The Year of the Garden 2025

 

This is the Year of the Garden! I bought a mini-greenhouse and started seeds inside this spring.  It worked! My house was built in 1903. It is cold in the winter and all the porches mean there isn't a lot of winter sunshine in the windows. Growing seedlings has always been a challenge, but the mini-greenhouse was a game changer. With grow lights on each level and with it positioned near my desk, I never forgot to check the plants. Most of what I started came out healthy and strong. I had some that suffered from a fungus or just weren't viable seeds, but, hey! I'm was so much farther along than ever before. 

 

Big Greenhouse

Leon has been my right hand in all of the summer projects. He may be sorry he hangs out with me, but he is game! In April, we put up an outdoor greenhouse.  It was another new toy and just as big a factor in my 2025 gardening experience as the mini-greenhouse. When the plants got too big for inside, they moved outside. We had a thermometer on the wall, and heat sinks (various pieces of iron) to hold warmth in the early part of the season. Later I added two small fans to circulate air when it got warmer.  

I got the wild hare that I wanted to move the garden and put a dog yard north of the house. I've wanted a fenced area for the dogs for a very long time. A friend created a doggie door and small wooden pen off the north side of my house several years ago, but it was far too small for our growing dog pack. (Presently one 90 lbs., one 55 lbs. and one 30 lbs.)  This was the year I had to get a bigger dog yard. Where? Right where the old garden was, naturally. So, in late February, I realized I needed to start hustling. The garden needed to be moved in time to plant potatoes by St. Patrick's Day. Oh, oh! 

The last spike

I'm 77; Leon is 71. My son came by and moved two of the existing raised bed frames to the new area outside my back door, but most of the garden change was done by Leon and I. We built two more raised beds and then laid out a traditional garden parallel to the raised beds. We moved the red tiles that made a hopscotch game down the center path and the red tiles that supported the garden table. Leon built me a potato bin so I could see if that would be a better way to grow potatoes. (It wasn't).  We built trellises. and trellises. and more trellises... It seems everything I grow wants to climb on something. 

Leon was my engineer and partner in crime, but I had another assistant that kept me on task and helped me every step of the way. He isn't even human: Norby, my ChatGPT, advised on everything. Leon once said if Norby had been human, he'd have to get jealous of all the time I spent talking to Norby. :) How many trellises should we make? Norby had an answer. How should I orient the garden? Norby kept me from running the paths east/west the way I had in the old garden. He said sunlight and breezes would reach the plants better with a north/south orientation. How many XX should I plant? Norby found that answer. It isn't that I couldn't have dug through my gardening books for the information, but I could talk to Norby like a person and he would search the internet and give me the answers as if he were an old neighbor sharing hints. 

August 1, 2025

The resulting garden has been attractive and effective. The garden is a true kitchen garden, just outside my back door. I never stepped outside without finding myself wandering through the garden. I'd adjust a vine here, watch for ripening fruit there, pull a weed somewhere else. The old garden wasn't that far away from the present location, but it was on the north side of the house and out of my traffic pattern. I didn't see it if I wasn't deliberately going there. This placement invites me to wander. I did. So did Leon and Jen. Heck, even the dogs had to check out the plants. Lady, Jen's dog, is hell on grasshoppers. 

Sweet potato harvest

Even though Norby had a mathematical suggestion (grow X plants for this anticipated yield) I didn't listen. If I had 45 tomato plants growing in the greenhouse, it didn't matter that Norby told me 28 was all I needed. I found a home for all 45 tomatoes. This led to some interesting canning projects later in the season. I grew far too many cucumbers. I don't even like pickles, but I put up close to 150 jars of pickles for my grandkids. The Texas granddaughter sent about 30 of her share back to me. She couldn't store that many dill pickles! Fortunately, her brother in Topeka has a basement. AND he loves dill pickles. He has them now. I put up over 100 jars of tomatoes. (I love that) and froze corn (from the farmer's market), broccoli, Brussel sprouts, carrots, and peas. I canned tomatoes and green beans and froze and dried four different kinds of peppers. There were onions and garlic to dry and freeze, too. The white potatoes gave the best crop I've ever grown, but it was still too small to mess with. I'm not going to waste my time growing them anymore. The sweet potatoes, however, went crazy in the new ground. Not only did I get more than I can probably eat, but they were also huge! We will be growing these again. 

Wildflower garden

With all the vegetable gardening, you would think I had enough on my plate, but I also added to my flower gardens and moved the herb beds. I started a wildflower bed on the west side of the house. On the south side of the back porch, I planted a Jacob's Coat climbing rose and just a bit further south, I added a Julia Child rose to the bed I call Mom's Flower Garden. It contains tiger lilies that Mom planted more than 40 years ago. They have nearly taken the bed, but there is still a small corner for purple coneflowers and the new rose bush.  The herb gardens were moved to areas near the back yard. Most of them are around the white fence where I have one of the Blaze Climbing Roses. Others are in the holes of the concrete borders around the triangle bed and the north property line concrete beds. As you can see, my herbs get tucked into the flower beds so they can be decorative as well as functional.

New strawberry bed

With the advent of the new dog pen, I also had to move the strawberry bed and the asparagus bed that lived in the old garden. I built two new raised beds along the north property line. they are edged with concrete blocks. One bed holds asparagus, and the other holds the overflow from the new strawberry location. I thought that 4x12" raised bed of strawberries would transfer easily to the old triangle garden outside the back door. Fancy that. Strawberry plants seem to expand when transplanted. I filled the triangle bed and then built the concrete bed near the asparagus because there were still strawberries that needed a home. It was hard watching all those plants growing this spring and not getting any berries from them. NEXT YEAR I'm going to be bathing in strawberries. The strawberry bed was also Norby assisted. I complained that the triangle bed has been taken over by bind weed. Norby suggested planting the strawberries and then putting down cardboard between the plants to smother the bindweed. Once the cardboard was in place, I covered everything with cedar mulch. It worked well. I have had a few bindweed come up. I pulled them when I found them. Next spring I may need to refresh the cardboard and mulch to keep discouraging the bindweed. Oh, that brick bordered bed is garlic.

All and all, it has been a great garden year. I put by the harvest and also learned new skills. This was the year I started canning broths. I used a whole chicken to create chicken broth; marrow bones to make beef broth, and a wide selection of fresh vegetables to create vegetable broth. I also canned dry beans (kidney beans, pinto beans, lima beans) to add to that stash. Jen and I both love having these staples at our fingertips. Neither of us want to go back to buying such basics at the grocery. Norby's kitchen alter ego is a ChatGPT named Miss Melba. She has helped me perfect canning recipes. She checks to be sure my old recipes are using the most current canning times and processes. (Oops. My 1966 canning cookbook is a bit behind on how to process tomatoes. Definitely look for current data for canning times!)  She also helps with these new canning skills. I'm really enjoying this kind of artificial intelligence. 

South Room Pantry

Utility Room Pantry

It has been a very full summer, but I am glad we did it. I enjoy having a well stocked pantry and two freezers full. I feel Mom and my grandmothers standing behind me smiling. I come from a long line of gardeners/canners/cooks. It is good to have a full larder at the end of the growing season.

Gardening in The Time of Covid-19

Tomato vines trellised

The Covid-19 pandemic hit just as gardening season began. There were shortages. People were hoarding toilet paper. Farmers were having to slaughter or sell their cattle because the packing plants could not process the meat. Grocery stores were raising prices on meat when there were farmers with an excess in their pastures. Folks were seeing shortages and feeling the need to be more self sufficient. Gardening became a survival skill, not a hobby.

I got around the meat shortage by using some of my stimulus money to go to Bolling's Meatery and Eatery in Iola, Ks. for locally butchered beef. So far I've topped off my deep freeze on three occasions. I won't be buying beef at Kroger's again. This is flavorful meat!

First planted

The kids were eager to garden, and I was feeling the need as well. Last year was odd. There were no bulk quantities of tomatoes to be had. All I could can were what Lisa and I grew ourselves. For the most part, my raised beds performed better than her traditional garden. I think that was because the raised beds could retain water or let it go better than a flat garden. I have also been building the soil in my raised beds for several years. About every third year I buy 6-9 tons of composted horse manure and fill the beds with it. I mulch with ceder mulch and do a middling fair job of keeping the weeds down.

Now I like put away 100 pints of canned tomatoes for my house before I begin on juice or sauce. Since my daughter-in-law Lisa is an over-the-road truck driver, I do her canning as well, and I want that many for her, too. Last year we got only 50 pints of tomatoes total. Ugh. :(  With that memory behind me, I got carried away with planting tomatoes this year. Instead of my usual 8 or 10 plants, I planted 50!

Bundle of 50 lath

One section of trellis being laid out

In the past we have supported the vines with wire cages built from fencing that we inherited from my parents. Those cages are at Joe and Lisa's place. I didn't want to make that sort of support this year. Pinterest saved the day. Lisa found a post about building trellis from lath. Lath can be found at Sutherlands and Lowe's in bundles of 50 that are 4' long. (I used 4 bundles).

Reyes and Merisa helped me construct more than 32' of trellis to put in the garden.  We spaced the uprights 12" apart and the horizontals about 10" apart. That left us a 6" foot at the base of each trellis to pound into the ground. I didn't sharpen those stakes when we made them, but it would be easier to place them in the garden if they were pointed.

Reyes and Merisa at work

The Pinterest post suggested using hinges to hold two sections of trellis together. I didn't want to go to that expense. We experimented with various materials for hinging, starting with a Tyvek type mailing bag and later duct tape. After we were done and Lisa was viewing the garden, she suggested we cut soda cans into metal rectangles and hammer them in place for hinges. If the duct tape doesn't hold, I may do that.

First trellis went into the cucumber bed

We put the first trellis in the cucumber bed. They have loved it! By July the vines have reached the top and are falling over the frame. The tomatoes aren't as enthusiastic, YET, but I anticipate they will have the trellises covered before the season is out.

It is much easier to spot ripe fruit and pick them using the large openings in the trellis. I find it easier to wander around and weed the bed, too. The trellises are more open than those wire cages were. Now I just have to build up my stamina for all the canning that is coming on!

Mom Always Said Try Something New Every Planting Season

 My parents gardened for over 50 years on the property where I now live. Dad didn't understand why I wanted to compost or grow my garden organically. He used pesticides and chemical fertilizers and all the things that make me cringe, but that was their way and they were content.

I didn't always agree with their growing methods, but I do agree with their one dictum: Always try something new every year. You might find something you like; you might never eat it again, but you don't learn anything if you don't stretch yourself.

My "Something New" this year is Yard Long Beans. My raised beds are generally 4 ft. wide and 12 feet long. I don't want to work as hard at gardening as the folks did with their 30x90' traditional garden. I would still like canning or freezing quantities of some of the things I grow (Tomatoes! Definitely canning quantities of tomatoes!). I also want canning quantities of green beans.

In my small space, yard long beans seemed a good idea. My son drilled holes in the landscape timbers of the raised bed that would hold the conduit that supports the nylon trellis. The beans have been going to town. Every time it rains, more beans start growing.

Checking last year's canning log, I put up 30 1/2-pints of green beans. There are three, maybe four jars left. That was a good supply for one person last year. At the rate the yard-long beans are going, I'll have 30 1/2-pints by the end of July.  Ho-boy! I do hope my kids like green beans. I may be canning and giving them presents before the summer is out.

So Many Photos -- So Little Time

Ah, the potential of an unplanted garden!

I spent a lot of last summer photographing my garden and incidentally posting some of the views on Facebook. Did I ever update my blog? Not like I should have. It was off my radar.  I still have the photos, and Blogger does allow a person to set the date for a post, so all is not lost. I can go back and fill the gaps.

Now it's spring again! I so love spring! My friend Dave gave me a small electric tiller last fall as a birthday present. I love my tiller!!! Now I am going crazy tilling various raised beds and making new ones. I have pretty much tilled every possible vegetable bed I can put on this property without touching the front yard, the orchard or the area around the fire pit. Of course I could garden those areas, too, but dang. The kids are grown. I don't need the entire 100'x150' yard turned into a garden!

 With that said, I do have a lot of raised beds (10 last count.) I want to grow enough food to can. Yes, I supplement my canning supply from the farmer's markets in Ottawa, Lyndon and Emporia, but if I can grow it, I don't have to pay for it. :)  I will be adding one more raised bed behind the circle garden. That will be the last bed that can fit in the area that was my parents' garden. I have ventured into "new" zones -- the shade garden under the ash tree (near the metal dog pen) and the kitchen garden just outside the back door. I love that kitchen garden! It was full of tomatoes last year, with kale, lettuce and a few other greens squeezed in along the edges. I will plant tomatoes there again this year but down the center of the bed, not across the back of the triangle. Considering how they spread, tomatoes, a bit of basil and some marigolds and nasturtium may be all that grows in the kitchen garden this year. Lettuce, kale, spinach, etc. will all be shifted to the shade garden.

The first of several raised beds built this spring

My son, Joe, and I are slowly increasing the height of the raised beds from one landscape timber high to three high. This will allow me to improve the soil more easily and to grow root crops better. So far the only root crops that worked well were the sweet potatoes I grew in the shade garden last year. That was probably because that ground had never been tilled before. Every Christmas Uncle Robert gives me a gift card to Sutherland's Lumber. (Ah! I love that man!). The gift card will go toward more landscape timbers and spikes for the other beds.So far we have two beds completed.

The one shown has potatoes planted in it. I will be spreading straw over the potatoes this week. (Yes, I got the spuds in the ground before St. Patrick's Day. :) )  The other quote is "Plant peas when the daffodils bloom." I'm on track with that, too. The potatoes in wire cages didn't work out last year, so we built the first 3 timber high bed for potatoes. This year that bed holds two kinds of peas: English peas and snow peas.  Rotate your crops! I don't want nightshade family following itself (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers) so I tend to move peas into a nightshade bed the following year. Legumes restore nitrogen to the soil.

Pantry Joe built me last year

The pantry shown is just one of the spots where I stashed last fall's produce. I have more shelves in the South Room. (Need to get a better name for that room.)  Joe built me this pantry section last year when I knew I was going to be doing a lot of canning. He had the presence of mind to use adjustable shelving. I've already had to have him cut more boards as I inserted more shelves to hold more jars. If you notice lots of pints and half-pints in my canning, it is because I don't anticipate cooking for more than one or two people, so I want smaller portions in the jars. If company should show up, just open more jars!

Two things I learned. First, some things are better in quart jars. Diced tomatoes, for instance. Many of my recipes (soups and chili in particular) need two pints of tomatoes. Pie filling also requires a quart of fruit. So don't waste effort. Can them as quarts. This year at least half of the tomatoes I can will be in quarts.

Second, it's nice to can soups! When I make too large a batch of chili or stew, I can the extra. It makes a quick meal ready on the shelf later on. This year I will try my hand at canning stews directly, not as an afterthought. I do love soup. Check two of my Pinterest boards for recipes I'm going to try someday: http://www.pinterest.com/tilla2/canning-and-preserving/  or   http://www.pinterest.com/tilla2/superb-soups/.  In the same vein, I have really enjoyed having canned chicken broth on hand. Three whole chickens and about 1/2 a left over turkey gave me 2/3 of the winter's needs for broth. I canned them in both pint and half-pint jars. Some of the broth was canned with mushrooms added. This became the base for homemade cream of mushroom soup.

I have really enjoyed having canned beans on the shelf. I posted recipes on the canning-and-preserving board of Pinterest on how to can dry beans. I like to can pinto beans and navy beans. My daughter likes black beans. I am still looking for the right mix of spices to make my own Ranch Style Beans. The recipe found in the Homesick Texan's blog is not quite what I want.

Dehydrators are a great addition to canning 

When I wasn't canning last summer, I was dehydrating. I have dehydrated onions, corn, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, celery, and carrots as well as various air-dried herbs and spices. The jalapenos were ground in the coffee grinder to become a fine powder. Just a few shakes give taco soup and chili a new tang. The dehydrated corn wasn't a big success. It takes far too long to reconstitute, but the other dried veggies are great soup starters. I toss them into the liquid early in the cooking process. They re-hydrate by the time the dish is ready to eat. Frozen green peppers and onions are handy to toss into a quick omelet.

I swear, I have been channeling my Mother! :) It's either that or I am in danger of becoming a half-hearted prepper.

Canning Budget

   Mom kept a copy of a flyer pinned in the back of her favorite cookbook. It was called Your Canning Budget. We used it to anticipate how much to can each year. My biggest problem is figuring out how much to plant to get 110 quarts of food per person. :) 

FYI: The photo is a section of the pantry shelves my son built me.

Your Canning Budget

From Modern Guide to Home Canning, National Pressure Cooker Company, n.d. (1940s)

Planning your work… and then working your plan is essential to carrying out your canning program. While it is difficult to devise a canning budget that can be followed exactly, it is important to have at least a rough estimate of your requirements before you start in on your program.

          Working out a canning budget need not become a bookkeeping task, nor is it necessary to plan in minute detail the meals you are going to serve for months to come.

          What is important is to make a list of the various foods you want to can during the season. Decide, insofar as possible, whether you are going to put them up in pints or quarts… basing your decision on the size of your family, the types of foods and the containers available.

          Then calculate the approximate number of times you think you will serve each type of food in planning nourishing meals for a week. Multiply this figure by the number of weeks you expect the canned supply to last, and place the result opposite each food on your list.

          As an example, presume that you figure that you use about ½ cup of tomatoes per serving, and there are four in your family. If you usually serve tomatoes at, say, three meals a week – then your family consumption will total 2 cups, or 1 pint, per meal amounting to 3 pints or 1 ½ quarts a week. Figuring 34 weeks out of the year, then you would need approximately 51 quarts to take care of your requirements. Add an additional 14 quarts for other cooking purposes, and you can put down 65 quarts of tomatoes in your canning budget. Follow the same method deciding other needs.

          If you have your own garden, working out your canning budget before you plant is a good idea for it aids in deciding how much to plant and when to plant certain foods. Of course, you must keep in mind that you want a supply for use fresh, in addition to your canning needs.

          Just as a suggestion, the following canning budget has been worked out for a family of five.

         

                                                                                                             Quarts

Spinach and other greens………   30

Tomatoes…………………………    65

Other vegetables……   …… …… 100

Fruits……………   ……   ……… 220

Meats………………   … .……      100

Soups......................…  …             25                                                                                               
 Total....... ..  ................. ......... 540 

         

However, while arriving at a figure may be easy, it is sometimes difficult to budget the amount of each type of food needed to fill a pint or quart jar and what the approximate yield will be when you convert fresh foods into canned foods.

NOTE :

          Mom and I estimate that following this budget, one would need roughly 110 quarts of food per person canned for the season. We discounted the canned meats and soups because we do not go in for that kind of canning. These items are frozen, made fresh or purchased at the grocery store

Grandkids are a Great Help

Kayleigh, Emily and Lala have been visiting this week. Lala went home on Friday; Emily and Kayleigh go home tonight. They have been a big help to me. They picked and snapped beans, helped pick tomatoes, and took care of all the dogs we've had around here. (Our two, Emmie and Kayleigh's Bella, and Lala's Tinker Bell.)

Today Emmie, Kayleigh and Reyes pureed a ton of tomatoes so I can make ketchup (my first attempt. Wish me luck.) Each one had a job -- Reyes turned the crank on the juicer, Kayleigh pushed the tomatoes down into the hopper and Emily kept them supplied with sliced tomatoes. I was at the sink, slicing. I could hardly keep up with them.

They were gracious enough to do this before they headed for the city swimming pool for their last swim before the girls went home. They didn't seem to mind. Emmie piped up, "I like this. This is even funner than swimming!" The other two immediately growled, "Bite your tongue, Emmie!"

The kids are off to the pool now and I have the largest amount of puree ever to turn into ketchup and tomato sauce. I do believe I planted way too many Roma tomatoes. The Big Boy tomatoes are finally starting to produce. I have put up six pints of diced tomatoes and have enough ripe to do it again. I'm also getting to enjoy fresh sliced tomatoes at every meal. YUM.

The kids have been very patient with road trips. Thursday we had lots of places to go -- including two meetings in Garnett. They entertained themselves quietly, even when it had to be totally boring. Tinker Bell was content as long as she was on Lala's lap. (Click on the picture for a close up so you can find the dog on Lala's lap.)

On Friday we took Jen to downtown Kansas City for a job interview because she had car trouble. While she was in the interview, the kids, Tinker Bell and I explored the park in downtown KC. We met a lady from Madrid, Spain , her 3-yr. old son and their Schnauzer puppy at the park. She and her family had flown to New York, rented a car and are driving to California as their summer vacation. She said she hadn't realized how much energy a three year old could have until this one had to be cooped up in a car all day. Her little boy ran away from her two or three times and my four enjoyed corraling him. The girls had to ooh and ahh over her puppy, too.

When I told her Reyes was Mexican, she spoke to him in Spanish. He was able to understand a little of what she said, but didn't have the vocabulary to say much. Reyes enjoyed the fountain more. He spotted a Coke can floating in the water and dubbed it the SS Coke. He was sad when the SS Coke sank, never to be seen again.

They had a great time at the park. Tink was as easy going as the day before -- as long as Lala was within hearing or smelling distance. It is hard to be a blind daschund. Jen, by the way, had a good interview. We have our finger's crossed that she gets the job.

That Horse Shit Was Worth It!

Remember me posting about Reyes and Pat putting horse manure on the garden last spring? This was Pat's third try to get a good crop of corn. In the first two efforts he may have harvested six ears from the entire planting. Now he's a believer in horse manure (also extra nitrogen and side dressing with blood meal when the tassles form). We put up 19 pints of whole kernel corn and 24 ears of corn on the cob. If the entire crop had been planted in Bodacious corn, we would probably have had twice that much corn.

We planted two types of corn. Many years ago my Mom was enchanted by Iowa Chief corn. It was one of the first extra sweet corns she found. Not knowing which kind of corn to grow, I found that and planted it the first two years. Later Pat picked Bodacious from the Gurney's Seed catalog. We put in two rows of Iochief and 2 rows of Bodacious. Hands down, Bodacious is the one to grow! Not only was it sweeter, it outproduced the Iochief all over the place.

Besides corn, we have been busy with peas, onions, green beans and now tomatoes. I'm busy nearly every day canning or freezing what ripened the day before. I have never grown Roma tomatoes before, so it's an adventure figuring out how to process tomato sauces. I have put up two batches so far. One of classic tomato sauce (it came out pretty thick) and one of Italian Tomato Sauce. (runny, but full of carrots, onions , celery and other chunks. ) I have about 1/2 a basket of tomatoes to process today, so I'll have to see what recipe I want to try this time. The Big Boy tomatoes will be ripening soon. That's when I will put up diced tomatoes and tomato juice.

The green beans are going crazy! I have over 30 pints of beans put up and the beans are still producing. I thought they were "spring crops" that died off in early June, but the beans didn't, only the peas did. We will have beans until frost at this rate. I'm not complaining. Pat and I love green beans. Reyes doesn't get a vote -- they are on the table, so he gets to eat them. :) I don't think that's a problem.

The cucumbers went wild and I have put up all sorts of pickles -- Kosher dill pickles, dill pickle chips, sweet gherkins, sweet gherkin chips, as well as bread and butter pickles. I don't eat pickles, so I have to take the kids' word for it that they are good. Reyes and Lala smack their lips over the dill pickles. I do believe they could eat the entire quart in one sitting if they were allowed to do so.

I'm proud of the onion harvest, but frustrated, too. I can't grow large onions. I want them the size they come in the grocery store! Guess that will be one of my winter assignments: read up on growing large onions. Maybe they need something besides horse manure... I wonder if I can plant onions in a fall garden? As much as I'm using them for sauces and cooking, this won't be nearly enough to go through the winter.

The spaghetti squash is our mystery plant this year. My folks always planted one vegetable they hadn't grown before and didn't eat (yet.) One year it was globe artichokes. Another year it was peanuts. Okra became one of their staples after they tried it one year. [Dad had to harvest it because Mom was extremely sensitive to it's thistle-like nature.] So, for us, this year was spaghetti squash. It's doing great! But when do we harvest it? I've read that it is a winter squash, so I'm figuring it will harvest when the pumpkins do. I did pick one this week and cut it open. It was still green around the edges and the seeds weren't properly formed yet. I did cook it and the pulp did it's string thing, but we didn't eat it. I have time to perfect a good spaghetti sauce to eat with the squash.

We also have cantaloupe, two kinds of pumpkins and sunflowers planted. Reyes loves sunflower seeds, so he's been keeping a close eye on them. Next year I'm going to plant them against a building because every time we get a big rain, we loose another plant. We will be lucky to have 4 plants make it to maturity.

The pumpkins are Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins and one vine of Giant Pumpkins. The package said to pick off the buds and let the vine concentrate on producing one pumpkin to get the largest size. I let two pumpkins stay on the vine. I guess that means we will get two 150 lb. pumpkins instead of one 300 lb. pumpkin! It's going to have to hurry. Right now they look like light bulbs, not pumpkins. (That's it on the left.) The Jack-o-Lanterns have grown to be decent sized and LOOK like pumpkins, but those others, well... time will tell.

All in all we have a good garden and are enjoying it. This has been a good year for us.