I've also been enjoying some fresh veggies this year.

Exceptionally good corn (but then, I love fresh corn). The first planting (those I started in 6-cells) is done and I just pulled the plants today. The second planting (direct seeded) is just about ready - only a few more days. There is also a 3rd planting, probably 2 weeks behind the 2nd planting so if we get a nice fall, we should have corn for a long time.

Equally as plentiful is the cucumber patch. I think that along with corn we have cucumber salad every day, LOL. I don't make pickles but my mom has made some. This year they were grown in one of the raised beds with a thick straw mulch.

Root crops are so-so. Carrots are nice, and I got only a few nice looking rutabaga. Barely any Kohlrabi. Beets are plentiful - not sure why I grew them as I'm really not *that* crazy for beets.

I've got about a dozen of those big sweet onions growing and they're quite big :) I think they appreciate the raised bed, too.

Tomatoes are nice. But just like yours, Marcia, they are slow to ripen. I've got Romas, Celebrity and Sungold (sweet cherry). They are really heavy with fruit - the cages aren't enough support and so they're kind of leaning into each other or bending over some. Yesterday I went a little nuts with the pruners and pruned off all the green stems that weren't holding fruit to help the sun get at it and hopefully help them ripen.

Like your pumpkin, I planted 1 zucchini and it, too, is doing very little. I think I should have planted another couple to help with pollinating because that seems to be the problem.

And finally, I have a melon. One melon about softball size. It's growing in a 5 gallon container, and today I moved it into the greenhouse, hopefully the extra heat will help it along and maybe it'll grow a little bigger.

I'm so envious.

I did have great strawberries this year, and some raspberries, but by this time of year I get tired of picking raspberries so I left some for the birds.

I'm hoping the 6 little leeks I have will be edible for my DH's leek soup, the tomato plants are huge but I have very few tomatoes, and those are a long way away from starting to ripen. My beans are flowering, so who knows whether we'll have enough good weather to get beans. Apparently they're going to like the cooler weather, as we've had hot and humid a while back and they didn't like it any more than I did.

I'd love to have zucchini as it's been years, and all those other wonderful vegetables you've mentioned, except the swiss chard. Bleck! LOL !

I keep looking at that patch of lawn and thinking that one of these days this year I'll have the energy to start getting rid of it. I want more home grown vegetables next year =:)

I didn't plant much this year. The lettuce was fabulous but it's done. I'm thinking of collecting seed from the few that bolted. Anyone know if lettuces come true from seed?

The green beans were also great and just finishing, and the cherry tomatoes and onions have done well. I planted about a square yard of parsnips but only one germinated. Guess I'll eat it in the spring.

I wish I had beets... sigh, love beets.

My garden hasn't really done to much this year. First off, we had no rain all summer but it was hot enough that the lettuce and radishes bolted. When it started to cool down a bit, I replanted some radishes, don't think there will be enough time for lettuce. All the tomatoes were splitting over the summer, don't know what caused that. Their shaping up a bit now, plus it happens to be pouring here right now! Flea beetles were really bad this year and I lost most of the cabbage, brussel sprouts and broccoli to them. Funny, but they demolished the large Dutch cabbage (I forgot the name) but they left the Early Jersey Wakefield alone. The beets have done very well. Pudge, did you ever try the Touchstone Gold beets? The flavor isn't quite as 'earthy' as the red ones and I like them better. The onions and garlic have both done well. The peppers are really coming along now. Same for the squash. Marg

I haven't been down to the garden that has the corn in it, but dh was saying today that he should go and have a look at it. From the house i can see the tops with the fuzzy sprouts, but that's about it.

I forgot to mention the onions. They're doing quite well - all the tops are down and they're growing nicely. Our lettuce was really good too, and where i cut the heads of the leaf lettuce off near the end, some new little heads are growing. The radishes were good, but the second planting wasn't so great and the third never even sprouted. The kohlrabi was great and i wish i had planted more to come later, but i didn't.

Gil, can you plan a business trip here in the next little while? I'll supply you with a feed of fresh beets!

Marg, i grew yellow beets one year. Word of caution - don't can them. You know how the colour leeches out of beets? They looked like ghosts and no one would eat them! LOL

No, I haven't tried the gold beets, I'll try to remember next year to order them.

