Garden Recap

The weather here is a bit schizophrenic, but the garden season is definitely over. However, by bringing in most of the remaining green tomatoes from the garden a couple weeks ago, I've had a rerun of peak tomato season, with enough ripening on the windowsill to keep me thinking of ways to use them. There are still a dozen at varying states of ripeness, so I will likely have fresh tomatoes for a couple more weeks.


The big pot of vegetable soup that's in the fridge right now contains the last carrots and squash, as well as some tomatoes. (You'll have to trust me on this, because I was too lazy to take a picture, but the last carrot I pulled was immaculate! Tall, nicely proportioned, arrow straight...most of my others were gnarled.)

I'm not sure exactly how many veggies I harvested over the course of the season, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than 20 lbs each of both tomatoes and squash, along with not-inconsequential amounts of green beans, carrots and greens -- mostly tastier than what I could buy at the store. Considering that back when I planted in the spring, I calculated that I had spent just over $50 on gardening supplies, this is a good deal. It's also satisfying, as evidenced by my repeated postings. Also, the amount of time I dedicated to the garden was pathetically small. I spent a couple afternoons planting it, and then weeded it maybe twice; I used the hose to water it every couple days during the dry parts of the summer. If these are the results you get without really trying, imagine if I put in some actual effort! Matt and Risa kindly gave me a gardening book when they visited a few weeks ago, so hopefully next year I can have an even better harvest...