Multiple Garden Friday Updates: September 10

As soon as June rolled around I got totally and completely lazy with the garden updates. The good news is that everything grew remarkably well. In fact, it was better than I had planned it would be. The abnormally cool July (the average temperature for July was 18º C/ 64º F) kept things from drying out, and extended the life of my sugar snap peas. The sugar snaps were over run by pole beans, but before I could notice any of it, the beans were growing like weeds. The garden grew despite weird weather, lack of attention due to many vacations, the abundance of snails, and my irregular watering schedule.

Gardening is a full-time job, but the rewards are plentiful and better than you can imagine; even if you grow food in small spaces and only have room for containers.

Here were the "harvests."

Remember the garden looked like this at the end of June.

The first week of July I was collecting many delicious looking veggies:

There's mint, chard, snow peas, lemon cucumbers and bush cucumbers, and broccoli. 

If you ignore broccoli it grows fibrous and tough, but it looks pretty with flowers:

and since you grew it, you'll eat it, and mmm the fibrous tough broccoli is so good in risotto:

Strawberries make a small come-back with the cooler weather of July:

In August, I failed to take pictures of the garden, but I didn't fail in taking pictures of all the garden produce making it's way into various meals:

Remember pesto with gnocchi? Tomatoes placed strategically:

While my outdoor basil was destroyed by slugs (or lack of watering), my indoor gave a steady supply (as pesto!):

it also dressed up potatoes and garden grown green beans:

And then when you go out of town, but you have too many cukes lying around, refrigerator pickles:

Get your friends to make fresh homemade cheese croquettes and then sit outside for al fresco dining and then oooh and aaah at how overgrown and crazy the garden looks (do you see the cabbage still growing, and the pole bean takeover of the fence?):

The best part of going out of town is coming back to a garden bounty. I'm just in time for a new month of photogarden documeting:

beans, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, mint, lemon cukes (not pictured, bruschetta made from huge handfuls of deliciously overripe (as if there is a thing) tomatoes.

Now, it's time to dust the seed packets off and get to the fall plantings.