August Organic Garden Update

by Becky Elmuccio on August 19, 2012

What’s growing in our garden in August?

I haven’t been posting as much this month as we have been tackling a bunch of projects at home. I will be sharing those projects in the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to write about the garden first. It has been a rough summer in terms of weather in our area. Heat has been super severe and rain has been intermittent. So, the yields that we have gotten have been fairly good considering. 
We have had more days of collecting amounts like this than I expected. Cucumbers gave us a great bounty. We had Spacemasters this year and I think I would like to buy another trellis for next year and plant some pickling varieties to test my canning skills.
By last week, they had died back and withered, but we had a good run. The Matt’s Cherry Tomatoes have been amazing this summer, as pictured below.
We did well with our tomatoes that were in the bed, and we even have a couple of eggplants coming in. The San Marzano tomatoes have been touch and go though. Some have had blossom end rot, some have not, but we keep trying. 
The container tomatoes did not fair as well as the bed based ones. It was our first time doing containers and I definitely did not water enough. The heat, the terra cotta pots and the lack of the right spot for them did them in. We’ll give it a go again next year, but perhaps read up some more about how to best care for container tomatoes.
The onions had a great yield this year and are delicious. We did onion sets of Stuttgarten onions and loved them. I will definitely grab them from Happy Cat Organics again next year. 
This potato plant sat seemingly dormant for the better part of the summer, but woke up this week. We’ll see what we get from it in a few weeks.
And, last, but not least, we were really, really good at growing weeds this summer. Man, did they love the heat and lack of water. If only they were of any value. We’re going to be transforming this space over the next month and I look forward to sharing the developments with you.
Leave a comment below with what is growing in your garden. I can’t wait to hear what you have!

I’m linking up this week with:
The Morris Tribe Homestead Blog Hop at The Morris Tribe
Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes
Bloomin’ Tuesday on Mrs. Greenthumb Jean
Tuesday Greens at Chickens on the Moon
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways at Frugally Sustainable
Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer
Cottage Garden Thursday at Fishtail Cottage
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Home and Garden Thursday at A Delightsome Life
Your Green Resource at Live Renewed

{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }

Monica August 20, 2012 at 8:03 pm

From your garden? Impressive!

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Becky Elmuccio August 21, 2012 at 1:25 am

Thanks! We have a great time raising everything.

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Lisa Lynn August 20, 2012 at 9:48 pm

Did I see blackberries? Yum! I’m hoping to have raspberries next year 🙂

I found you on the Barn Hop!

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Becky Elmuccio August 21, 2012 at 12:54 am

Yes! We probably got about 5 quarts or so and had a blast eating them for breakfast. Thanks for stopping by!

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Adventures in Agriburbia August 21, 2012 at 11:26 am

Nice harvest this week!

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 5:54 pm

Thanks! Hope we get a little more before fall sets in.

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Yael from Home Garden Diggers August 21, 2012 at 4:24 pm

Nice harvests despite your trials of high heat and limited rain. I like your cuke trellis and have been looking at these myself. I find, like you that tomatoes do better in the ground than in pots. However I have done slightly better than the pots with grow bags, as long as I use a heavier soil mixture. Your onion harvest looks nice. I usually plant Walla Wallas which are pretty nice too. Hoping that you have a great week.

Yael from Home Garden Diggers

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 5:55 pm

Hope you had a great week too, Yael. I think I may just need to establish more beds to do more tomatoes.

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Darla August 21, 2012 at 4:52 pm

Jealous of your cukes! Ah another area to garden..

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 5:56 pm

Cukes were super easy to grow again this year. Hopefully, our luck continues with them.

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daisy August 21, 2012 at 8:26 pm

Lovely harvest. I admire your onions. I will be planting lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, garlic and onions in the next week or so.

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 5:57 pm

Hope those go well for you, Daisy!

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sandra krapf August 22, 2012 at 12:32 am

Becky, my little garden as it was provided decent tomatoes, peppers, pickling cucumbers, zucchini overboard… my eggplant was a near bust, as was my silver queen corn. started out great, but seemed to burn up. stewed up/canned a decent amount of tomatoes,peppers,onions, and canned pickles. I did not like the “early girl” tomatoes that I planted this year for the first time. loved the ROMAS and as always the beefsteaks…. about to drop in some carrot seeds, maybe some garlic/cabbage/brocolli, if its not too late… I like to experiment, but I am not a true dedicated farmer and get bored or tired after awhile of planting/weeding… but in the end I do like picking my own STUFF. That’s my post!

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 5:57 pm

Well done, Sandy!

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learning table August 23, 2012 at 1:20 am

Our summer has been brutal too, and it has really taken a toll on my garden. I ended up scaling back a lot to avoid watering much. I had a bountiful tomato harvest last year, but this year hasn’t yielded much at all. I think it’s just been too hot and dry for them.

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 6:00 pm

It has been rough this year. Hopefully we get a better balance next year.

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Athena at Minerva's Garden August 23, 2012 at 4:47 am

What lovely produce your garden has given you, Becky! It’s been a little cooler here than I imagine it has been for you, and so my cukes are now starting to produce, as are the tomatoes. Lettuce and radicchio and green beans still carry on, and zucchini. I dug my first ‘Red Thumb’ potatoes the other night for dinner. I have beautiful pepper plants that haven’t produced a single pepper yet–only one or two flowers. Not sure what happened with them. The eggplant look good and are loaded with flowers–they always take a long time to grow and mature here, so we should get some from them next month. My tomatoes have had blossom end rot in the past, and I learned thatit’s due to a lack of calcium. Next time you plant, try adding a big handful of bone meal to the planting hole–it should help. Take care, and thank you so much for stopping by my blog today and leaving a nice comment–I appreciate it very much!

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 6:02 pm

Thanks for the tip on the bone meal, Athena! I will definitely try that next year.

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Mary Hysong August 23, 2012 at 12:58 pm

A lovely harvest; can’t wait to see what you are going to do with that open space!

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 6:02 pm

I can’t wait to see what we do with it too!

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Gabby August 23, 2012 at 2:33 pm

You did good in this drought. Haha, I’m good at growing weeds, too!

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 6:03 pm

Yes, I feel especially gifted at growing weeds this year. Just yanked another round out from the beds this morning.

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Deborah Kay at The Paint Splash August 23, 2012 at 10:06 pm

I’m glad you had such bounty. We have had a watering ban here most of the summer so very few fresh veggies… Blessings, Debbie

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 6:04 pm

We get restricted form 6 am to 6 pm, so I have done a lot of night watering.

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Kathy A Delightsome Life August 28, 2012 at 9:00 pm

You just never know what a season will bring – I am glad you were able to harvest what you did despite the heat and dry weather! Gardening is always a blessing. I appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy

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Becky Elmuccio September 1, 2012 at 6:05 pm

Happy to link up again, Kathy!

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