Summer garden wrap-up

Bounty from this year's garden including winter squash, bell and jalapeno peppers, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, raspberries, ground cherries, Asian, green and wax string beans

Winter has settled in here.  It seems as though the start of summer was such a short time ago, Somehow life just got in the way so I'm only now posting my wrap up for this year's summer garden. People often ask how much our garden really produces.  My answers have varied from - enough tomatoes so I don't have to buy tomato sauce until May or enough frozen pesto to get us until the first basil harvest the next year, but I didn't really know for sure.  So this year, I decided to keep track of the weight of the harvest. We found a nice vintage scale and general store weight sets after my digital kitchen scale gave out after about a month.  Here are the totals for the 2014 summer garden harvest,

An antique store find

Summer 2014 harvest (in pounds)

Basil, sweet		1.40		Ground cherry		3.20		Potatoes		8.00
Basil, Thai		0.05		Kale		1.00		Raspberries		7.54
Blackberries		0.27		Lettuce		0.68		Rhubarb		1.29
Broccoli		1.20		Mint		1.23		Soy beans		4.50
Carrots		0.53		Melon		35.86		Squash		32.27
Collards		2.95		Onion		0.95		Stevia		0.23
Eggplant		20.07		Oregano		2.00		Tomatoes		150.87
Garlic and scapes		2.11		Peas		0.73		Zucchini		8.56
Green beans		16.96		Peppers		24.36

Each year I learn a little more about raising an edible garden with the weather and nature making each year a challenge and a surprise.  I didn't have as much success with cucumbers and melons this this year after last year's never ending bumper crop, so it was nice to have a break after a diet saturated with everything from cucumber-melon juice to cantaloupe jam.  This year, we had an abundance of eggplant and winter squash for me to find creative new ways to use.

Here are some of my favorite photos from this year's garden adventures:

January through September in the garden beds

Garden fun preserving the harvest for the winter

Harvests

In the bed, on the vine and at some colorful harvests

Garden beauties

It was a pleasant journey reviewing this last summer's work on a cold, dreary day.  I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of writing, creating and sharing with you in hopes that you are inspired to explore something new or revisit a forgotten creative endeavor.

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."  ~ Maya Angelou

Thanks for reading!