Garden snaps and a harvest update

I will keep this post short-ish and simple because I have to dash outside and get to weeding the back lawn (boo)! Below are some garden snaps over the past two weeks along with some of what has been harvested. To date I have picked 8 zucchini, several bunches of chard, 8 little spring onions, 65-70 radishes and 3 turnips and 3 beets - both of which were small, I picked too soon (I was excited!). Here is hoping I get much more in the weeks and months to come!

Oh, one more thing: what to do with your zucchinis? Anyone who grows zucchinis knows you can easily get overrun with them - chocolate chip zucchini loaf is great (just supply your mum with one or two zucchinis and hope for a loaf in return!). But have you tried zucchini fritters? Best. Ever. I whipped up a batch on Wednesday, they took no time to make, were so easy and yummy. Give them a try when you are up to your eyeballs with zucchini! The recipe I followed can be found here.

The garden is out of control!

So, my bad. I hadn't realised how long it has been since I last posted. I suppose I got caught up in gardening and yard work and all of that fun, time consuming stuff. Since the last time I posted, the veg garden has got out of control - in good ways and bad. I won't go into too much detail, but take it from me, you don't want to plant zucchinis in a raised bed...unless that raised bed is huge...and you don't want to grow anything else in that raised bed! I have learned the hard way. Below are some snaps from the past few weeks, just look at everything grow!

Remember this? The zucchini plant on June 3rd. How amazing is it that I grew this from seed?

This was taken June 17th. Everything was really starting to take off at this point.

July 1st...what the heck, right?! The marigolds have taken over and the zucchinis...

...out of control!

Some advice from me, the beginner gardener who has been doing lots (but maybe not enough) gardening research online: if you research square foot gardening and find the same information I did, that 1 zucchini plant can be grown in a square foot, it is a lie. Someone out there is having a laugh at me right now for believing it. Also, companion planting, a wonderful thing - marigolds and tomatoes, magic right?! Do your research before planting your marigolds...turns out one marigold can easily grow to fit a one foot square (in your square foot garden). So don't plant 3 marigolds and then scatter your remaining seeds to "see what happens". You end up with a massive, solid as all hell marigold bush that slowly but surely spills over its 1 foot allotment and consumes your beets and carrots. Bad marigolds...and bad me for not doing more research. This will be my summer of learning!

This is a battle between a marigold, tomato and zucchini. I honestly can't tell who is winning.

Carrots!

Tomatoes!

And chard, oh my! Note: this chard and only this chard became riddled with perfect little holes, why?

Yesterday I harvested some chard. The few kale leaves to the right are the only ones to survive the dreaded green caterpillars of doom! Where did they come from?! I don't know, but what I do know is they made short work of the kale and to top it off, they left nasty kale poops everywhere!

In the coming weeks I hope to be doing more harvesting, so stay tuned. I promise to keep snapping photos and posting about my garden adventures along with some of the finally completed projects that have been happening around the house!