In Our Maine Garden: Mid-Summer’s Produce Dreams

It’s mid-August and our mid-summer’s produce is a dream. Come gaze at our garden, and see why I am so excited about a plant I nearly pulled.

I’d worried that some of our cucumbers just didn’t grow. That’s happened to us before — last year with baby bok choi, this year with my favorite peppers.

But then I looked closer. Really, I was looking at the vine because I thought they didn’t belong there. I was going to pull it. But then I saw the itty bitty Mexican Sour Gherkin Specialty Cucumber fruit. It was tiny, but there. Then I noticed more. Two, three, four … more!

This variety of cucumbers looks like miniature watermelons and taste like cucumbers with a hint of tanginess and citrus. They are sometimes called cucamelons.

And mine are growing!

You know what else is growing? Our second planting of peas. It was a group effort to get them in the ground, but we did and they are beginning to sprout.

I can’t wait to harvest more peas.

Our cabbages are finally forming cabbages. I do hope we can enjoy them soon. When I purchased these seeds, I didn’t realize these would be a mid-summer’s produce harvest. Whoops. Next year, I will look for ones that mature sooner.

And tomatoes! We’ve had a couple of plum tomatoes ripen, along with maybe a pint or two of cherry tomatoes. But there are so many more. Yay for mid-summer’s produce!

And today I came home with several green tomatoes (baked fried green tomatoes, here we come!).

Plus, you can see the onions beginning to form.

And we’ve already harvested some of the broccoli (it is so not the big heads I was promised!).

All in all, I’m still pretty happy with our garden …

… And taking notes for next year. Why didn’t we plant summer squash, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts again? Why didn’t I pay attention to harvest estimates? Why did we end up with so much mid-summer’s produce? (Hint: That last one answers itself.)

How’s your garden growing?