The weather has been quite hot, averaging between +27C/80F to +35C/95F so we have had to water every few days. The garden has made some progress but at the same time, it seems as though its preparing for fall! A lot of things have gone to seed and many plants are not producing as much as last year which could perhaps be due to the hot weather and lack of rain. But that is the risk you take when gardening. Sometimes you get a bountiful garden to preserve and other years you just have enough to enjoy through the summer months. That is one reason I am thankful for farmer’s markets! A plus side though is all the seed we can collect this summer that we can plant in the future! It’s a great way to build our very own seed bank. Let’s take a look at the garden this month!
A garden is not a place. It’s a journey.
– Monty Don
Our asparagus suddenly took off, but you would never know that it is asparagus growing here! Once it browns and dies off for the season, we will trim it back and cover it all in straw for the winter.
Here are the patty pan (sunburst) squash. It has taken all summer to just harvest a handful of squash. I am attributing the hot weather to the lack of squash this summer.
The cilantro has not produced any herbs for us to eat. It flowered right away, even the row I re-planted. Our larger cilantro plant is full of seed and I am quite excited to harvest it! The key to a homesteading garden, even one in the city, is to collect your own seed. I have found many times seed from the store to not grow as well as seed I have harvested myself. The cilantro seed will appear once the blooms fall off. The seed starts out green, then turns a reddish color and once it turns brown and is dried, then we will be able to harvest it.
We finally got cucumbers this summer, but not enough to make pickles with. I did toss the couple of cucumbers that we harvested into dill pickles that we made from cucumbers I received from my mom and bought from the farmer’s market.
I love dill. It is so fragrant and the blooms are so pretty. The yellow blooms and dill fronds are best for dill pickles. Once the dill heads turn green, leave them until they turn brown and are dry to collect the seeds. I collect dill seed every year, so I will never run out!
I also love drying dill. Check out my old fashioned method here: http://www.ourcityhomestead.com/storing-herbs-for-the-winter
Our tomatoes are growing well this summer. My daughter ‘H’ has been looking after them all summer long. We have the plants in pots on our porch where they get both sun and shade. They get the morning sun and the afternoon shade. We water them twice a day on super hot days and have finally got to pick a bowl full! The larger tomatoes are big beef tomatoes and we have 2 kinds of small tomatoes — candyland red (the super tiny ones) and tumbler tomatoes which look like cherry tomatoes. Nothing beats a homegrown tomato. They are just so much more flavorful than any store-bought tomato. Next year, I will be sure to have much more than 4 plants!!
All of our mint has gone to seed. In just a few short days, every plant is covered in flowers. They are a pretty pinkish-purple. Once the flower heads have turned brown, I will pick them and let them dry out before collecting the seed from them. I am still picking the mint to use as it still tastes great and is so fragrant I can smell it just by standing near it — a great way to keep bugs and pests away! I have made mint extract since I have so much mint this year!
Looking to make mint extract? It is super simple to do! Check it out here: http://www.ourcityhomestead.com/homemade-mint-extract
The beans have produced a few beans which I ended up turning into pickled dill beans. Unfortunately we have not collected as many as we did last year and many plants simply did not come up, but I am glad we at least could enjoy a handful of beans!
The parsley has not done much this year. I think it may be because the dill has shielded the parsley so much or because parsley does not like full sun. We have had a bit to enjoy in salads, meatballs and spaghetti sauce, and the rest I will dry. My gramma always dried and mixed parsley and dill together so I will do so as well.
The strawberries have given us a few to enjoy this summer. They have been quite tart but still delicious. Next year, the strawberries should do much better. They tend to not produce as much their first year, much like rhubarb.
Over the next few weeks, we will be harvesting the garden and replenishing the soil. Looking at the dirt, I can see that it is hard and packed and certain weeds thrive, so it is most likely lacking nutrients which could be causing our gardening blunders. We will work up the soil by hand, add natural nutrients like coffee grounds, egg shells, more dirt among other soil building nutrients. Now is a great time to get the soil ready for spring. Straw will cover such things as asparagus and we will cut back the parsley and mint which should return in the spring.
Do you replenish your soil with nutrients in the fall? If so, what do you do? We’d love to hear gardening wisdom from our readers!
