Winding Down

Well, the summer garden is winding down.  The cantaloupes still on the vine are smaller than the first fruits, the tomato plants are either dying off or producing very small amount of very small tomatoes and yet oddly enough, the green pepper plant is still blooming. 

Go figure.

I'm going to have to purchase tomatoes at the Farmer's Market if I want to get that hot batch of salsa made this year.  I have to admit, I'm fairly disappointed in our tomato yield.  The big boy and better boy plants (of which there were only two, thankfully) only gave us a few small tomatoes.  The romas did well, except that little black ants took over one entire plant and ruined all of them. So half our plants either under produced or were killed by bugs, so I guess we didn't do too badly overall.  It's still a disappointment though.

The tomatoes I am still pulling off the vine are being fed to some of the pet rabbits and to the chickens. I might as well get some use out of them, as there are too many for us to eat, but too few to make it worthwhile to do the canning or to try to make salsa.

I have the seeds started for a fall garden. I'm hoping I can make the seeds survive.  For some reason, mine always grow these really tall, spindly little seedlings that never "bulk up" and ultimately die.  I'm hopeful though- ever hopeful. If I can't make the seeds find the will to live, we will have to do without fall produce- at least homegrown produce. 

So far I have lettuce, spinach, broccoli and radishes planted.  I'm planning on getting some more dirt and starting a second bunch of seedlings a few weeks behind these, so everything doesn't come ripe at once, like it tends to do.

Fingers crossed!

-Kristen