It’s been a trying year for the garden, to say the least.  The best thing about gardening is that there is always a next year.  There will always be another year to try new things and be successful in growing vegetables.

My garden though, is not ready to give up.

My surviving pole bean plants were putting out a few beans here and there- enough for the kids to get a snack, but then something began eating the actual beans- six feet in the air. I now suspect it was voles, as we have ’em.  But as a result, I stopped checking the bean plants.  Well, as it turned out, a handful of beans did grow- and they are huge!  Too huge for eating, but today I harvested and I will let them dry a bit and then have seed for next year.  The beans themselves are delicious and worth growing.  The real reason I harvested though is because some of my other bean plants have put out another round of blossoms.  Since the hot sticky weather passed, they want to grow again, so I wanted to encourage my plants to put out more beans.

By butternut squash is finally producing squash as well.  Crazy, but I have about six or seven baby squash out there.  I saw today that one has been nibbled on, and I really am doubtful as to whether there is enough growing time for them.  But I can dream, and I can spray the plants with soap spray to keep the bugs off.

My tomatillo actually has three lanterns on it.  After waiting all this time, it’s amusing to see it doing something.

I seem to have a serious shortage of bees in our yard.  Something I am going to have to remedy next spring by making sure I have some good attractors for them growing.   I suspect that many of our issues are from the lack of bees.

We also found a miracle in Zander’s garden patch.  A tiny, three-inch cucumber.  A small Poona Kheera managed to survive the baby bunnies.  It was deeply russeted, and ready for harvest, despite its diminutive size.  Everyone waited eagerly for me to wash off the prickles and carefully slice that tiny cucumber so everyone could get a taste.  Oh my, as delicious and crispy as we remembered.  Next year, we will grow more and they will be successful.

The tomato patch looks better and better everyday- provided you can ignore the damage from whiteflies.  I suspect this will be a good week for them, as it’s going to be toasty again.  The other day I picked a Black From Tula to let it sit on my counter- we haven’t tasted it yet.  Today I picked a Valiant, and decided to let the Brave General ripen on the vine for just a few more days- as seen in the picture above.  Dangling just above the general in a lovely cluster is my Gypsy tomato plant.

Earlier this week a neighbor shared some ripe tomatoes, so I went out to my garden and harvested some chard for a simple salad.  Tossed with some black olives and almond slices, it was wonderful to be eating something grown in the backyard.

I’ll leave this post with a picture of my tiny harvest today.  My pole beans that will be saved for seed.  My Black From Tula, my Valiant, and Zander’s teeny tiny Poona Kheera.  This is why we garden- the rewards are always unexpected.