The Garden Has Turned Into a Jungle!

This is our first year of really bringing in the harvest from our own garden.  In years past we grew enough to sustain our family with fresh vegetables throughout the summer with a little excess to can and give to friends.  This year however with a different growing climate and a lot more space, we are really bringing in the harvest with plenty of leftovers for friends.  Jon is thrilled to finally grow melons and bring a 5 gallon bucket full of produce to me in the kitchen!  So far I have canned 54 pints and 11 quarts of pickles, in addition to 2 gallons of refrigerator pickles!  After all that we are still picking more cucumbers and Jon continues to bring grocery sacks full of them to work.  We are so cucumbered-out that I do not remorse over the dozen or so that we find that have already yellowed.  The chickens have had their full and barely touch any that we leave in their presence.  Needless to say, only one cucumber plant will be grown next year...

Here is a snapshot overlooking most of the garden. Squash, cucumbers, and melons are along the fence on the right side with carrots and broccoli front and center with beans, okra, tomatoes, and corn behind.

Our first homegrown cantaloupe!  We didn't know when to pick it because the shell didn't look finished yet; but the bees and insects thought it was ready because they would sit on the melon and suck out its juices!  We figured if they are sucking out the juices, then it must be ready to pick!  It sure was tasty!

Do you see the corn tassels in the back?  Well, the pumpkins have taken over and are practically suffocating the corn.  We didn't realize how many vines a pumpkin plant produced and how long they stretched.  

Here are three baby watermelons almost ready to pick.

In Portland they would only reach the size of our fist by fall.

Who ever heard of pumpkins ripe in July?  Well, here are 2 of our almost ready to pick sweet pumpkins.  I hope some of the pumpkins don't ripen until fall because I would like to use them for decorating!  I see a lot of pumpkin bread, pies, and jam...  In Portland our pumpkins turned orange in late November. 

Here is our long line of squash.  With 6 acorn squash plants I counted 16 squash (so far...).

As we know, vine plants don't have boundaries.  The butternuts felt a bit claustrophobic and decided to go into the field.  Here is one big butternut just starting to change colors!

Here is a butternut squash plant climbing the fence.  If you look close you can see a small butternut.  We hope it doesn't tear the fence down when it gets big!

And because Jon is silly, he left supper on the counter for me one evening...tomatoes and okra!