Things are winding down in the garden.  The onions are done – they never got very big – not sure what was going on with them.  I gave up on the eggplants.  First it was aphids.  I killed the aphids and ended up killing the eggplants as well.  Planted more eggplants.  Then the ants moved in.  No matter what I did – cinnamon, diatomaceous earth, soapy water spray, etc – nothing worked so I just pulled them all up.  Finally put down some ant killer (I don’t like using pesticides in the garden – this was a last resort).   

 

The fungus got the pumpkin and cucumber leaves.  I bought some stuff to get rid of it but it didn’t seem to do much.  The plants ended up dying.  I planted more cucumber and pumpkin seeds – not sure if they will do well or not.

The watermelons did not get very big.  There were 2 that were nice and round – a nice size.  The chickens loved them!  The rest were very small but the chickens didn’t mind.

                                        

We are still getting green beans, tomatoes and bell peppers.  So far, I have harvested approximately 520 green beans, 27 regular tomatoes, 656 cherry tomatoes, 8 small onions, 20 bell peppers and 7 watermelons.  I also harvested a bunch of basil and made 3 batches of pesto.  

The green beans filled 10 containers – 9 of them are in the freezer (1 container has been eaten).  I have crushed up a lot of the cherry tomatoes and they are in 4 containers in the freezer.  I also made a jar of pickled cherry tomatoes – something new – not too bad.  Some of the cherry tomatoes went into salads.  For the regular tomatoes, I have enjoyed tomato & mayo sandwiches and BLTs.  Even the chickens have gotten to enjoy some of the tomatoes!  I have 4 containers of bell peppers in the freezer (plus some that have been eaten).

The tomato plants got attacked by hornworms.  Every day I needed to go and pull them off the tomato stems.  I have a mason jar filled with soapy water and the hornworms, caterpillars, stink bugs and bug eggs get dunked into the jar.  I also saw a very unusual bug – the Eastern Leaf Footed bug.  The rest of the garden does not seem to have any bug problems.

The marigolds are so pretty!!  I moved some into the raised planter and one side is doing really well.

As of today (July 27), I trimmed all the dead and bug eaten stems of the tomatoes.  I don’t think the tomatoes will last much longer – although there are still quite a few cherry tomatoes still on the plants.  The regular tomato plants do not have any tomatoes left. 

I have started burying compost into the vacant areas of the garden. I found some info on the internet about trench composting – it is what I do and didn’t know it had a name!  In the spring my hubby will till it all together. 

 

Till the next update . . . happy gardening!