The Garden Update

True Lemon Cucumber

In spring we planted our summer garden.  This is what it looked like back then.  This year we planted four types of tomatoes (roma, early girl, brandywine, and cherry) and had one volunteer tomato. We also planted a zucchini and a true lemon cucumber.  The kale is a leftover from our winter garden and I just let it keep doing it's thing.  At the end of summer I like to evaluate what we planted, what worked, what didn't work, and note recommendations for next year.  So let's go plant by plant. First, the true lemon cucumbers....we've gotten a handful so far and while they are good I think next year we'll stick with the traditional cucumber or japanese cucumbers.  Since our garden space is so small I try to stick with high yield varieties go get more bang for my buck so to speak.

I planted a LOT of tomatoes this  year.   Next year I'll stick with two.  I love Brandywine tomatoes but they just don't seem to do well in our mild, coastal climate.  Even with the hot summer we've had, we only got three of these.  Same with romas, which typically do really well. I think I packed too much into the garden and shaded out the romas.  The cherry tomatoes have been doing fantastic. We've been getting a small basket a day. And the volunteer tomato which is a cherry as well has been going gangbusters. So much so that it has gotten out of control.

Volunteer cherry tomato

 The kale is booming and has done great.  I'm just going to let it keep going.

 The zucchini never really took off this year. Typically they take over the garden. When we bought this plant my husband warned that it didn't look healthy.  I think he was right. Next time I'll heed his warning.

So next year, one cherry tomato, one other variety of tomato, one cucumber, one zucchini, and green beans.  That should be it.  I may do some other veggies in separate pots. We'll see what happens when next spring rolls around.