As summer draws to a close (wahhh!), I think it’s only appropriate to recap the garden shenanigans that have been going on around here. Every year I typically share how everything has progressed during the season, so why not do it this year? We had some crazy success- and a few not so successful things- on our first season using our raised garden bed.
The first harvest was hot banana peppers! They were huge, and delicious. I got a ton of these guys all summer.
Plenty of dill heads (a.k.a. pickle-perfect dill). Lots of pickles were made this summer! (see next few photos of the cukes!)
Right around the time of my birthday the garden absolutely exploded; everything went nuts! It got a lot more cramped than we anticipated, definitely confirming our expectations that next year we need at least one more bed.
We’re gonna need another bed just for the cucumbers alone! Those photos above are nothing compared to the full size. I kept joking that it’s the cucumber that ate New York! And of course it gave us beautiful cukes:
Those were my first successful cucumbers, ever.
And the green beans were amazing. My first time growing them, they were so fresh tasting! I kept harvesting them and freezing them, so we’ll have a huge amount ready in the freezer when we want to make them.
It was quite the excellent pepper season for us!
As well as an excellent eggplant season. This guy is twice the size of what he was in this photo as of today ..
Tomatoes took a long time to turn red. But when they did- WHOA.
Indy fell in love with the garden right away. He went over and sniffed and inspected it every day. He also started laying down in front of it and watching it. I like to think he was guarding it. Bunnies beware!
My suggestions for you if you’re thinking of doing a garden yourself or a raised bed: give yourself MORE room than you think you need. We thought one bed would be plenty, and it wasn’t. Not at all. And if you’re growing cucumbers or other trailers (zucchini too), give them plenty of their own space. Not having had luck with them in previous years, I underestimated the size of a cucumber plant when it goes crazy! Also, plant your tomatoes next to your basil- they enhance each others flavor.
SOURCES & CREDITS: All Polaroid-style photos taken on my iPhone 5S using the Afterlight app, other photos taken using VSCO Cam & the Studio app.
SOUNDTRACK: The Beatles – “Blackbird”
I'm Marilla. A 30-something artist, hobby baker, home canning enthusiast, gardener, DIY-er, wife, mommy of a baby boy and dog mom (to another baby boy) from New York. 
Love this post! I so enjoyed the images of your garden. And I was so happy that you posted about pickling cucumbers. I just posted about my garden, too. It was our first garden, and it was fun to learn from our first season of growing our own food.
Thanks!! I’m glad you liked it. I love having a garden. I usually do containers, but last year all I grew were herbs and I really missed it. I’m glad this year it was a big ol’ happy garden again.
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