Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 10/27/15

Good morning, everyone. It’s been a while since I gave you an update on the garden and homestead, so I thought I’d share with you a few pictures as well as tell you how things are growing (or not) in the garden. We did have a couple nights in the 40s last week, but my excitement over autumn weather arriving was short-lived. Our lows are now in the upper 50s to mid 60s with highs in the mid 70s to low 80s. Not exactly autumn weather in this Yankee’s opinion, but at least it’s not scorching hot anymore.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 9/8/15

Good morning, everyone. I thought I’d give you a brief update on my garden this morning. You all know how my garden has been struggling this summer. To be honest, I had just about written it all off. However, I actually got out in the garden for a couple hours on Labor Day. The weather is still summer like and humid, but the intense heat has broken – at least, for now. So, I ventured out. My oh my, what a mess! But despite the weeds and overgrowth, I found a few surprises that were quite encouraging.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 8/10/15

Good morning, everyone! I’m back. After a whirlwind work schedule with the auditors, I drove two days to see my family in Rhode Island for a week (then drove two days back). I’m a bit tired, but I had a good time. It was nice to take a break! Of course, now it’s back to the grind – and a garden that is in desperate need of help. While I was away, everything grew (except the veggies) – weeds, grass, vines from the neighbor’s yard – even poison ivy (which my Garden Wilson pulled for me). Meanwhile, my veggie plants are still struggling to produce. But, they keep trying. Come take a look.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 1/5/15

Happy new year, everyone! Welcome to my first update of 2015. It’s a new year, a new opportunity to expand our horizons, and a new chance to grow more and harvest more. This past week, I looked at seed catalogs, weeded, harvested, and planted peas and spinach and lettuce. The weather has been rather warm, but a cold winter blast is on its way. Next Wednesday night will go down to 20 degrees. Big difference from yesterday’s high of 74. Ah, the joys of living on the coast of South Carolina. Regardless, it IS nice to still be gardening in the winter.

Sanctuary Gardener’s Favorites: Cucurbits

Welcome to the third installment in my Sanctuary Gardener’s Favorites series ~ my favorite cucurbits. If you missed my favorite nightshades and legumes, see the links at the end of this post.

Garden Bounty ~ Week Ending 11/16/14

Normally, I end my harvest week on Saturday, but this week I’ve added the extra day to fit in all of the final harvest of my summer crops. And it was a doozy! This past week, I harvested 2 pounds of beans, 1.5 pounds of tomatoes, a quarter pound of eggplant, 4 pounds of watermelon (yes, you read that correctly), almost 3 pounds of pumpkin, and a whopping 15 pounds of peppers! That’s almost 26 pounds of produce in one week. Holy cow, am I going to be busy in the kitchen this week!

Garden Bounty ~ Week Ending 11/1/14

I had a banner week harvesting in the garden! Most of the past week was in the 80s, and my plants were displaying their best fruit just in time for the county fair. Unfortunately, the cold is coming a couple weeks earlier than normal, so this may be my last big harvest week of the year (at least, until the fall crops mature). I harvested 4 tomatoes, a handful of greens, over 3.5 pounds of snap beans (my last of the year), almost 3 pounds of eggplant, almost 6 pounds of winter squash, and over 12 pounds of peppers!

Garden Bounty ~ Week Ending 10/25/14

I didn’t harvest much from the garden this past week. Not that there was little to harvest, but because I’m saving the harvest until Wednesday. Why? That’s the day to submit home-grown produce and herbs to the competition at the county fair! By waiting until that day, I’ll have the best harvest available to pick from – and it’ll be absolutely fresh. Yet, in spite of the wait, I still harvested a 2.5 pound pumpkin (well, it fell off the vine unripe), 2 1/4 pounds of butter peas (shelled), my first greens (5 ounces), and 2 tomatoes.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 10/27/14

It was another mild – and dry – week in the garden. Still no rain and none in the forecast for another ten days. If nothing changes, at month’s end, my garden log will record only 1.1″ of rain the entire month of October. Meanwhile, my water bill increases. But that’s okay. The seedlings are growing, and the plants are fruiting. There’s about four weeks left until first frost here. Maybe we’ll have a little more time this year? We’ll see.

Garden Bounty ~ Week Ending 9/27/14

I didn’t harvest as much this past week as I’ve been used to. Between my plants acclimating to the cooler temperatures (flowers everywhere! fruit coming!) and the rain/drizzle most of the week, I had only enough to harvest everything in one day. I reaped a one-pound pumpkin, 5 ounces of raspberries (most of the ripe ones ended up on the ground from the heavy downpours), a 5 ounce tomato (yeah for more tomatoes!), and 2.5 pounds of peppers.