final garden report

I havent tended the garden since july or so, but still we get fruit. overall this year has been a good garden year, and it probably would have been even better had I taken the time to water, weed and spray in the mid and late season. but alas, the bugs and heat and baby preparations kept me away.

but we still get cherry tomatoes and a few other tomatoes as well, and the peppers are doing ok, although we dont really use them. the cantaloupes did ok, but were a disappointment. we got a grand total of 3, and they didnt taste any better than store-bought. the cukes did well early on, but they got bug-eaten after a while, and didnt have enough sun to get really productive. the squash were all total failures again, thanks to the vine-borer. the peppers did ok, although we didnt have very many, but we dont eat very many, so no complaints.

the first crop of tomatoes was great, except for the "mr. stripeys" which rotted before they were ripe, and therefore got renamed "mr. crappies." the bugs and fungus and whatnot got to most of the other tomato plants by mid season, excepting the superstar of our garden: the cherry tomato. this plant was and is simply awesome. it may be because it got the most sun, but it grew up 6 feet and over 5 more feet, and it would give a handful of tomatoes each day all season long, and it's still going strong. we actually had 2 types of cherry, and they were radically different. this one vined like crazy. if I ignored it for a week, I would come back in with a dozen or so, perfect for snacking. another good tomato plant was the "lemon boys" and they're still doing ok. by now the few other plants that are still producing get some sort of rot or fungus before the fruit is ripe. oh well.

we'll see if we have time, interest and energy for gardening next year. I get into it in the spring, but neglect it in the summer, but we've still done ok. it would be nice to have more sun, but I dont want to wish the giant trees down on our house. I'll definitely at least try more cherry and lemon tomatoes next year. who knows? maybe caleb will enjoy gardening too.