Our Garden

I wanted to post some pictures and stories about our garden this year.
It was certainly a learning experience.  I look forward to future years of experimentation and delicious produce.
We were amazed at how large the plants got.  We took this picture at the end of July, and the plants got even bigger after this.  Not much taller, but they did spread.

One of Jeff's co-workers kindly gave us a few basil plants for a housewarming gift.  They came really close to dying, but then ended up flourishing and spreading.  In fact, they turned from green to a really pretty dark purple.  At one point we gave a bagful to my sister Suzanne, and our car smelled like basil for several days afterwards.

We ended up having so much produce lying around the house that Cosette started treating them like toys.  She liked to balance on top of large zucchini, line windowsills with tomatoes and green peppers, and carry squash around the house.

It was really crazy for a few weeks when our peaches were ripe.  We were outside almost daily picking rotten peaches off the ground so the flies and worms didn't get too bad.  I also enjoyed climbing the peach tree to reach the good peaches before they fell.  I froze several bags full of peaches, canned 7 jars (my first time canning!), and also made peach cobbler, syrup, sorbet, and fruit leather.

Accumulated peach pits

In addition to freezing peaches, I also cut up and froze green peppers and zucchini.  Some of the zucchini was blended up to be used in baking breads and muffins, and some was sliced and blanched for use in smoothies.

Freezing sliced green peppers

Frozen zucchini chunks for smoothies

Cutting up a few giant zucchini for blending

Five zucchinis blended up for freezing

Put freezer bags over an empty yogurt container 

5 zucchinis = 29 cups to freeze for future muffins and breads

Here are some pictures of our pumpkins.  I tried to account for all of the pumpkins we gave away, but I gave a few to my mom that I didn't get a picture of.  I estimate that we had around 30 pumpkins total.

Our neighbor Elsie picked the first pumpkin in our patch

Pumpkins selected by my nephew and nieces
Olivia, Jonathan, Audrey and Madeline

Cosette choosing her pumpkin

These pumpkins at my sister's house came from our garden
(all but those on the top step)

Jack-o-lanterns we made with our own pumpkins,
along with a bumpy yellow squash for decoration

When our garden was peaking in production, we were harvesting several grocery bags full of produce every day.  Towards the end of the season we were able to let one or two days pass in between harvesting, and the numbers started dropping off.  We took a picture of our last day of harvesting produce before we started ripping out the dead and dying plants.

Our last day of produce

So there are some highlights of our garden this year.  Next year we hope to plant a larger variety of vegetables, as well as start a berry patch.  I'm excited for the years to come, but I'm also grateful for the break from gardening that we get in the winter.