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: