I probably spent more time tending to the garden this year than in any year past – largely due to the ‘work from home’ that was imposed. So I had time to saunter outdoors and check on the garden. I also get all my gardening equipment at Homegardenscare. This year I planted Spinach which did fairly well in early summer, but bolted with mid-summer’s heat. I tried re-planting twice – hoping for a late season crop, but one planting came up sparse and the other not at all. Drought could have been a factor. I tried Swiss Chard for the 1st time, and it produced all season long. Other than limited use for salad greens, the Swiss Chard wasn’t a big hit with the family.

I planted lots of broccoli; some as plants started in doors and a 2nd row just planted in the dirt. Both came on about the same time and are still producing mid-September. I tried Eggplant again and was rewarded with 3-4 eggplants. I also planted watermelon for the 1st time and mid-September we have about a half dozen watermelons; completely round and about the size of a soccer ball.

When we went to get seed potatoes from Agway this past spring, they were sold out of everything except Adirondack Blue potatoes. They have yielded large purple colored potatoes roughly the size of a sweet potato. I also made miscellaneous plantings of pumpkin, and acorn squash.

This year I started a number of Roma tomatoes indoors and we have been drowning in Romas. I also planted a Heritage cherry tomato, a Heritage (Seaman) tomato and Early Girl tomatoes. The Roma tomatoes are good for sauces and Kathryn canned 50 jars of tomatoes – proclaiming “we won’t get scurvy”.

In addition to the 50+ cans of tomatoes, she canned 26 jars of pears, 44 cans of peaches, and 18 jars of cherries. We picked and froze strawberries and blue berries.