Summer Vegetable Garden, 2006

Overall, I have been pretty darn pleased with how the vegetable garden did this year. Vegetable gardening with the dogs has really been fun. Whenever Berry sees me checking on the seedlings in the beds he runs over to see what there is to eat! The poor guy doesn't know that the fall/winter vegetables grow a LOT slower than the summer Vegies do!


The Poblano peppers did great! We ate a lot of them and froze some in casseroles and roasted some off to use in dishes through the winter. We planted two plants, and I think that was the perfect number for the two of us...We never introduced the dogs to the peppers, we didn't want to share.

The green beans did well too, however we planted them too late, and we planted too many seeds. Next year we will plant one single row and leave room for spinach (just in case there is a repeat of the spinach scare of 2006). The beans ripened very late and all at once, and when they needed picking, we really busy, so most of them got old and starchy; really a waste.

All of the spring greens did great. Next year we will need to work on the timing so that their maturation will be spaced better. We waited to plant some of the summer vegies because we were reluctant to pull the spring vegies before they were mature...That was a mistake.

The eggplant did well, we planted three plants this year, and I think that two will probably be plenty for next year.

The Tomatoes were really the only disappointment this year. We planted them WAY to late, I think on the first of July, and we planted plain "Roma" tomatoes, not our favorite 'Sausalito' Tomatoes. We are trying to ripen them in the garage, but although they are turning red, the quality is very poor. Many of the tomatoes even have caterpillars in them; the only pest problem (other than Min Pins!) we have had this year. We planted three plants and staked them up with rebar bent into a "staple" shape; that worked really well. We will plant three plants again next year, but they will be in the ground no later than May 25th!

Tomatoes hanging in the garage, ripen. ripen, ripen!

The herbs did pretty good. But next year I want to plant them in individual pots, the mixed pots look nice, but they really get root bound quickly.

The strawberries did great. The ones in the sun produced better than the ones in part shade. We may try them in a hanging basket next year...Berry loves strawberries!