Garden 2026

Update 6

Lots have been going on in the garden since the last update.  I bought 21 bags of potting soil mix to fill the 10 new black bins for the garden.  I am getting rid of the older bins that are thin plastic (and breaking) and replacing them with the new heavy duty ones.  Now the whole garden will be the same.  Weird thing - if I ordered 22 bags, I would get charged for delivery.  But if I order 21 bags, the delivery was free.  So I ordered 21 bags . . .

The older plastic bins that didn't break, I put them outside the fence and will plant flowers in them.

The back door to the greenhouse broke a while back and I had some chicken wire across it but I kept getting stuck with the pointy wires.  So I took 2 old shelves and zip tied them together - they fit perfectly and I no longer injure myself trying to reach the green beans.

The watermelon, pumpkin and cantaloupe did not do well.  I got 2 very small cantaloupe (gave them to the chickens), 1 underripe watermelon (it was rotting on one end so I picked it - the chickens loved it.) and zero pumpkins.

The beets and radishes also did not do well.  I picked one beet - it was not good.  The plants were affected by aphids - did my best to get rid of them but the beets could not recover.  I did get 7 radishes but that was it.  I even planted a second round, but they did not produce any.  It was mostly leaves with no radish attached.  I had a whopping 2 ounces total for the radishes and beets.

The corn stalks gave me 6 very small deformed corn cobs - but the chickens didn't care - they ate them!  Ended up with about a pound.

The zucchini did pretty good - got 16 that weighed in at about 17 pounds.  I canned some up (Zucchini in Pineapple Juice) and made several cucumber, zucchini & tomato salads as well as some ratatouille.  

Zucchini in Pineapple Juice - tastes like pineapple!

The onions came in at about 1+ pounds (28 total) - they were not very big but they tasted good!

The tomatoes are done!  We ended up with 5 Big Boy tomatoes, 30 regular tomatoes and 876 cherry tomatoes - for a total of about 17+ lbs.  I made lots of Pico de Gallo (13 half pints) with the cherry tomatoes and lots of tomato & mayo sandwiches with the other tomatoes.

Some of the jars that were canned - Pico de Gallo on the left and Dill Relish on the right:

The cucumbers did well - 52 picked (almost 14 pounds).  I canned 9 pints and 1 half pint of dill relish along with using them in a salad.  After the vines died back, I pulled up the plants and planted more seeds.  The vines are growing and today I found some flowers on them!

For the Bell Peppers - I got 13 (1.75 lbs) - I made 13 stuffed peppers with them!  Got a funny looking one too!

The Banana Peppers are still producing - so far I have picked 50 (about 1.25 lbs) and I made several jars of refrigerated pickled banana peppers - they taste great in a salad!

My eggplants are still producing but I have picked 19 so far (10.5 lbs) and I have made 11 pans of eggplant parmigiana and used some in a ratatouille. 

Lastly, the green beans - they are still producing as well.  I have picked 544 so far (about 4.25 lbs).  I have put them all in the freezer and will be enjoying them for months.

Here is the right side of the garden:

View from the front:

Inside the "topless" greenhouse:

I love my bug catcher!  It really works and I was able to get the bug population down in the garden.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work for aphids . . .

For now, I will keep picking green beans, banana peppers, eggplant and hopefully some cucumbers!

Garden 2026 

Update 5

The garden seems to be holding its own.  It has been a roller coaster ride with drought and then days of heavy downpours.  I am still fighting the fungus, leaf miner larvae and powdery mildew.  But even with all that, I am still harvesting lots of veggies.  Here is how things look now:

The Big Boy tomatoes seem to be hardest hit with the fungus.  So far, I

have only picked 5 tomatoes and right now, there are none on the plants.  The bottom of the plants (photo on the left) have all the leaves removed but that hasn't stopped the plant from growing up and over the wall!  There may still be hope . . .

The cantaloupe vines are suffering with a powdery mildew but there  

are at least 5 cantaloupes growing  (circled in red on photo - top right).  There were 7 but 2 of them rotted - not sure why.  Could be due to the massive amount of rain we had over the last few days.

