August Garden Update
(In case you were worried we disappeared.)
Summertime
So it’s been a couple months since the last post…hope you’ve all had a great summer! The pandemic had us at home more the past 2 years, but this summer we were away most weekends. We even took our first vacation since 2019, a glorious week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Travelling and visiting have been really great, but I do miss the garden when we’re gone. I gave up on weeding by July, and though the season started with high hopes for organized rows of produce, it’s all a jumbled mess here in mid-August.
What’s Been Growing Well
Tomatoes! Thanks mainly to the many tomato starts from Phillip’s brother and to the volunteer plants from last year’s tomatoes, we’ve had a steady tomato harvest. Not an overwhelming yield like last year; just plentiful enough to eat fresh, preserve, and share. I think this is the earliest we’ve had ripe tomatoes, likely due to a hot May and June. We’ve also had sunny, warm days and cool nights lately, which tomatoes love.
Zucchini! We missed National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day (August 8th), but our youngest has been bringing zucchini to the neighbors on a regular basis since July, so we’ve been living the spirit of this U.S. proverb:
Quinoa! A new crop to us this year, and the one I may be most excited about. I was researching grains that we could grow on our small lot and that would thrive in Zone 5-6, and came upon quinoa as a contestant. The impetus for growing grain was discussed in this March post & quinoa was mentioned in a reader’s comment (I hope to try quinoa’s relative, amaranth, as well next year, as she suggested). Our quinoa is almost ready to harvest. We’ll likely just cook it like couscous or rice to use as a side dish.
Other current garden successes are hot peppers (also courtesy of starts from my brother-in-law), grapes (which Phillip is most excited about, as the grape vines have been his project), butternut squash, peaches, Thai basil, potatoes, sunflowers, & about half of the corn (and that’s after a second seed planting, so not the greatest success but still…).
Garden Failures
Bell peppers! They just didn’t come up at all. Same with tomatillos. And most of the herbs. The greens all bolted too quickly in the early heat. I think we’ve harvested a single cucumber. The watermelons are so tiny that I doubt they’ll make it to maturity, unless we have an unseasonably hot autumn. The pea plants were eaten by rabbits in the Spring, and this week my lovely purple beans were all turned to stems overnight by the rascals!
Bee Update
We lost our queen during a weekend away, whether by death or swarm we’re not sure. Rather than panic like last year, we trusted the hive to re-queen themselves. Which they did, and she had a successful mating flight judging by all the eggs. The hive did remain queen-less for quite a few weeks, but their honey production has been astounding. And on today’s hive check, Phillip saw multiple new bees being tended by the nurses and walking around trying to get their bearings. Still haven’t been able to find the new queen, but she’s clearly a fine one.
The Harvest
This is the exciting time of the season, when you can find a tomato ripe by evening that still had a spot of green in the morning, or a zucchini that’s been hiding from you all week even as you picked its mates from the same plant.
What are you harvesting this month, friend? Did you plant something new this season? Did you have any gardening surprises or disappointments? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment or reply to this e-mail and we’ll have a harvest chat.
Happy gardening!
Erin, in Michigan
I love eating quinoa and love the idea of growing it (it’s so expensive to buy in the supermarket!). Have you harvested and/or eaten any of yours yet? Would love to know how you got on!