Heaven Sent Harvest

We really didn't have much of a summer here, it was more like a really LONG, not to mention dry, spring with just a couple of short weeks of mildly warmer temps thrown in. Now that fall has arrived, summer has too. Heat, but still extremely dry. We have only had one day with any measurable amounts of rain in the month of September. Hence the title of this post.

Add dryness to the fact that I have never once had an even reasonably successful harvest from any attempts at veggie gardening and I'd have to say it's miraculous. Thank God I mulched or I'd probably had yet another miserable failure!
My tomatoes are finally kicking it up into high gear. I was wondering if it would ever happen. This is my third harvest of the year of tomatoes. I am quite pleased with my first attempt at growing them, although I will not be using those flimsy store bought cages next year. There's got to be some sort of crazy artistic sculpture or something I can make with those useless things!
My hand pollinated apples that showed such promise this spring were a rather miserable failure. I guess next time I'll do better at keeping them watered. Now I'm listening to the kids argue over who gets to eat it. I sure wish I'd had enough foresight to see this train coming. Hopefully we'll have better luck in the coming years.
The zucchini practically grew itself. I've had so much of it I haven't known what to do with it. Apparently the only thing the family likes that's made of zucchini is bread. Any creative ideas of something not so boring would be greatly appreciated. I forget, have I ever mentioned that my family is just a wee bit picky?
The cucumbers could have done better, but this is my second decent batch. My family only likes pickles although MIL said they tasted really good. I wish I had done a better job of exposing my family to these things earlier in life. Maybe I wouldn't have all of these health issues now, not to mention complete and total food boredom for the most adventurous eater of the house. Sigh.

We had quite a few green beans though I think I will use the square foot garden method with them next year so I can squeeze a few more plants into my garden plan. I loved these beans fresh from the garden. I'd love to have some for canning purposes.

I must say my green pepper experiment taught me to not plant them so close to the tomatoes next year. It was way too shady for them to do much of anything productive. Better luck next year.

I also had some success with my potatoes that otherwise would have landed in the compost pile. I am wondering if some of the small ones can be saved as seed potatoes. How small is too small for a seed potato anyway? Anyone?

Now I suppose I better get working on my canning and preserving skills. Who would have known you could burn watermelon in a food dehydrator anyway? Oops! I love being able to reuse my glass jars and not having to send store bought cans to the landfill or recycling too. I feel like we're making great strides in being more earth friendly, chemical free, and building a healthier household. Yay us! Too bad some of this stuff is so time consuming, I bet more people would be going back to the old ways if they could.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy