Garden: Alton's Bounty

This years veggie garden has been the most successful to date. I got all of my plant starts from the Farmer's Market or Peaceful Belly Farm. Each of my plants put off fruits which I've either cooked with or has been eaten straight off the vine. On a daily basis Porter will park himself in his designated spots in front of the Current Tomatoes and Ground Cherries and declare that he is "ready!" A debate then ensues about the ripeness of each fruit and whether it shall be eaten. It's pretty fulfilling as a parent to watch your child beg for fresh veggies that are grown organically in our backyard. Man oh man did that steer poop make some tasty food!

The most prolific producers this year were the cucumber, by far.

Lemon cucumbers. No relation to the citrus.

Heirloom Tomatoes. Won't bother with these again since it's
 taken all summer to get 10 fruits.

Current tomatoes. Will be planting 3 of these next year so that the whole
family may enjoy their sweetness, not just Porter.

Celery. I've been using this to make chicken stock weekly and it's so tasty.

It takes GOBS of water to make this stuff grow. Therefore I have slightly
stunted and skinny stalks. Still tastes good though!

A variety of peppers, non of them hot.

Hybrid slicing tomatoes. These are on their second batch of fruits. Very tasty.

Looks like a tomatillo plant huh? Well, it's not! Only A few weeks ago I learned that these are Ground Cherries.

They look like mini tomatillos (which I thought they were) until I saw some in the store and recognized them. They taste like Pineapple Crush and Porter loves them. I'll be planing them next year for him.

Suyo Long cucumbers. I learned to pick these before
they got too long and dried out.
 

Not pictured are the watermelons, which were quickly sliced and eaten. I will be planting many more of these next summer so that we can enjoy more than the 2 we were graced with.