Garden status

Gardening is usually a good news/bad news situation at any given point. The good news in this cold summer is the zucchini, which have not succumbed to vine stem borers (yet), the first time in several years. It’s my first year with pole beans, and they are huge and producing nicely. I really enjoyed our first foray into lettuce. I tried some different peas, which are 6 feet tall and lovely for snacking. Much more productive than the other kinds I’ve tried. The potatoes are looking good. We’ve eaten two.

It’s been the best raspberry year ever. What’s even funnier is that they started out on the neighbor’s side of the fence. Those people moved, and the new people chopped theirs down. Luckily they were already established on our side. Then the “new new” neighbors pruned my canes down and I was pissed, but it turns out that helps make them more productive. Guess I should have read up on that.

Due mostly to the weather, I’m guessing, the tomatoes are pathetic. We’ve eaten a handful of cherry tomatoes, but that’s it. Cucumbers aren’t getting any bigger, either. The damn bunny continues to eat my soybeans and bush beans. Earwigs have taken up shop in the bok choy, ewww. And the eggplants are roughly the same size as they were in May.

Still, plenty of time before the frost. I should start another round of lettuce and baby bok choy, which doesn’t have the infestation problem.

I learned this year that a common weed, Lamb's Quarters, is very nutritious and can be cooked like spinach. Since my spinach is pretty pathetic, I’m definitely going to continue experimenting with the weed. Why not, right? It’s the edible version of garbage picking.