Garden Update

Every year that we garden we learn a little bit more about the soil, the plants, and especially the pests that are particularly abundant in the warm and wet Virginian climate! Over the past couple years we have battled vine borers, powdery mildew, and squash bugs. This summer we lost our squash plants to squash bug infestations not once, but twice! The beautiful squash and zucchini patch in the picture below was our third replanting attempt in early July! Thank goodness we appear to be winning this time, thanks in part to our relentless effort of handpicking the squash bugs, spraying the base of the plants, and reduced bug activity later in the season. Now if only we can get our first generation of plants to survive next year!!!




This is what it is all about, tender squash waiting to be steamed!



Some volunteer pumpkins from our compost pile that we transplanted into one end of our strawberry bed have done fantastic, we have several rapidly growing pumpkins that we hope to harvest for October holidays, we just hope we can still get around the garden the way these things are growing!




Other end of the strawberry patch with our recently planted everbearing strawberries (Quinault cultivar).



Maranda picking cherry tomatoes. Our tomatoes have done very well this year, although the dry summer did slow down fruit production quite a bit, even with our best efforts at keeping their "feet" wet.



Pepper plants had no problems with the hot, dry summer!



A welcome guest in our garden, enjoying the wet mulch under the tomatoes.



Some happy gardeners looking quite proud of their efforts. I should note that Kieran is already a bonafide horticulturist, he inspects plants for bugs and then asks us if they are the "good or bad" kind, and points out damaged or dying leaves, "sad" plants, etc.



A day's harvest. Radish leaves are poking out the back, their are fresh eggs under the tomatoes (with a cloth cushion that Maranda improvised).



A fair winning bell pepper that Master Gardener Kieran is showing off.



A garden is a lot of work and each year I eagerly start out, only to ask myself about a month into the effort if it is really worth it? For us, though, the answer is always yes. It makes for wonderful family times most evenings as we gather in the garden to water, weed, and harvest as a family. There is invariably some kind of discovery for us to wonder at together, and eating the healthy and fresh vegetables brings a kind-of satisfaction that you can't measure monetarily. Realistically I doubt we save any money by growing our own vegetables, and probably expend a little if you count the time and effort as well as equipment, but it is cheaper than cable and a whole lot more satisfying! :)