Green Thumb Journey

It has been quite awhile since I gave my last "Green Thumb Journey" update.  Overall, I feel pretty good on how well I've kept up on taking care of my garden this summer.  This summer's drought's dry conditions were both positive and negative to my gardens.

The negative:  My pumpkin & gourd patch!

My pumpkins and gourds have flowered two different times but still have developed nothing.  Usually I never have to worry about getting a crop from my pumpkin and gourd patch, but this year I'm worried.  I just don't think my patch got enough water and I think they were competing too much with the neighboring corn - which didn't result well for either.  Luckily for me there is a new pumpkin patch that will be open this fall in our area!


The positive:  My tomatoes!

I can't believe how many tomatoes I have this year!  They have really liked the dry conditions.  I have so many tomatoes that some plant branches are almost touching the ground they have so much weight on them from all the tomatoes!

I picked my first tomatoes (and peppers) about a week and a half ago.  Now I pick several tomatoes every other day, and I have literally over 100 left to ripen and pick.  Earlier this week I got all of my canning supplies ready to make a lot of homemade salsa!

My first tomato and pepper pick - August 6th

Besides my tomatoes, my peppers are doing fairly well and my onions are doing okay.  I think my onions would be doing better if I had planted then deeper.  I also had a lot of weed pressure at one point this summer that I think hurt my onions.

Did you plant a garden this year?  Did the drought effect your garden positively or negatively in any way?

Green Thumb Journey

For the last couple of years I have had a garden and I have to admit, I haven't been the best gardener.  Areas where I have stumbled include:  letting weeds overtake my garden and not keeping up on watering the plants.  Now I haven't been a "brown thumb" and just kill everything I lay a hand on, but I am a far cry from being a "green thumb."  I figured if I updated my blog throughout the summer on the progress of my garden, I just might keep up on my garden better - think of it as an accountability thing.

So, here is a look at my garden:

Salsa Garden plus Radishes, planted on May 19th

In my "salsa" garden I have planted five different varieties of tomato plants, six varieties of peppers, onions and radishes.  My goal with this garden is to be able to make and can some salsa at the end of the summer.  So you all know, I also keep a pot of cilantro in my kitchen, so I'll be adding that to my salsa too.

Salsa Garden on May 29th

I'm happy to report that so far I have been keeping up on the weeds (but I realize I haven't had too much of a battle yet), and I have been keeping up on daily care.  Everything is growing nicely so far.

I also love to plant pumpkins and gourds.  One mistake I made in the past was having my pumpkins and gourds in the same area as my salsa garden.  This doesn't work because the pumpkins and gourds overtake the entire garden, so this year I have a separate pumpkin and gourd patch!  I planted it yesterday, so you obviously can't see too much from it right now but I hope to have some nice pumpkins and gourds for LP to carve and share with family and friends.

Pumpkin & Gourd Patch

My plan is to update you on my "Green Thumb Journey" every couple weeks.  Here is to yummy salsa and lots of pumpkins and gourds!