Heat Breaks, Garden Update

 

After three days of oven like heat, I finally made it out to the garden early one morning. Above is our sweetcorn patch that got blown completely flat earlier this summer during a summer storm. Slowly, some of it has stood back upright a bit but much of it is tangled and still horizontal. I thought it might kill it off since the stalks appeared to have snapped, but evidently enough fibers still connect it as it has stayed green and continues to develop ears. Finding the ears is a challenge but we've picked several messes of it already and there is still more left. Due to the horizontal nature of the ears, only the side facing up to the sky pollinated really well so the side facing the dirt can be a bit sparse in places. It won't win a beauty pageant but it tastes good. Thus far, the raccoons either haven't found it or haven't breached my electrified fence.

Above is our okra and Japanese eggplant. The okra was the only thing we planted from saved seed from our previous garden, and as it has a tendency to do, it is overwhelming us with okra right now. Our winter gumbos will be delightful this year. The eggplant is also doing very well. We like the Japanese variety which is still quite easy to give away any excess that we can't eat. We eat the eggplant in various forms three or four times a week this time of year.

Above is our test to try and raise Brussel sprouts. We raised some years ago but didn't get much of a yield and the heads weren't very tight. We thought perhaps it was because of the previous four years of drought and lack of water. There are lots of little heads formed and they are slowly filling out but the jury is still out as to whether we will be more successful this year when they have had plenty of moisture. On a side note, before the heat wave I took down all the netting one day and mowed around the edges of the garden and on either side of the Brussel sprouts to knock down any weeds and to mulch up the remains of our bean, potatoes and onion patches. It makes the garden look nicer and will hopefully make it easier to till later this fall.

Above is the tomato plantation that took over that end of the garden along with our abundant pepper plants and the last summer squash plant. Although it has a bloom, I think it is done producing for the year. Hopefully this will be the last year I plant so many tomatoes. Unpictured are some sweet potatoes that my wife planted where our spring greens were for the tendrils which they put in dishes. 

Finally, this was what I harvested from the garden this morning. The bucket of tomatoes is what I'm going to turn into seedless tomato sauce and the okra we are going to try and give away much of it and freeze the rest. I may pickle a few too. The sweetcorn is for tonight's dinner.