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