I decided this year that next year I'm gonna start a strawberry patch. (I am absolutely hooked on strawberry smoothies). I have an area that was gonna be a (yet another) flowerbed but it'll be perfect for strawberries.

I want to do raspberries next year. Strawberries would be good too. I wonder if i can figure something out....

Marg, I think tomatoes split more during dry years because they tend to dry out and develop a tough skin, then when they get watered suddenly, they burst. My cherry tomatoes split the day after I gave them a good soak. I cooked the split ones the same day so they wouldn't have chance to rot.

I also had really bad flea beetles on some mustard that was in my salad mix.

Well, even though I had a tiny garden in the Land called Honalee, I have had a fairly good harvest. Carrots of all kinds that are , of course, still in the ground and in their pots. Peas are finished and the dogs and I enjoyed every last one fresh. Still picking green beans and cherry tomatoes. Bigger toms are very green. Aphids were really bad this year. I got a few cucs but nothing to brag about. And that's about all I planted. Can't wait to dig those yummy carrots! Pulled a few litle ones to put in my borschtsch. Not my beets but fresh farmers market ones. :)

Nothing better then veggie from your own garden!
Picked some bush & pole beans, hopefully the weather cooperates and the rest of the harvest should turn out not too bad. The Tomatoes got knocked back pretty good from the hail
...not sure if it will turn out to something useful.
Kohlrabi has been good and still coming, salad is good with all
the rain, sweet peas is almost over, regular peas still coming and lots of broad beans. Carrots are finally back up from the hail but they will be lots smaller now. Have taken some potatoes, lots of zucchini, some cucumber. Kale is looking good, beets are coming back too and should be a little harvest, but same here, not really crazy either...will have to give away most, or cut them up in my grinder juicer, the pulp I dry and can be used in soup or cereal.

Tomatoes
I planted 28 varieties, some 85 to 90 days. I have picked several sandpoint and the silver fir tree. These are in containers -- a couple of sweet 100 too. About a dozen plants have a fair number of green tomatoes; but others are just starting to flower.

Beans
bush -- the slugs left a serving that we had in a stir-fry.
flat -- slugs and birds
fabia, in a tire -- flowering
pole -- no flowers yet

Kohlrabi, in containers -- about 50% cabbage worms
Cabbage, in containers -- same worms
peas -- birds and weeds

We go East for about three weeks in July. I'm thinking of delaying a week to get the garden off to a better start before leaving it to the weeds and weather. However, I want to be back before the raspberries come in. It takes about a week of work to get everything in reasonable shape when we get back. I'm the only gardener.

Larry, you should make East come to you instead!

I forgot the carrots and beets. I planted these in raised beds before I went East. 50% germination in one bed and a few clumps in the other. I thinned and transplanted beets and carrots to fill the beds. The beets are struggling; the carrots are doing fine. Guess which I planted the most of.

Man, we've had a crappy summer this year. Nights were too cold for good growth, the rain and sun were too segregated. You know, the perfect growing weather is sunny during the day, rainy at night, instead it was sunny for two weeks but cold at night, then rainy for two weeks and cold at night. Crap!

Oddly my corn is doing nicely, but I think its the new OP variety I tried: Painted Mountain Flour Corn from Fedco. It's only a couple feet tall, been molested by a guest dog and still nicely set up with corn on every stock, usually multiple corn sheaths...

Squash--yep, uniformly slow performer this year. I stuck with a couple 8-ball relatives this year, and they are doing well for me, but I have them in a mixed densely planted display bed while I rework the yard this year, so I think my comparatively better performance than both sets of inlaws and my friends is due to companion benefits and weed suppression combined with moisture conservation and a very protected site. Don't usually need all that crap to get zukes!

I didn't plant onions and carrots this year, thank goodness. Reports from friends say brocs and cauli went straight to seed. I planted late for those, mine seem fine. On average crops are yielding about half normal. Except beans. Go figure. My scarlet runners and favas are dense and vigorous after a slow start. Father in law's are yielding heavy loads of Haricot vertes

( I feel a little silly writing all this, but I record it in the gardening book anyways, so I might as well share it :-) )