Countdown to Harvest Time

After some much-needed weeding, the garden is finally back in shape enough to take some photos. Or at least half of it is. I'll weed the other half of the garden next weekend.

First, the potted herbs and plants are doing pretty well. Here's basil and lemon basil:

Beautiful tarragon and behind it some thyme and remaining chives:

And my marjoram actually survived this year! I'm hoping it will make it through the winter like the oregano does.

The squash is starting to take off -- I'm not sure if it's the yellow squash or the Ronde de Nice zucchini, but I guess we'll soon find out.

Here we have three Red Burgundy okra plants, along with some bushy marigolds and some beans in the background.

The Merveille des Quatre Saisons lettuce is still going strong, despite the heat (and the weeds).

Fingerling potatoes experiment is still going. I think the leaves are supposed to die and then we can harvest potatoes!

Here you can see (roughly left to right) Nardello pepper, Dragon carrots, jalapeño pepper, Cherokee purple tomato, cucumber near the fence, and Pingtung Long eggplant.

And from the other side, marigolds, a cherry tomato plant, tiny pepper plant that's not doing much, two edamame plants and a nasturtium, and Cherokee Purple tomato.

Here's a closeup of one of two cucumbers. I'm hoping they survive this year and avoid that rot or disease that killed a lot of squash and all the cucumbers last year.

La salade est merveilleuse

Just a quick update -- the lettuce I tried this year, Merveille des Quatre Saisons, really is a marvel. It has withstood some 90 degree days and hasn't even started to bolt. It's definitely the most successful green we've grown so far. The colors of the leaves range from a lovely burgundy red to light green.

Sadly, the strawberries did not fare as well this year. With all the rain in May (and some pests), we only gathered a few handfuls. The ones that survived were tasty though. Next year I'm going to try putting a ring of eggshells around the strawberries to protect them from slugs.