With so many parts of the world experiencing either lack of rain or flooding, we feel very blessed to be in an area where, at this point, we seem to be just right. Our gardens (and weeds) are growing just fine. I thought you might enjoy seeing some updated pictures. The last time I posted any pictures, we only had a tiny bit of lettuce and nothing else. We still haven’t been eating much that we’ve grown, but we’re getting close!
Here are our bush beans…full of little purple flowers!! By the end of the week, we should be picking and eating!!! fresh green beans. I can’t wait!
Here is our raised garden bed of pepper plants. Matt’s actually picked a few hot peppers last week. I’ll be letting him deal with the hot peppers this year. I’m a little bit nervous – go figure. :)
We planted a few okra plants just for fun and are excited to see them doing so well. They like the hot sun, and finally, they are getting their fair share of it.
We obviously have more than one tomato plant (so that we can make and can our own tomato sauce and tomato soup and salsa for the year), but I just did a close up picture of one plant to show you the little yellow flowers that will soon be making juicy tomatoes for my tacos!
If you have a garden, please share how it’s doing! I always enjoy hearing about the differences of what grows at what rate in different parts of the world. What are you eating out of your gardens??
Here’s our menu plan this week:
Sunday, July 10
Oatmeal, fruit
Creamy mac and cheese, peas, cantaloupe
Popcorn chicken, potato wedges, green beans
Monday, July 11
Homemade donuts, applesauce
Grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, carrots sticks and sweet peppers
Cheddar ranch burgers, creamy cole slaw, watermelon
Tuesday, July 12
Cinnamon swirl bread, cantaloupe
Turkey ranch pinwheels, smoothies
Pizza casserole, tossed salad, zucchini
Wednesday, July 13
Coconut flour muffins, plums
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans, steamed carrots
Pizza, strawberry-peach slushies, raw veggies with ranch dip
Thursday, July 14
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Sweet bean bake, watermelon
Grilled chicken, corn on the cob, tossed salad
Friday, July 15
Peanut butter honey toast, pears
Taco potatoes, peaches
Chicken fajitas with homemade tortillas
Saturday, July 16
Scrambled egg sandwiches, nectarines
Leftovers
Tuna salad on crackers, fresh pineapple
LIz says
My garden has tomatoes, squash, purple okra, and lots of various bush and pole beans. It was kind of a trial and error garden this year, seeing that we are in a new land with new dirt.
Laura says
Here in central VA, we are getting cucumbers and squash so far in our garden. Tomatoes, zucchini are close. I’ve been getting cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, and lots of corn from my dad’s garden.
Amy C. says
In central GA, I’m container gardening, because our yard is solid clay. We’ve been eating tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and banana peppers for at least a month, maybe more? I tried green beans last year, and they didn’t fare well.
holly zeger says
I can’t wait to try all your recpies!
Shannon says
Here in IN, we’re finally getting closer to some real treats. We’ve only been eating swiss chard, lettuce and cilantro so far. I’ve got a couple of real small zucchinis and my green beans have flowers too so hoping for some harvest soon!
Melody says
Here in SC our gardens are going crazy. At least ours is, anyway. Our broccoli and lettuces were done a long time ago. We put up 19 quarts of green beans this week, and have a FULL crock of fermented sweet pickles that will be ready to can tomorrow. Our tomatoes and cukes have been doing really well, and in a week or two we’ll probably start canning the tomatoes. Our limas look good, but aren’t quite ready yet, and the yellow squash is producing more than we can eat.
It’s been an interesting experiment this summer as I’m 7 months pregnant. My husband has been amazing with helping me prepare all the food for storage. I normally hate to ask for his help with him as busy as he is anyway, but I’m so thankful that he can and DOES help me with it!
Beth the mama bee says
We are in southern IN and have eaten lettuce and spinach (it’s all over now though) picked strawberries and raspberries and blueberries. We has just a few sugar snap pods but the bunnies got most of those. From the vege patch we have been enjoying several jalapenos, green peppers, yellow squash, and one egg plant, and one zucchini this weekend. Oh, we also pulled up three onions this weekend. The tomatoes are so close, my mouth is watering! We are waiting on the corn, the watermelon, the potatoes, the cucumbers. The bunnies also got all the green beans and the peas. darn bunnies.
