All those things sound delicious! More then I got going on in my garden. Do you enjoy cooking/baking? It's probably my favorite part of gardening, turning everything into food. I try to think out of the box when it comes to the usual and put a twist on it.
I’ve been getting more into cooking and baking this year, and while I enjoy it, I also don’t lol. I started gardening once the cost of food shot way up, and it forces me to be outdoors and eat healthier (though I still get skeeved out over bugs on my plants lol especially slugs. F those things).
Last year I planted 3 pear trees (2 Asian and 1 moon glow), which started my backyard transformation lol. This year I planted 2 more trees (honey crisp and William pride I think), 2 grape vines, then the veggies started. This is my first year growing, and it’s been a cool experience.
I mainly want to grow things you don’t typically see in the stores, though I do have a lot of common staples as well.
My list this year is:
Various lettuces (buttercrisp, cimaroon, oak leaf, etc), about 25 planted this year so far, have about 8 or so growing now, getting ready to plant another 9. I lost some to the wild rabbits that live in the tree line.
popcorn (which is doing really good), about 25-30 stalks, most have started developing 1+ cobs, a few are stunted / slow growers. The silks are turning from a reddish/purple to brown, so I think that means they’re pollinated.
jarahdale pumpkins (the first female bud popped out this week, so I hope she gets pollinated), planted 3 plants, and they’re really starting to take off now.
spaghetti squash - planted 3 plants and trained them up a trellis. Currently have 5 squashes growing with another 3-4 female buds that I’m not sure if they’re pollinated or not. These plants exploded and I had to reinforce their trellis this evening as it was leaning 45 degrees over. I suspect it’s from the rain and weight of the plant/leaves, as only 1 squash is off the ground, and it was on the other side.
kaleidoscope carrots - harvested about 10 or so of them so far. These seeds were kind of spotty. I have another batch going now, and still a few from the first batch.
Swiss rainbow chard, yellow/red/green. I have probably 6 or so of these spread out through the garden.
Cherry tomatoes - 14 super sweet 100’s, one mystery one off amazon (they’re bigger than a cherry but not the size of a regular tomato; somewhere in between, also yellow), and 2 sun golds. I definitely underestimated how these things grow and boy did they explode and take over. One is 9ft tall and is basically a tree, the rest are over 6 feet tall and bushes out a ton. I can pick 2 dozen tomatoes daily at this point.
cucumbers (lemon, Boston pickling, tender green, macklemore 76, and Armenian). The first round of plants seem to be deciding between dying off and producing new cucumbers. Being the rookie that I am, I planted 3 plants in 5 gallon grow bags, for a total of 12. In the raised bed, I planted another 8, and then I just planted another pair of Armenians in their own 5 gallon pots. So far I’ve probably taken 8 lemon cucumbers so far (there’s 5 more growing on them now), and another dozen off the rest. There’s currently 7-8 growing on the 5 gallon plants, and another 5 in the raised bed.
beans (green, purple, wax, dragon tongue). In the raised bed, I have 24 bean plants (8 each of the green, purple, and wax), so I pretty much have endless beans right now. The dragon tongues are still growing, but I have 6 of them spread out.
Peppers - California wonder, bell (orange, red, yellow, green), sweet cubanelle, chocolate, purple bell, cayenne (3), sugar drop orange (3). I have a total of 30 pepper plants, all at varying stages. Right now I have a handful of bells (yellow and orange), cubanelles, and lots of sugar drop orange.
Like berries: basically mini strawberries. I have a handful planted in a window planter and I’m getting a handful or so a week off of them. Was hoping for white and yellow, but seems all I got was red.
Snap peas: have 8 plants going currently.
Honeydew - 2 plants going
Cantaloupe - 2 plants going
The honeydew and cantaloupe may not have enough time. I planted them a few weeks ago, and while they’re flowering, I’m not seeing any female buds. We really only have a month and a half of really warm weather before fall temps arrive (frost date is around October 10th). We’ll see, though.
Watermelons: 2 tender sweet plants going (with 3 growing on the vines currently), and one crimson red, with 2 growing on it (well, I think they’re pollinated anyway, the other 3 are the size of golf balls now).
Bok choy - 3 plants that are doing good so far.
Broccoli - 8 going, 6 have been hit bad by cabbage moths, 2 are in the greenhouse.
And then tons of herbs and spices (basil, thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano, parsley, savory, dill, cilantro). Been drying them out and making my own spice jars.
So, back on topic lol I’ve made tons of salad this year, and I’m always harvesting spices to toss in my dehydrator and to use on various dishes. Baked chicken with garden fresh green onions and herbs and spices just taste so much better. Meatballs and burgers are a delight with them as well.
