Harvest

Not a whole lot going on here on Cedar Street.  The garden is doing very well and we have been collecting crops for a week or two now.  The topsy-turvy tomato has produced some very delicious fruit and has another 15 or 20 green orbs hanging from the vines.

The pepper plants are progressing very slowly and it would be nice if some of the peppers would be ready along with the tomatoes.  Alas, they are not cooperating and we will have to enjoy our peppers separately from the tomatoes.

We have harvested enough broccoli for one meal.  This was the result of four plants.  I'm not so sure we will plant broccoli again as they take up a lot of space and the yield seems low.  They have grown well, but we don't have the space to grow enough broccoli to meet our needs.

The watermelon plants are growing like crazy, and if I could eliminate the chipmunks, we could have a bunch of watermelon.  We have two watermelon that are softball sized, and several more that are marble sized.  The chipmunks seem to like the marble sized fruit as the fruit vanish quite frequently.  We'll find a new spot for the watermelon next year and work on removing the varmints. 

The live trap I have for the chipmunks has failed, as they have escaped multiple times.  The trap specifically lists that it effective for trapping the little furry buggers, but they seem to sneak out through the cracks.  Their bellies were full of sunflower seeds for a little while, however my charitable attitude for the chipmunks has expired.  Perhaps that's why the watermelon have been disappearing.  Spiteful little buggers, I must say.

The rain barrels have been working as designed.  We have been in a bit of a dry spell again and I'm going to have to break into the second drum soon.  I have been using six to ten gallons of water daily to maintain the broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon and five flower boxes.  A third and fourth barrel may be in the works for next year, pending an appropriate location suitable to the house and downspouts.  We plan to expand the garden area next year and I feel the current water collection activities will be inadequate without increased capacity.  I haven't been watering the remaining flower gardens as the plants have passed through their bloom due to the exceptionally high temperatures this spring and summer. 

Heather and I went to the garden that is funded by our church to help harvest some of the crops on Thursday.  The garden is hosted by one of the church's farmers, the Eppler's, just down the street from the church.  During our conversation with Ms. Eppler, she explained that because of the heat this spring a lot of the plants grew very quickly but did not pollinate when they normally would, so some of the harvesting is a little more challenging due to plant size.  I volunteered to pick various squash, a decision I regretted soon after I dove in with my shorts and short-sleeved shirt.  Relief came in the form of a shower several hours later, but I survived.  Not really much of a sacrifice in the scheme of things.  Heather's brother, Chris, and his wife came up with the idea of the church having a garden to help people in need around the area. It seems to be working well. The church purchased the plants and some people have taken the plants home to tend, other plants were put on the farm. Chris's garden is doing well and he has taken several car-loads of vegetables to local people in need. It's a great idea and a few extra plants go a long ways to helping those in a less fortunate situation.