My Vegetable Garden Mid-Summer

Our intentions with our vegetable garden are always grander than what we have time for.  As much as we love our fresh, organic fruits and veggies, time with family and friends always takes first priority.  We live in Oregon where nice weather doesn't last long, so lazy summer days are a luxury!  That said, we were able to accomplish more than I expected...

This year we have: corn, spinach, lettuce, peas, beans, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumber, strawberries and pears (on our pear tree).  We also planted broccoli, radishes, and carrots, but they did not survive to yield anything.  I share this because gardening is not always successful and I do not pretend that it's as easy as in looks when everything is flourishing.

The peas are pretty much done and we are still awaiting the squashes as well as the corn and beans.  There is not much happening on our pear tree, but I am optimistic that they too will come.

In Spring we prepare the garden by weeding and adding new compost.  I find the new compost to be the most important determinant in how our crops will do.  Then, we decide what we really want in the garden and how to lay it out.  This too is more complicated that it sounds as you must consider: time in the garden, space, sun...

Then the fun part - planting!  That is definitely my favorite part...well, aside of eating the bounty.  The maintenance is the other challenging part: watering regularly and weeding.  My husband is in charge of those tasks because he does a lot better at them than I would.

In the end, we get to enjoy fresh, healthy, organic, ripe fruits and veggies straight from the garden.  There really isn't much better than that!