The last time I shared about my garden, it was late April and I had just planted everything. Garden planting post found here. I was hopeful and excited. Fast forward two and a half months to where we are now (knocking at the July’s door), and I am wiser, sweatier, but just as giddy.
I knew I wanted a garden but I never really imagined that I’d so quickly become the person that truly enjoyed spending any spare minute out in it. I try and skip the midday because it’s crazy hot right now, but in the mornings and evenings it calls to me. I love pruning and fussing over it and have gotten a lot more bold at pulling pests off with my bare hands.
Garden Update: Late June 2025
I’ve asked friends with gardening experience if the thrill of harvest ever dissipates, and to my delight, I have yet to find one that says it does. There is something so deeply satisfying about growing and eating things right out of my garden. That’s not to say I haven’t faced a few challenges.
My first challenge was/is squash bugs.
These little destructors come in, lay their eggs on your big, beautiful squash leaves, then sink their teeth into the hearty stalks, quickly leading to decimation of the plant. I read a lot about deterrents, but the solution I have found works best is simply to pick them off with your bare hands, drown them in dish soap, and scrape their eggs off the leaves. A butter knife works well for this!
They fully killed my zucchini plant and almost took out all my squash while we were in Scotland for a week, but I came back with a vengeance, planted a new zucchini plant, and have been out there in the morning and evenings, when they are most active, to pick them off. It’s now oddly satisfying to grab them (they are almost always in pairs, attached at their backends). It’s working so well! Now I’m sure when we travel again they’ll take over again, but hopefully I can harvest plenty between now and then.
My second challenge has been my tomato plants.
Apparently I planted indeterminate tomatoes which means they will keep growing and keep producing. Sounds great, right? Except they get huge and heavy.
Next year I’ll look into using a cattle panel but to help my already established issue this year, I got wooden stakes and this great soft tie product and gave them some much needed support inside the flimsy tomato cages. I also went heavy handed with the pruning to get better airflow and I’m happy to report it seems to have made a big difference!
My third challenge is not wanting to waste a thing.
I’m already a huge waste-nothing food person and growing it myself has only increased that desire. We’ve been eating a lot of “farm” breakfasts to enjoy the squash and kale. I’ve made our favorite squash casserole several times. I’ve also been canning pickles and blanching and freezing some squash and beans, too. They’ll be great in a veggie and beef soup. I’m also putting fresh herbs (my parsley, thyme, and oregano are thriving) and giving away as much as I can to any friends that want it.
All in all, I’m enjoying this learning process so much. The girls and I are currently listening to The Secret Garden and while that focuses on a flower garden and mine is largely veggies (and zinnias!), so much of the sentiment rings true to my feelings about being out there, watching things come alive, grow, and produce. I thank every little bee I see buzzing in a bloom and look forward to all the learning and harvesting still ahead of me. As the saying goes, one day you’re young and cool and the next day you’re taking pictures of vegetables in your garden. Guilty. And happy to be so.
Katie says
So much fun to actually eat what you grow. I’m sure it tastes better 😉.
Brittany Dixon says
It really does! Not sure if it’s all in my head or not, but it’s been so tasty!
Anne says
Oh what a wonderful garden! I love that it is producing great harvests after only a few months.
I hear you about pests! It’s a constant battle with slugs and snails and this morning, a squirrel ate a squash flower off a hardy seedling, then pulled out the plant (root and all) and discarded it! My dad would say said squirrel’s needs are greater than mine!
Lots of luck for your zucchini (courgette) plant and for the rest of the garden x
Laura says
You are a natural for this! And I am always amazed how early the tomatoes arrive down south (I grew up in Michigan, and they were much, much later!). It looks like you all have a fantastic set-up and are doing it right! It seems like a lifetime ago, but when we were first married and years before kids, we lived on 5 acres in southern Indiana. I went hog-wild and my husband and I planted a massive, fenced garden, and a freaking vineyard. And 400 tree seedlings on an open field. We had so many issues with deer, drought (for the tree seedlings and vineyard), and the clay heavy soil, even after amending it. Our tiller would just laugh when it hit the ground. We set up motion detected water sprayers to scare the deer when they ate our vines. I had dreams of bottling my own wine, and bought and read all the books. Then we decided it wasn’t actually what we wanted and moved to our humble 1950s home in Colorado. All this to say so much of what you are doing reminds me of that time (except I can see you are going to have much more success than we did!). It was so incredible heading out to the garden in the late evenings. I had more cherry tomatoes than I could deal with and ended up just straight freezing them in bags. We didn’t have blueberries, but had rows and rows of wild blackberries that I’d pick and make things with. And the zucchini was out of control, like if I didn’t get them picked on time, they’d be bigger than my arm in a few days. If I ever got to gardening again in Colorado it’d have to be a greenhouse- we have way too many challenges with deer and all the animals, hail, short growing seasons, etc. Keep posting about all of this, typical “cool” is a myth, it’s whatever you are enjoying in the moment. And I don’t know about cool, but I was definitely young (and foolish!) when I was way into the gardening and even though in the end it didn’t work out, it was still a wonderful time in my life and I learned a lot about myself through all the challenges, successes, mistakes, and terrible ideas, which really is what life is all about.
Brittany Dixon says
How did I never know that you did that?! You live such a fun life; so many stories to tell. I definitely think my four raised beds is the right set up for me. While sometimes I want a HUGE garden, realistically this is the right size to blend my desire to actually use some of the food to feed us *and* not get overwhelmed with it all.