as big as the plants I bought in May. Go figure.

I have 36 pepper plants. They are doing real well in the heat-- yellow, red, purple, brown, green.

We have eaten all the broccoli up. Now waiting on side shoots to grow out. Cabbage is just heading up. Cauliflower is still a ways off.

Beans aren't growing worth a darn, but the onions are growing great.

Watermelon and cantaloupe are just limping along.

We have little zucchini forming on the plants.

Pumpkins are going great. We have a new one this year called Knucklehead. It has warts all over it. We haven't told the grandkids yet, so that will be a surprise. Maybe they can win the Ugliest Pumpkin award at the Harvest Festival this year.

That's the run down on the garden at this point. Summer is half over. Hope your gardens are growing well. Leave a comment and let me know how you are doing. Thanks.