Our 2018 vegetable garden by the numbers!

How about you?

I like to be in the know! And that’s got be why social media is so popular. Why else would we torture ourselves on Facebook?

Social media tell us that everyone else is living a life much more profoundly exciting than are own.

But it’s fun to compare notes. Especially gardening notes.

I want to know what you planted this year!

Right after the garden is planted, I go into crazy analyzing mode trying to figure out if the balance is right.

It’s tough to strike a balance between growing what can be eaten and what plants exist solely for aesthetic purposes.

Didn’t plant too many flowers this year. And the ones that did get planted were strictly from seed. They are doing great! Especially the sunflowers.

Still, I question: Too many peppers and not enough peas? Should I have planted corn and watermelon because my 6-year-old wanted to try her hand at those crops?

I didn’t. Couldn’t justify the garden space.

Besides, with corn being just 25 cents an ear at the local stand, why bother? Better to grow the crops that are pricier to buy and consume less space.

So super short and sweet post today telling you what I planted. And I’m hoping you chime in today giving me the scoop on your garden. So yes, it’s you I’m speaking to!

Still, tomatoes are the number one crop we eat. Cherry tomatoes taste like candy and get gobbled down. If… and that’s always a big “if” there are extra tomatoes, I make sauce with them.

If the cherry tomato crop is a bumper one, I throw a few into my sauce as a natural sweetener. Pure nectar for humans.

Neighbors and friends love getting my tomatoes! None get wasted.

Seventeen pepper plants seem excessive as well. But then again, we eat lots of peppers and so do our friends.

You need them for quesadillas, omelets, stuffed peppers, fajitas, taco’s, and just about every dish you can dream up. I even love them raw.

How about you? Such a crunchy snack.

Totally forgot to put in any eggplant or onions. And I didn’t have any garlic to plant! Womp womp.

The garlic cloves I had left were so small I knew they wouldn’t yield much crop, so I didn’t bother! That is so unlike me but there it is. Forgot to plant parsley, too. Oops! Next year.

Certain crops are experimental only. The single bok choy plant? Let’s see what happens. If I can get anything viable to eat, I’ll go to town planting bok choy next year.

Love the stuff. It the plant doesn’t yield much…bleh. We’ll see. Already I can tell the bugs are pounding my bok choy plant. Bummer.

Ditto for the cauliflower and broccoli. The bugs are enjoying them a little too much.

This year is no exception. Our tomato plants are surviving and thriving, especially the ones I have grown from seed.

Shocking, since where I live, we are always discouraged from growing tomatoes from seed due to our short season.

I added lime to my peppers this year for the second year running and they are looking fab! Hot, hot, hot and not just the hot peppers because they are all looking sweet.

Sweet they will be if left on the plant. Supposedly these California wonder peppers will eventually turn a bright red. They also have more vitamin C than an orange. Bring it.

Worst crop thus far? Those stinking cantaloupe. Only 2 out of the 6 plants even look remotely alive. I know they are heavy feeders and I thought I brought my A-game. But it’s still not enough.