McKinsey says
Here in Tn, I have cucumbers galore (we are a pickle eating family), squash, zucchini. My carrots are ready to pull and can, my lettuce is long gone (too hot) and I’ve already put up peas.
The bad news is that all 65 of my tomato plants have blight so we will lose most of that crop. I have tons of tomatoes growing but alot of them are mushy (boo hoo) I did replant 8 tomato plants a few days ago in a different area hoping they’ll at least give me something before fall. I will have to buy tomatoes to can this year. It’s all a growing experience and I do love a garden!
Alyssa says
We tried a bunch of different fruits and veggies this year, but the drought (SE TX) has taken care of most of them…still going to start seeds for second season, in hopes we’ll start getting some much needed rain…I was so hoping to have enough produce to attempt preserving it!
Melissa says
Your garden is so beautiful! My husband and I recently bought our own house so we started a garden this spring. My beans are doing very well, cucumbers are starting to bloom, carrots are doing good, my cantaloupe didn’t do so well this year… all they did was sprout and then they never grew anymore after that. I also did some late planting and bought a large tomato plant and a cherry tomato plant. Both are doing good! Plus we have one chili pepper plant and it has one chili on it so far! Its so cute, lol. Anyway! Thank you for sharing and for being such an inspiration to me. ^_~
Amanda says
We’re in NC and it has been HOT! Our zucchini died on us and we only got a little of our spinach (it was planted a little late and the heat got it). Right now we have cucumbers that are going crazy. There are so many more than I can eat. We have lots of of watermelon but they don’t look well at all. Some have split open and others have began to rot…sigh. Our tomato plants have buds and tiny tomatos. I guess for our first year it’s not too bad. I’ve been able to put away several jars of pickles and watermelon rind preserves.
Tiffani says
East TN here! I’ve put up 16 gallon size bags of green beans. Our tomatoes are just starting to come in. The corn should be ready some time this week. Banana peppers are being eaten at random, carrots still growing and we lost the zucchini to powder mildew (?). We have baby watermelons that are fun to watch.
I love this time of year!
Angela says
Oh my goodness – I have a jalapeno pepper story myself… and now I have a box full of gloves on my counter.
Our garden is doing GREAT! We’ve got tomatoes, collards, green beans, blackeyed peas, and eggplant right now. Our cabbage has come and gone (and is in the freezer), and butternut squash is on the way!
LaShell says
Our garden looks sad :(
We have 2 raised beds and 2 barrels in a community garden in our apartment complex, but we got started kind of late waiting for everything to get built and set up. We’ve never gardened before, making it even more of an experiment. All that plus the Texas heat has made it pretty hard. Our potato plant died and I think my husband is going to dig it up today to see if there are any potatoes at all (doubtful). Our one tomato that was almost ready now has a big hole in its side. Most of the other 5 or 6 things look like they’re struggling. The one thing that seems to be growing great is some sort of melon plant that popped up OUTSIDE the bed where a neighbor just buried old fruit leftovers! Irony at its best…
I guess I’m thankful I don’t have to survive off of what I grow!
Carissa White says
I have been working in the garden what feels like non stop and the weeds are winning. However I have made some sort of dent in them and the beans are starting to bud and soon we will have blooms same with some of the tomato plants I planted about 35 of them so I am hoping to not have to buy any this year for canning last year I had over 50 and still had to buy most of ours. Here in WY the weather…well yes…the weather. So far so good this year. Zucchini should be blooming soon so I am hoping to be swimming in those as well. Great pictures.
How many tomatoes do you plant and how many ft row of green beans? Thanks so much for sharing!
Hunie says
We are eating garlic, jalapeno peppers, basil, and tomatoes right now.
Squash and melons are growing and should be giving us produce in a month or so….
I have to tell you that okra is a pain to harvest…ugh and double ugh!
Laura says
here in northern WI we just picked our first cucumber today!! :) our tomatoes are blossoming as are our peppers, the potato plants are big and heathy too :)
Laura says
forgot to mention our corn is also knee high (by the 4th of july! lol)
nichole says
I have ten huge tomato plants. Most are near seven feet tall here in California. I have canned a ton already and have been making lots of caprese (sp) salads, spaghetti sauces, your enchilada sauce, and many other things. Oh, and I have done my fair share of eating lots and lots of strawberries too. The kids have been also picking tomatoes and strawberries off the vines. It’s done wonders for their stools. TMI I know!
