With Silver Bells, and Cockle Shells

Time for a check in with the garden.  My version of 'Mary, Mary Quite Contrary' reads: 

McKenzie Mary, Quite Contrary

How Does Your Garden Grow?

With Enormous Plants Out of Control 

And Nothing Staying In Its Row.

Good thing plants are pretty forgiving and you get to redo it all next year.  I certainly have learned a lot from my first little garden.  Let's revisit my list of what I planted then have an update of how that item fared:

• Seven tomato plants - Thriving, almost falling over with green tomatoes, we have harvested ~10 ripe sun gold
• Broccoli - Two of my four plants bolted, I didn't know I needed to pick the broccoli when it formed a head and a majority of it floured and then had to be pulled out.  I needed to research when to harvest sooner.  
• Carrots - These had to be pulled out due to extreme overcrowding and being blocked by the giant radishes and broccoli pants that were too close
• Radishes - As mentioned above, I had to remove the radishes, which were very overcrowded and somehow grew to be three feet tall.  I still need to do some research into what happened there.
• Peas - Once I staked the peas they did great and we ate about 30 pods but the plant isn't producing anymore so not sure what is going on.  I will definitely plan more peas next year.  
• Beans - I didn't realize I had beans that needed to be staked until they had crept into other sections of the garden but I was able to stake them up and control them a bit.  We just had our first bean tonight.  There are probably more but the pumpkins are hiding them.
• Lettuce - I had six lettuce plans which was way too many, one would have served it's purpose for us.  The lettuce has been removed since they just kept getting taller and were starting to block light to the tomatoes.  
• Cucumber - These died early on, probably due to lack of water.  
• Pumpkins - Thriving is an understatement for the pumpkin plants.  I may not need to take the kids to the farm this year if we get as many pumpkins as we have flowers right now.  The real issue I think will be space.  I should not have planted the entire pack of seeds since they all grew.  
• Chives - The chives are doing good, through we have not eaten any of them.  I need to really consider all the herbs that I planted and ask myself what I really use in cooking.  
• Oregano - Same status as the chives, neglected but growing.
• Basil - These died out early from lack of water and I think cold temperature.  Next year I'll wait longer to plan the basil outside.  This I would have used!
• Thyme - Same as the chives and oregano.  
• Dwarf sunflowers - These are the one thing that that didn't grow despite the entire pack of seeds I planted.  
• Sweet Peas - My favorite childhood flower, they are blooming and smell great!  Next year these could grow somewhere else in the yard and not take up my garden space.  
• Mixed flowers - Those that can fight back the overpowering sweet peas are blooming now.  This is another item that will find a new home next year.  

Many lessons learned - all valuable in my journey to enjoy my outdoor space and teach the kids about growing our own food.  Hopefully I can remember some of this next year!

My crop of broccoli for the year - so much better than from the store

The bolting cauliflower - pretty but wasted