I thought it would be fun to talk about gardening today.
So far this year has been a great year for gardening for us. I think it is our best garden yet, but we will have to see if that continues. Oklahoma summers are not always kind to gardens.
We have already picked several different kinds of peppers and I have a lot more that will be ready soon. We have a lot of green tomatoes and we can’t wait for them to start ripening. And like I mentioned earlier this week, we are also getting a ton of zucchini. It is actually quite early for us to be picking peppers and zucchini, but we have had a very warm spring.
And we are having the best blueberry year that we have had. This picture was taken a few weeks ago, before the blueberries had ripened. Right now we are having to pick blueberries every day or two just to keep up with them.
We have been eating a lot of them fresh, but I am also putting quite a few away in the freezer to use this fall and winter when blueberry season is long over.
Now, I would love to hear what is growing in your garden? What fun and delicious things have you planted this year?
I love to cook and bake, and my family loves to eat. Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures is all about sharing my love of cooking, recipes, tips, and ideas of how I combine this cooking passion with a busy life. [
You obviously live in a much warmer climate than us! 🙂 We JUST got ours in. Your blueberries are making me wish we had planted some!!! I actually just posted about our garden this week! https://hippiedogcompany.blogspot.com/2012/06/our-garden.html If you are interested. 🙂
My dad told me basically the same thing recently. He lives in Oregon and said you are picking stuff from your garden?! I just planted mine. However, my garden will be pretty burned up come late summer and those of you in the northern US will still be doing good. 🙂
The only plants I’ve been able to harvest thus far are spinach, chives, parsley and mint. All the cold-loving plants have been blooming great. I have to wait for the rest. Though I just checked today and the very first zucchini is three inches long. So excited!
I’m terribly jealous of your blueberries. I planted two bushes two years ago and still no blueberries, but it is still early. Fingers crossed.
It took me about 4-5 years to get a really good crop of blueberries. They take patience, but in the end are so worth it.
We just planted our garden here in VA a few weeks ago but my dad planted his sooner and is getting zucchini, squash and cucumbers. We have tomatoes, sunflowers, squash, zucchini, radishes, green beans, cucumbers, corn, red, green and jalapeno peppers, cilantro, basil, dill (in pots) growing in our garden.
I just finished planting yesterday. I’ve got Green Eggplant and a green cherry tomato yes both green when ripe. Those are the odd ones this year. The white eggplant died and I couldn’t get a replacement so will try to do those again next year. Ate the first ripe strawberry yesterday, I’ve also ot beef steak tomatoes, beans, peas, potato, heatless jalapenos, kale, swiss chard, collards, butter lettuce, carrots and watermelon radishes.
That all sounds good. I have never heard of green cherry tomatoes. They sound interesting. My lettuce and greens did not do well this year with the warm spring we had and I missed them. Fresh from the garden lettuce is so good. I hope your garden does well for you.
I’m super happy that we have been able to replace all of the ceiling panels in our sun room… so we have a jungle temp greenhouse and all of our plants are going nuts in there! We’ve got a couple eggplants, lots of lemon cucumbers, many different kinds of peppers, heirloom pink brandywine toms, lots of cherry toms…. the one I’m most excited about is a new one to me. It’s a golden cherry tom called “Blondkopfchen”. I will definitely be saving the seeds from this one! It’s big and beautiful, grew super fast, and is literally drowning in flowers and little green tomatoes right now! Outside we have tons of things planted, peas, easter egg radishes, lots of broccoli and red acre cabbage, corn, different colors of sunflowers…. I just have to deal with the gopher and deer issues before all that gets big and beautiful.
That all sounds so good! You should have a great year for gardening. And we fight the deer also……..I guess gardening would not be gardening without a few pests and problems. 🙂
I live here in Texas and at this point my zucchini is going crazy…about 15-20 lbs per day…the okra is producing overtime. The corn is just starting to get some good ears on it, my tomatoes are giving lots of cherry and pear tomatoes but the large ones are still a bit green yet. We also have watermelons that we are eagerly awaiting as well as the onions. My carrots and lettuce didn’t do well this year…probably due to the lack of moisture here. The green beans and blackeye peas are really starting to show lots of blooms so hopefully we will see a good crop of those….Now back to the zucchini….more dehydrating and freezing and finding people to give it to. 🙂
I only have a small herb garden, planted in an old red wagon. Because it was a mild winter, I still have a TON of lemon thyme and a little oregano that survived all year (despite my black thumb!) I just added 2 cilantro plants and some rosemary. I love my wagon garden because if we get very nasty weather I can relocate it to a sheltered area.