Sara says
I’m in Louisiana. Early this spring we put away shallots, and we are done with those. We’ve already harvested our green beans, and those plants are done too. The fast few weeks we’ve been busy with bell peppers, banana peppers and squash. Over the weekend we canned our first two jars of diced tomatoes…hopefully MUCH more to come! We are going to plant butter beans next. I hoping those will be ready by the time our baby is old enough for some soft solids.
And I can’t wait to try the pizza casserole!
Katie says
I am not having much luck in my garden. So far, two tomatoes and one pepper. Well, we have been eating lettuce for quite a while now but yah, definitely having trouble with the tomatoes and peppers. Do you have cucumbers yet? Mine are just starting to grow.
http://my-own-test-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/07/gardening-not-for-faint-of-heart.html
Heather T. says
Central Wisconsin here, we just ate green beans in a stir fry yummy, have tons of green tomatoes and have been eating salad and swiss chard, my peppers look very sad. every year its a gamble we have been having blight that last two years on the tomatoes so hopefully they will ripen.
Jennifer N. says
Laura,
What kind of green beans and tomato plants do you plant? I am suprised you don’t have your tomatoes staked or in cages. Do you rotate your veggies to different beds each year to prevent disease? I am sad to see my veggies plants for 2 years in a row take a nose dive. I live in SW Missouri and my tomatoes look terrible, plus they have some sort of bug or fungus I can’t get rid of… and my pepper plants aren’t producing.
Laura says
We plant a variety of tomatoes each year, depending on what we get our hands on and YES, they totally need to be in cages. Hopefully we can still get that done before they get too big!!
Green beans – we like Contender Bush Beans best.
Valerie Ringuette says
Here in Southeast Michigan we don’t have tomatoes yet but they are flowering, cucumbers and coming in, corn is taller than me, peppers are tiny and cute! Carrots are going strong and bean are ready! This is fun! Accidentally killed the potatoes though. My brocolli was beautiful but I was waiting for it to look like store bought and found out too late it doesn’t do that w/o pesticides. Oh well….better next year.
Kris says
Hi, Laura,
This is my first time commenting on your site. I enjoy your blog posts and all the varied topics you write about. :)
I’ve been learning to garden the past few years, and even though I’ve learned lots, whew, I’ve got so much more to learn.
I’ve gotta ask, since healthy food is so important to you, do you spray anything on your pepper, tomato or zucchini plants? This is the first year I have, using organic insecticide and fungicide, and although I have seen improvement in my plants, I can’t afford to spray as often as the label recommends! (My husband’s opinion is that we do not save any money by having a garden…) Do you use anything for bugs or fungus?
Thanks! :)
Laura says
No we don’t spray anything on them. We do have bug problems sometimes, but we just don’t feel good about any sprays.
Micah says
Here in south Louisiana our garden is almost finished. We’re still picking tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. The deer got most of the purple hull peas when the plants were just a few inches tall. I wouldn’t mind so much if we actually got to SEE the deer! We’re hoping to plant again for the fall, a first for us. How do you keep the weeds from overtaking your garden? I can’t keep up!
Laura says
My husband has been working hard daily to keep the weeds under control. If it were up to me, weeds would be out of control!!
Becci says
Oh, I just did a garden update on my blog, too. We’re in Portland, OR and had a cold, wet Spring, so things got off to a slow-ish start. But now that we’re getting some sun, things are taking off. I just harvested some broccoli, cauliflower, beets, kohlrabi, kale, chard, and a few strawberries. Everything else is growing just fine. I did have to get some organic slug killer because otherwise everything was being eaten up. This is actually my first year gardening and I went all out! I am not sorry I did, either :).
D says
We are in the Black Hills and we have had a very cool year so far. My garden is looking well except my peppers. Goats ate 45 plants to the ground. My other plants are doing well. We have eaten lettuce, spinach, chard, radishes, strawberries, onions, and just picked our first yellow summer squash. OH AND PEAS, 1 QUART! Love my peas. Also first picking of beats. Cabbage looks good. God has watered faithfully without flooding:)
Linna says
Can you provide the recipe for your canned salsa and how you prepare it for canning?
Laura says
I love sharing all my recipes, but this is one recipe I can’t share: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/the-story-of-my-moms-salsa-and-why-i-cant-share-my-salsa-recipe :)