Saturday, August 25, 2012

Garden Bounty

I just collected thirteen of these beauties from the garden. (And they just keep comin'!)

We sure can't complain about our slicing cucumber crop this year! I had five plants spaced out in a 4 x 8' raised bed. Two of the plants mysteriously died just before bearing fruit, and it looks like the remaining three plants decided they had to make up for their fallen comrades!

22 comments:

Sue said...

I'd go out and kill 2 of the remaining 3 before your little homestead disappears under a forest of cukes. I finally couldn't take anymore. The neighbors quit talking to me. The cuke had to DIE.......
Bwa-haha!

Sparkless said...

Too bad you don't live closer cause I sure would love some of those cukes. Ours haven't even produced any fruit yet but have a few flowers. It's getting cold at night now so more than likely they won't produce anything.

Dirt Lover said...

Good for you! I couldn't handle my garden and everything else life was throwing at me, so I quit watering the garden. But, I will live vicariously through you!
~~Lori
Hey, my word verification is uggloy. That's what my garden looks like this year! Uggloy

Kelly said...

Your cucumbers look great! All of mine from my second crop are yellow and look bleached by the sun! I still make pickles with them though ☺

Patty said...

Beautiful! We're getting some Russian Pickling cukes now, but there are lots more coming, it the weather cooperates. I'm not sure what took them so long to get going this year, or why so many of them never germinated. It seems like we could get enough to make a nice batch of pickles though. I did have enough today for a quart of pickles to go in the canner with the dilly beans. :) I will be posting about the beans soon. Thanks again for them!

Judy T said...

Oh, those are lovely. My vines look OK (I've been watering) but I'm still getting only 2 or 3 cukes a week. Who knows. There's always next year.

Judy

Mama Pea said...

Sue - I wish I could yank stuff out and be done with it when I'm done with it. (Huh?) I keep thinking I'll find somebody who would really like another shopping bag of yellow beans. Or ten cucumbers. Or . . . oh, never mind, NOBODY wants any more zucchini!

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - If we lived closer you could have all you wanted, I promise! It's always so disappointing when you know there is the potential there for produce . . . but the nights get cold before the fruit can make it. :o(

Mama Pea said...

Lori - You don't need any excuses for your garden this year considering what you've had to deal with. Next year, your garden won't be uggloy, but rather luverli!!

Mama Pea said...

Kelly - Welcome and thanks for commenting! Wonder why your cucs are yellow? Not enough foliage to cover them from the scalding sun? But if your pickles don't turn out soft, who cares what color they are?

Glad we have "found" each other!

Mama Pea said...

Patty - Glad you're getting enough pickling cucumbers for your needs. I know a lot of people use regular cucs for their pickles but I, too, always grow and use pickling cucs.

Oh, you made Dilly Beans! Papa Pea doesn't care for them so I haven't made them in a couple of years . . . much to Chicken Mama's chagrin. But she's taking home a bunch of beans today so maybe she'll find time to make some herself.

You're more than welcome for the beans. I sure had more than I could use!

Mama Pea said...

Judy - Gosh, your vines should be producing more than 2 or 3 a week. Especially since you've been diligent about watering them. Maybe you'll go out there one day soon and find 15 or 20 have come on overnight! If not, there's always next year . . . our gardening mantra!

Amy Dingmann said...

Yay for cukes!! Crazy how much they are producing for some and not for others. We're sure getting our share here as well. What are you doing with all those cukes? :)

Anonymous said...

Yum! Can never have enough cukes! :)

Mama Pea said...

Mama Tea - Giving a lot away and eating them with at least two meals a day prepared in one way or another. Luckily we both really like slicing cucumbers!

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - Are you SURE??

Misty Pines Homestead said...

MM Salt ,cucumber what a snack!

Kathryn D. Duke said...

are you making pickles?
here in eastern NC we have about 3 more weeks of real summer weather, usually, not sure about this year. I should get some fall things in the ground..

Erin said...

Wow! Maybe you could shellac all of them to prevent decay and start a new building method for homes, like straw bale building LOL :)

Mama Pea said...

Annnightflyer - That's the way we eat most of ours! Very satisfying in this still warm weather, too.

Mama Pea said...

Kathryn D. Duke - Welcome and thanks for commenting! When I make pickles I use pickling cucumbers, but not the slicing ones shown here.

I'll bet you're able to get some nice produce from your fall garden. That's really hard to do up here although I did plant a second crop of broccoli that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this year.

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Or have you seen the houses built with short lengths of wood? That might work . . .