I hope y’all didn’t think the squash had gotten me in my post absence! We have had a lot of them, but I think they’re under control for the moment. Possibly. I trimmed my vines pretty drastically to get rid of the mildewy and dead leaves, so we’ll see if that helps or hurts. At last count, I think I had gotten 15 yellow squash off the single plant I have. Only about 4 zukes though. Luckily, the people at work are still charmed by my increasingly desperate emails if “Please save me and help yourself to the squash in the fridge.”
This was the plant before I cut it.
This was how many squash were growing at the beginning of this week. I have since brought 4 into work and have plans for the others as squash pickles. This is one side of the plant, by the way. The second side had just as many. *nervous chuckles* Yeah, it’s totally under control.
I had so many that we jokingly asked both house repair estimate guys if we could pay in squash. 😆 They both laughed a little nervously and started backing away fingering their car keys. I swear I may have heard both car locks beep to make sure we couldn’t sneak any squash in their vehicles.
My neighbor gave me a second enormous pile of cucumbers, which have made the office manager at work very happy. The first time she gave me some, she snuck a zuke in the bottom of the bag. It’s the enormous one at the top.
The two big zukes have been shredded and put in 2 cup portions in the freezer. I ended up with about 8 cups of shreds all together. Two cups of them went into a loaf of chocolate zucchini bread, which is delicious!
Most of the other things in the garden are doing well. My zucchini plants are having a bit of a rough go, but are still producing. My jalapeño peppers have given me several. I need to make some fresh salsa soon.
My small tomatoes have been growing really well. My bigger tomatoes have been slower growing as well, but I have heard from other people that it hasn’t been a good year for them either.
I have a bell pepper growing and a couple of cucumbers.
My herbs are recovering from it being super hot again, but they were doing really well. I made basil pesto from garden herbs to take up north with us and it was fabulous.
I had a handful of peas and beans, but the squash is doing its best to strangle them.
Piggy likes to browse the herbs for a fresh salad when she thinks we’re not looking. You’d think this would help her doggy breath, but you’d be wrong. 🙄
My nasturtiums are growing all over the place and I love it! I’m going to harvest and dry the blooms for fancy butter for our LOTR party this year and to make fancy floral sugar.
So overall, it’s a good garden year and I’m revising plans for next year already. Soon I’m hoping to start canning things, although I’ll have to find a good source for tomatoes. Wish me luck on that! I’ll send good garden vibes your way!