The cherry tomatoes have gone wild!  They have also suffered with the fungus, but it has not slowed them down at all.  As of June 23rd, I have picked 489!

The banana peppers are doing well - picking several every week.

 

The beets are having a problem with aphids.  I cut off all the damaged leaves (which was most of them) - new leaves grew and then the aphids attacked again.  Not sure if I will get any beets. 

The zucchini plants got so big and heavy it was hard to contain.  I did get 16 zucchinis and they were tasty!  I planted more seeds to see if I can get another round.

The corn gave us 6 ears and we gave them to the chickens.  They were the bicolor corn and not fully covered with kernels but the chickens didn't care.  The photo shows 4 remaining stalks with high hopes of more corn . . .

The bell peppers are going great and I have enjoyed making stuffed peppers with them.

The radish did not do so well the first go round - picked only 6.  I planted more seeds . . .

The cucumbers are growing all over the place!  Funny thing, they are weird shaped cucumbers.  Seems like they curl and don't fully grow all the way to the end.  But they taste good and make good relish!

The eggplants are doing well even though their leaves don't show it.  Something is eating the leaves but I haven't found the culprit.  I suspect aphids but I have not seen any on the leaves.  It hasn't stopped the plant from producing though.  I have already made a couple of trays of eggplant parmigiana and I have more eggplants in the fridge to make more.

The green beans are having an issue with the leaf miner larvae, but the plants are growing like crazy.  I am picking green beans almost every day - just a couple but it adds up!

The onions are hanging in there!  It really isn't the right season for them - I am hoping they will hang in until the fall.  Time will tell . . .

The pumpkin plants are fighting the powdery mildew and leaf miner larvae.  I had a nice pumpkin growing and then one day it was flat and rotten.  Broke my heart.

The regular tomato plants have the same issue as the Big Boy tomatoes with the fungus but at least these are producing tomatoes (circled in red). 

Watermelon!  The vines have the powdery mildew and leaf miner larvae but it hasn't slowed it down at all.  We only have one watermelon growing but it is a beauty!  I put a rack under it to keep it off the ground.

I started the garden on March 20th and this update is as of June 23rd.  I am not disappointed at all!  We still have more time in our growing season, and I am excited to see what is in store!  Here is the whole picture (the tarp in the back is just a storage area):

 Chickens!

We have one chicken, an Easter Egger, that lays green eggs. For some reason, there is always calcium bits inside the egg - not very pleasant to eat.  At least not for us!  So I save all the green eggs - then I hard boiled them and chop them up into little bits and add a can of kernel corn.  The corn is added to mask the flavor of the eggs so that they don't get the idea to start eating the eggs after they lay them.  It is their absolute favorite thing to eat!  

 Garden 2026

Update 4

Things are moving along in the garden.  I have run into a couple of problems - the major one is a fungus that is attacking my tomato plants.  I keep cutting off the affected leaves and then spray it all with an organic fungicide.  I don't think I am winning . . . time will tell.  The other issue is bugs - leaf miner bugs.  I have never had those before and didn't even know what it was until I googled it.  I remove the leaves they are on and it seems like I am seeing less of them now so maybe I am winning that one - I think . . .

 

Here is the front view of the garden (greenhouse on the right and fenced in area on the left).  NOTE:  the greenhouse is only a partial greenhouse.  The roof has been removed and one wall has been removed - the wall that borders the fenced in garden.  The fence is attached to front and back ends of the greenhouse.  It has worked well in keeping the critters out.

This is a view of the inside of the fenced in garden:

Here's the closeup!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been able to harvest a few things so far:  7 zucchini, 4 banana peppers and 1 radish

 

And there is more to come!

 

The bees are visiting the yard, so the plants are being pollinated!

  

Getting excited to see what's next to pick!

 Garden 2026

Update 3

Things are moving along nicely in the garden.  I even harvested one veggie!  Here's what it looks like now (April 25-27, 2026)

 

Hubby planted Comfrey - it is outside the garden fence

The Garden

I am looking forward to harvesting some more veggies . . . probably just zucchini . . . for now . . .