The Three Season Year!

Happy Labor Day to all!  It seems incredible that we've moved from Memorial Day to Labor Day in what seems to be the blink of an eye. "Summer" as we think of it seems to be bracketed by these two holidays.  But the gardening season is not defined by the calendar in the same manner. We begin in late March as daylight grows longer and warmer. It then proceeds through much of September as the last crops mature in waning light. The absolute peak in our garden production this year was a 10 day period from July 21 to 31 when we brought in 50 pounds of fresh vegetables. Somehow, I've defined our year as having three seasons...autumn, winter, and gardening season! 

Our second crop of raspberries has begun ripening.  They are delicious but not nearly as plentiful as the first crop, but that's to be expected. The bell peppers have begun maturing. We brought in the first batch today.  The leaf lettuce planted in early August is doing well, as is the zucchini.

                                                    Just picked bell peppers
                                                    
We also have three rows of green beans and three rows of peas coming along. They were planted on August 5. We're hoping they mature by mid/late September.

                                    Peas and green beans - one of three rows

Some of you may know that we had a cherry tree until recently. Unfortunately, it wasn't doing well and we took it down in late spring.  I cut the trunk into small pieces and let them dry a bit over the summer. A few weeks ago I drilled and chipped out holes in some of  them and made "candle holders"!  This idea came from an article Lois read earlier this month. Looks like I need to shim up the one on top of the box!

                                         The cherry tree lives on in new role

 Lois made up  batch of "butternut" ravioli this week. She has a ravioli "press" and fills them with mashed butternut squash. Vegetarians are soooo creative! 

One final note for all the bibliophiles out there. The Lancaster County Library is holding its annual book sale on September 13, 2013. They will feature thousands of books, including lots of gardening titles at very low prices. Our Rodale "Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" was a $2 item I bought there some years ago.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again next week!

Chuck