The summer squash are doing very well. They started a little later than the zucchini, but they are starting to catch up!
The zucchini have slowed down in the last few days… just a little bit. I don’t think this will be permanent. Did I mention that we have eight summer squash and zucchini plants? In the last two weeks I’ve picked 28 zucchini and 12 summer squash. We took a bunch of them to the Princeton Veterinary Hospital to share with our staff. We grow produce for ourselves, and for the vet clinic!
This is the first year we’re trying butternut squash. We have learned that these guys vine like crazy, and we need to give them a lot more room. But, so far, they seem to be doing well, in spite of their cramped quarters. Check out my first butternut squash! He’s got a lot of growing to do before he’s ready, but he’s on his way!
Our bell peppers are doing great this year. I picked one already, but I jumped the gun and picked him a little early. I’m trying to be patient and let them fill out a little more before I pick them next time. We put our pepper plants in small tomato cages – it gives the plants a little more support as the peppers get big and heavy.
Farmer Doc loves to plant banana peppers. He says he likes to eat them, but he always forgets that we actually have them to eat. I’m going to have to come up with something to do with these this year… We’ve got 10 picked already, and plenty more coming along!
Our tomato plants have started to put on fruits! It’s going to be a while before they are ready, but at least there’s some promise of tomatoes in our future.
My yellow pear tomato plant is doing fantastic! He keeps growing, putting on more flowers, and he’s got plenty of fruits that are about the right size. Now they just need a little more time in the sun to ripen, and I’ll be in yellow pear tomato heaven!
The cucumbers have taken to climbing their fence very nicely. For the most part, they are behaving, with just a few stragglers making their way into the onions or the beans.
If every flower does end up making a cucumber, we’re going to have cucumbers coming out of our ears soon… We’ve already got 4 picked, and it looks like this is going to speed up very quickly…
Our watermelons are starting to flower. These are taking their time, but I think they will be looking great in just a few weeks.
The cantaloupes are way ahead of the watermelons. We are going to have roughly 100 cantaloupes in the near future.
I see lots of cantaloupe ice cream coming up this summer!
Our green beans have finally started to flower. They’ve got a ways to go before I’m ready to can green beans (which is good, because I don’t have time right now).
Our pumpkin patch really took off. Farmer Doc planted jack-o-lantern pumpkins, small decorative gourds, and a lot of pie pumpkins. I am really looking forward to stocking my freezer with real pumpkin for the holidays. There is really nothing better than a pumpkin pie made with real pumpkin (not the canned stuff). And perhaps some pumpkin pie ice cream…
The blackberries have started to ripen, and I’m picking about a gallon every other day. These are headed towards the freezer for buckets of blackberry ice cream and a blackberry cobbler or two this summer.
How is your garden looking this summer? Are you having good luck or bad news?
If you want to mess with it you can pickle your banana peppers. It's what I did with my first batch this year. Let me know if you want the recipe.
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