Last of the Summer Harvest 2012

The last harvest of summer 2012!  I still have green peppers, a few tomatoes, and a couple cantaloupes left to mature, but for the most part my organic gardening has come to an end this year.  Now time will be devoted to making that compost gold for next years produce. 

Chicken wire removed from garden and rolled up waiting for next year!

The last and only cantaloupes of the year.  I left these buggers in my garden and will see if they get any bigger.  Update will follow. (update:  without the chicken wire covering, I came out one morning to check up on the cantaloupes and they both had huge bite marks out of them...lesson learned...next year I will not remove the covering until ALL veggies are harvested in my garden!)

My Green Bell Pepper Tree!  Still producing and making me proud!  The key to my success this year; started early, cut back while still inside to make plants stems stronger and leaves thicker, and brought outside and planted in container with compost and peat moss.  Watered every day when it didn't rain, and added additional compost halfway through season.  Due to the success of this plant this season I will be making more container green and red peppers next year.  Can't have enough peppers!  They freeze great!

Vegetable Plants in my compost pile.  Nature is remarkable in that nothing is wasted.  This wonderful process of composting will nourish my organic garden next year producing chemical free food for myself and family.  To this compost pile I will be adding the fall leaves that are so abundant here in my yard to compost over the winter and bring forth the tremendous amount of worms that just love living, eating, reproducing and pooping in my compost pile!  Other items added from inside the home are dryer lint, hair, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags, shredded paper/envelopes(no ink).   I don't add any meat or dairy products to my compost.  I read that this would invite critters you don't want in the vicinity of your home.  I am not sure how they would affect the compost itself.  Better to be safe than sorry I guess.

Nothing like eating organic from your own garden! Aug 18 Update!

Harvest from this weekend was not bad!  I am seeing the end of my great cucumber season, with just a few left there in the garden.  When I thought that it was the end of my bush beans this year, look at what I found!  A few tomatoes here and a few left on my container tomatoes.  And...my container green pepper "tree" is just amazing!  I have more peppers from that one container than I ever imagined possible!  Next update will include progress on watermelon, cantaloupes and my remaining eggplants.  WOOHOO! 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

The Good

The Bad

and the Ugly!

Still harvesting vegetables from my organic garden this year.  Pretty good considering the horrendous heat and torrential downpours we have had here in New Jersey.  A horrible summer growing season.  But my little vegetable garden with its wonderful compost has pulled through with an abundant bean harvest, eggplants galore, and more cucumbers than you can shake a stick at!  Well, that's the Good!....now for the Bad and Ugly............

Due to July 2012 being officially the hottest July on record, my tomatoes have decided that they have just had enough.  The skins on most of my tomatoes have split open or have scars from cracking and healing.  I will not eat these because it is my motto "better to be safe than sorry" when it comes to eating food grown outside.   My container tomatoes as you can see from the picture have decided they will concede defeat and are on their way to veggie heaven I think.  I thank them for their abundant harvest as they prepare to sacrifice themselves to be part of next years harvest in my wonderful compost heap!

Watermelon and Cantaloupe

I have just one watermelon and one cantaloupe to show from my garden today.  Earlier in the season I did have a few other watermelons, but sadly they did not mature before dying off.  I have always had trouble growing these guys. That's what gardens are really, a crap shoot!  Sometimes things work out, and sometimes you really don't know what you did wrong!  That's Life! 

Container Peppers Galore!

I think the key to this years successful container pepper harvest was cutting back the enormous amount of foliage that the plant initially had in the beginning of the season.  The plant was humongous and healthy but was not producing very many peppers.  So I took my handy scissors and trimmed back some of the stems being careful not to take off too many, and lo' and behold I have more peppers than ever!  Also, in the middle of this growing season I added another round of organic compost on the top of the container.  I am sure this helped also.  Next year I will be growing more food in containers because it works!

