So what exactly did our gardens yield this first year?

Growing season 2019 

Our major challenges in this first season of gardening here - the dirt is not dirt - its clay and in need of lots of amending; cutworms, a midsummer invasion of squash bugs, and horned tomato worms proved to be a little hard to deal with organically - still looking for a good solution if anyone has one! We also had more rainfall than normal which does affect a garden more than you might think. So for us, this year,  balancing water (too much and too little) with the intense heat of summer was a bit challenging! We did purchase shade cloth and used hoops (made from narrow PVC pipe) to help support them over the garden beds (much like a covered wagon) that did seem to help cut down on the effects of the intense mid-summer sun. We also invested in a soaker hose system and spent about  1/2 of a day making all the connections to get it up and running, which did help tremendously.

So, for next year, we'll continue adapting to our new environment, work on more amending of the soil, and try to stay ahead of any bug invasion.  There were a few tomatoes we probably won't repeat,  I wasn't that impressed.  Purple Russian for one and the Roma variety I tried this year were oddly off.  So not going to give them a 2nd chance! But, I had so much fun growing loofahs.  If you have space I highly recommend trying those!

We are hoping to continue a few plants all winter long and get a head start on seedlings in the Spring, so we ordered a temporary greenhouse (10' x 20') from Shelter Logic.  It's supposed to arrive on Monday!  I am looking forward to getting it set up and moving somethings inside before we get a killing frost.  If you are interested in how this works out for us this winter, send me a message and I will keep you posted.

I have also been busy packaging our seeds from this year's harvest.  If you are interested in purchasing some reach out to me regarding those and I'll save you some.  I am still working on packing more so it will be a few months before I get them finished.

Organic seeds (20 seeds per pkt) $1.50 each.

Here's what we harvested from our little raised bed gardens!

2 cups of blueberries
20 cups of blackberries
0 - red raspberries
a couple of handfuls of strawberries - tried everbearing but found they were on the small side,  they did bear fruit all summer, actually still bearing fruit, unfortunately, the chickens usually get to them before I did!
10 zucchini- from 3 plants (lost the plants to squash bugs)
7  summer squash- from 2 plants (lost these plant as well mid-July)
6 months of mixed salad greens - romaine, red romaine, grand rapids, red leaf, green leaf, spinach, arugula, kale and buttercrunch (my favorite)
limes - just starting to grow
lemons-not ready to harvest quite yet
snap peas - 6 cups
sugar peas - 4 cups
butternut squash 4- lost these to squash bugs
acorn squash - never came up?
sugar pumpkins 2 - lost the rest to squash bugs
jack-o-lanterns 1 lost plants to squash bugs
cantaloupe 1 -lost to squash bugs
watermelon 2 - lost to squash bugs
garlic 8
onions - red 6
onions - white 10
radishes - didn't do well - not sure
sorghum - grain and syrup 4 cups of grain and 1 pint of syrup we had plenty more to harvest but I didn't get to it in time

Still harvesting and totally lost count a few months back:
green beans
carrots
green peppers
yellow peppers
orange peppers
purple peppers
red peppers
Jalapeno peppers
Marion tomatoes
Beefsteak tomatoes
Yellow tomatoes
Tangerine tomatoes - delicious by the way - I think my new favorite-maybe tied with yellow pear 

Tangerine tomatoes are my new favorite!

Purple Russian tomatoes
Roma tomatoes 

Grape tomatoes

Yellow pear tomatoes - another favorite

Cherry tomatoes

potatoes - red

potatoes - sweet

potatoes - gold

loofah sponges

herb pots - marjoram, dill, chocolate mint, oregano, parsley, sage, basil, cilantro, stevia, chives, and garlic chives

Zero harvests from our - apples, pears, peaches, grapes, figs, muscadines, red raspberries, rhubarb or pineapples - maybe next year? Hopefully next year!

All of the leftover produce and scraps fed the chickens, our rabbit and the mulch pile - so absolutely nothing went to waste! Yay!