I don’t know if I am more embarrassed or proud to admit that as of today, June 12th, 2015, I have officially harvested at least twice the amount of produce than I did in 2014’s garden.
Before you think I’m just downplaying my success, let me tell you that aside from one cucumber, two Yellow Pear tomatoes, and four peppers (which I promptly chopped up and put into delicious hamburgers), my garden last year was mostly a spectacular failure.
And yet, the Giant Failure that was my garden was also, coincidentally, one of the greatest sources of my happiness in 2014. I learned so much from last year’s garden and its assorted problems–I learned about squash vine borers, the ravenous appetite of bunnies, and the very entropic behavior of plant disease.
Even though I didn’t harvest a lot of actual fruit, I reaped so many lessons from my garden that it was well worth every single tear I shed over my destroyed pumpkins or my diseased tomatoes.
I took those tears and resolved to learn something from my failures. The results have been pretty sweet so far. Check it out:
I became a Real Southern Girl™ this past Wednesday when I made my own pepper jelly for the first time using those beauties you see above (two small serrano peppers, one cowhorn pepper, and two Mucho Nacho jalapeños). I have always wanted to start preserving, canning, and pickling.
I had such a good time making my jelly. I am hoping that with each time I can, I’ll become a teensy more efficient. I hate making such a mess.
Honestly, I feel like if I could go back and do it all over again, I probably wouldn’t have started with making jelly.. I feel like I started a video game on expert mode and somehow skipped to the final boss. Still, there are six little glass jars of gorgeous pepper jelly in my house (and I didn’t even need to artificially color my jelly, like so many recipes!).
My tomatoes are coming along pretty swimmingly. I’ve picked about six or so cherry tomatoes from my two Mexico Midgets, and I’m happy that every one of my tomato plants, even the weirdo Indian Stripe that was.. for some reason… growing on the ground (despite it being planted in a pot??), is flowering! I let Mama Tixqueen have the first tomato.
A secret: I haven’t tried any of my tomatoes yet, despite having a handful sitting on my window sill. I’m really waiting for the big ones to start ripening!
This little bean here? That’s a miracle. I managed to grow a bean! Despite beans being one of the easiest veggies to home-grow… yours truly has never been able to manage a full bean, thanks to some very hungry bunnies. UNTIL NOW.
As for the rest? My cucumbers have started flowering (after a successful replant), I’ve got an okra plant that’s getting taller, my peppers section looks like a forest it’s doing so well and my squash and eggplant aren’t dead yet.
I’d call this a success so far.
How’s your garden growing, friends?