Garden update

The camp garden is doing great. I took these pictures on July 30th and despite sporadic rain the plants look fantastic.

I picked 18 ounces of basil leaves already; enough to make our entire winter supply of pesto. And the plants are already producing new leaves so we'll have plenty to use when the tomatoes finally start to ripen. Love Caprese salads!

After the basil harvest

Dill, mystery squash, hubbard squash, yellow squash 

I got most of my starts from a friend but there was a bit of confusion in the labeling. So I've got plants that I have no clue as to how to identify the produce. Especially on the squash plants.

Sunflowers, tomatillo, cauliflower, jalapeño

Mystery squash - maybe buttercup? kobocha? 

I've been battling squash vine borers again this year. I've performed multiple surgeries on many vines and so far I've been able to save the plants. It's a losing battle though so I'm going to have to find an alternative. I did a bit of research and came across a recommendation for Safer Brand 5163 Caterpillar Killer. I'll try that next year. For now I just keep digging them out, powdering with diatomaceous earth, and burying the vines.

My nemesis-squash vine borers

So many Hubbard squash! I've got six good sized ones and about six more little ones that may not have time to ripen. Last year Dad and I split one squash and both had enough for that night's meal, leftovers, and freezer stock so I'm going to be overrun with squash. I'm going to try this in a pie and see how it goes.

Hubbard squash - one of many

The mystery squash to the left of the photo hasn't set fruit yet so I have no idea what it could be. Given how late we are in the growing season I'm assuming I'll never know now. Also in this area is cucumber; but not normal cucumber, an heirloom white variety. They're small, spiny, and tasty.

Zucchini, Yellow, Cucumber, and more mystery squash

Chris got the rain barrel hooked up. I'll set it up next year for a drip irrigation system.

The new water barrel

My zucchini plants are huge. This is just one of them and the leaves are enormous. It's producing good quantities of fruit too.

Huge zucchini leaves! 

The tomatoes are being difficult. They set fruit early but none of it has ripened. None.

So many green tomatoes 

Very healthy tomato plants

I've been playing around with next year's garden layout already. I figure it's a good time to think about it while I've got perfect examples of how much room everything actually takes up.

As for harvests, we're getting enough summer squash out of these plants to make a dish every day plus share with Dad. Fortunately I've got a lot of squash recipes else we'd be really sick of it already. It's been a slow cucumber year but I've managed to put up a couple pints of dill pickles so far. The tomatillos are finally forming and I expect an excellent harvest there, and the jalapeño plant has one pepper already and lots of blossoms. I lost all but two kohlrabi to voles but those last two look great and I should be able to pick them this week.