Crazy Cucumber Harvest Second Week of August 2012

End of July 2012 Great Organic Garden Update

Well, here we in the middle of our summer growing season 2012.
The harvest this year has been better than any growing season in my garden ever!  The key has been my covered garden!  This year I completely covered my vegetable garden with chicken wire and kept our wild animal friends from entering my garden and eating my food!  My first post on this blog showed a picture of my crude attempt at constructing a chicken wire cover, and crude it might be, but it worked!   Next year I will be making the garden higher to accommodate the larger growing plants.  The above picture shows the great eggplants and cucumbers harvested today.    The bush beans have been phenomenal this year, but I think we are seeing the few last batches from them.  The yellow cherry tomatoes, red tomatoes, and green peppers have been grown in container pots and have done beautifully. Thanks for checking in!

Yummy Eggplants! First of the season!

Picked white eggplants from my garden this morning, and sacrificed them for our dinner tonight!  Yum!

Composting for Organic Replenishment in the Garden

I am in no way an authority on the subject of composting for your organic garden.  But, it really is not rocket science.  I encourage you to read and learn about composting on more detailed internet sites which will give the process and explain how to build and maintain your compost pile.  There is nothing better for your organic vegetables than the pure, enriched compost soil.  So much in gardening is trial and error, but the reward of chemical free food is worth it!  Happy Composting!

Watermelon Progressing Nicely

The largest of my watermelons this year has decided to position itself comfortably upon a cement paver stone.  I will leave it there for now and see how this decision plays out.  Updates to follow.

A Surpise in My Garden!

I decided to move my container carrots this morning, and lo' and behold, deftly hiding behind them was this sweet cucumber!  Much larger than my other cucumbers growing haphazardly in my covered garden this year, I marvel at nature and the way it is always surprising us.  Gonna eat this baby tonight!

Organically Grown Vegetables Update

Eggplants, Yellow Plum Tomatoes, Bush Green and Wax Beans are harvested along with some small unknown variety of tomato that survived a windstorm which knocked over some of my container garden tomatoes!  I have since anchored the pots to an adjacent fence with bungee cords! 

Baby Watermelons are making some good progress!  

White Eggplants ...........  can't wait to try these babies!

I also have a massive amount of baby cucumbers which I have not grown on a trellis this year.  Trying the "grow on the ground on top of plastic wire fencing to keep off the ground and rotting" method.  Let's see if this works!  Updates to follow.


                             Happy Growing Everyone!

Container Gardening is a great way to grow food!

Container gardening is a great way to grow food!  To keep our wild animal friends from eating our container vegetables, I wrapped them in chicken wire.  It seems to be working, but next year I will be making the chicken wire a removable cage to lift up and off the plant to get easier access.  The extreme heat this year has really taxed the plants and ME, and watering has become an art.  Too little or too much seems to be the key to achieving success with container plants.  I also only use organic soils and food to help those container plants along to produce food all summer.

Vegetable Garden Summer 2012

Due to the deer, rabbits, skunks, squirrels, and birds, I was forced to cover my vegetable garden this year.  Last year I was competing with the wild animals in my neighborhood for the food I put so much hard work and money into to feed myself and family.  There is nothing like coming out to your garden on a beautiful summer morning to see chewed tomatoes and trampled bean plants, or finding that cantaloupe that was growing so wonderfully, GONE!  

Well, this year I constructed a chicken wire cover for the top of my garden which rests on top of two t-bars in the middle of the garden to hold the wire up.  I also anchored the sides with boards I recycled from my junk wood I had on hand.  The  key is to make it accessible by only securing the sides with pieces of wire and twisty  ties and leaving the middle open to be able to enter your garden to tend to the plants.  Also, get the smallest gauge possible on the wire for the sides and top of the garden to keep those precious little rabbits and skunks from consuming your garden gems!
Next year I will making the t-bars higher to accommodate the taller plants and also expanding my garden to GROW MORE FOOD!