In southern KY we’ve already had cabbage, radishes, turnips, turnip tops, turnip greens, swiss chard, spinash, leaf lettuce, yellow squash, scallions, spring onions, small red onions, green tomatoes, peas, beets, beet tops, cucmbers, green bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, red bell peppers, carrots, kale, mustard greens, and cress. We’ve got half runner beans coming along, Ky wonders, goose beans, lima beans, the corn is doing well. We’ve planted several kinds and of course the rest of the summer squashes and winter squashes are out. Butternut, spaghetti, zucchini, watermelon, honeydew, pumpkin, cantaloupe. This is the first time I’ve planted popcorn. I can’t wait to see how it turn out. I’ve got a huge garden this year. Just over 5000 square feet. I shall be canning and freezing all summer and fall. I’ve already frozen turnips and several greens. I love gardening!
oh i wish i had a green thumb!! your veggies are gorgeous! lucky you!!
We just got our garden in, but we planted sun sugar tomatoes(my favorite), several kinds of paste tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes. All kinds of peppers, carrots, green beans, zucchini, onions and popcorn. I can’t wait to start harvesting and canning.
I’m in NC. This is the first year that I’ve ever planted a garden (I purposely don’t count the one bell pepper plant I potted 2 years ago that was a complete flop!). I only have a 4’x8′ space, so I’ve got 2 bell pepper plants, a broccoli, a bush tomato, a Sun Gold cherry tomato, 5 Blue Lake bush green bean plants, and 6 herbs (oregano, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, mint, basil). My peppers got eaten (by deer?) down to the nubs just when the first blossoms were showing up, but I spread some chopped garlic around them after that, and now I’ve got several blooms so I’m hopeful I’ll still get some fruit. We’ve been plucking cherry tomatoes for 2 weeks or so – my 1yo son loves them! I have plenty of green tomatoes, and 2 that are starting to ripen. Ate the broccoli a few nights ago – don’t think we’ll really get any more from that. And I’m starting to see beans show up, but I need to figure out when to harvest them. Herbs are doing great – I just need to figure out how to incorporate them into what I cook! Overall, I’m pleased and definitely plan to replant again next year!
My dad, SIL, and I each have a small/medium garden going, and we share what we grow. We all have tomatoes (which are HARD to grow here because of the heat)! I also have a blackberry bush that is producing TONS of berries for the first time ever, sweet potatoes, rosemary, cilantro, oregano, and thyme. SIL has zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and some other things I can’t remember. Dad has watermelon, rhubarb, and lettuce. We’ve never had any luck with peppers, so sadly we’ve pretty much given up on those. We’ll all plant some more stuff near the end of summer, as we go into fall and cooler temps.
We have our best garden in years, as well! The corn is tassling, the green beans are blooming. Lots of green tomatoes and pepper plants and onions, cilantro, oregano, mint, and basil. Potatoes, lettuce, and blackberries.
We have tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, green beans, Swiss chard, collard greens, cantelope, zucchini and two types of pumpkin. These are all starting to grow 🙂
I live in Oklahoma and was wondering how many plants do you have for your family size and I heard you have to have afternoon shade just wondering if yours has shade?
How many plants…..we are still working on that one. 🙂 We usually plant a few of each. So 2 zucchini, 2 watermelon, 2 cantaloupe, 2 of each kind of pepper we want, but only 1 if it is a new we are not sure we are going to like it one, And tomatoes, we tend to plant too many, but some years are good and some years are not. When it comes to the garden, I would rather error on the side of having too much, because if that happens we can always share with others. And as far as shade, afternoon shade is best, and mine has very little shade, because our property does not have a lot of shade. My tomatoes and other things would make it through the late summer heat much better if I had shade, but I work with what I have. I hope that helps.
We live in SE Texas and planted our garden in early March! Like you, it will be burned up come the end of July and then we’ll start thinking about our fall garden. This year we have TONS of tomatoes–cherry & regular, jalapeno and Spanish peppers, green onions, basil. This spring we had broccoli & lettuce. My husband is the real gardener and he set up an aquaponics garden in our backyard so we have fish too! He also planted two bluberry bushes but I think it will be next year before we might see fruit.