Garden Harvest - Better Than I Expected!

After more rain than normal, as experienced over the past 25 years, the garden is surprisingly starting to produce.  I had real doubts. The harvest is much better than I had anticipated - yippee!  In overview, to date…

The potatoes are large and flavorful; but, the onions are small and soft.

The 20th+ time Glenn harvested this season's cucumbers!

The cucumbers are prolific; but, the butter squash vines are dying.

 

The banana peppers and green peppers are big and plentiful, enough to can and freeze respectively.

 

The sweet corn, what remained after losing some pre-ear development stalks that fell over in the soggy ground, is perfect - sweet, tender and abundant enough to eat daily at the moment with surplus to freeze for winter use.

The pole beans have been sparse due to the zealous Japanese beetle invasion. Those that we do harvest are delicious. And, it looks like there will be more to come.

 

 dried the grapes for sweet raisins

The fruits did not fare as well as the cherries were a total loss, the strawberries produced less than our usual harvest, the grapes developed only a minimum crop, the blueberries were normal, and the apples are still growing.  The raspberries have been ripening regularly all summer long.  Some have been used as an ice cream topping, some have been frozen and some have been dried.  The raspberries also produce well late in the season, so I am expecting a good final tally.

Fortunately, my early season prediction of garden yield was not totally accurate.  We ended with more bounty than I projected.  

And, our taste buds and stomachs are well satisfied and will be throughout the dormant season due to our preservation efforts.

Note:  As I was drying a few dishes, I happened to hear a desperate crying.  I looked out the window in time to see Buddy starting to walk away with a small bunny in his mouth.  I yelled, ‘Buddy,’ at which he dropped the small creature that immediately ran back into the same garden bed for hiding.  Buddy walked away with a short-lived sadness.  Minutes, later, I heard that same distressed cry, looked out and saw that Buddy was back in that same garden bed hunting that same bunny.  I saved that bunny twice. But, I did not know how long my luck, rather that bunny’s luck, would keep him safe and alive.  I went out to try to chase the bunny away, but I could not find him.  He was hiding extremely well under the lush foliage of my leadwort ground cover. Unfortunately, I do not have the same sense of smell as Bubby to aid me in my search. This bunny is on his own. 

 

Other garden creatures are not lucky...

one of our pets (cat or dog) is doing their job...

Some garden nuisances, like this dead mole, is better to me and my gardens on the deceased side.  I have included the photo only because the fly looks interesting…check out the colors!



Can I ever stop taking photos of butterflies?  Probably not!