Everyday Gifts: Fall Garden Update

Let me open by introducing The Fuchsia Dude.

The local deer adore him and keep him all duded up with this awesome do.

Sorry... I do not deny being easily amused.

It's been a crazy wacky summer on the Oregon Coast.
But I thought I'd bust out a garden update for you.

The dill battled the bush beans for supremacy....
And the bush beans were winning for a while...
But let's face it no one can beat out volunteer dill.
And in the end victory was theirs.

The absolute best thing about the cool summer we had was that my sweet peas are still going.
I adore them.
They make me smile.
And smell makes up for stinky shin guards.

Even better than the absolute best thing above ( so would that be the absolute bestester?)...
Was the strawberries.

We pretty much eat strawberries every night and every morning.
How awesome is that?
I will be soooooo sad when they give up for the winter.

I really wanted to update you all on all the new stuff I tried out for funsies this year.

This one I didn't even try for.

We must have eaten a spaghetti squash sometime in the past year....
although I don't remember doing that...
which is not at all unusual...

Luckily it came up in a most convenient place so we let it ramble...
Apparently they are very productive...
Even without a lot of heat.

Sooo remember that whole green plastic angst saga?
Well I can only say that without the green plastic sheet we would never have seen the squash we were able to get this year...

And another of my new crops....Tigger Melons... barely eeked out an existence and would certainly have met an early demise....

But victory is mine!

I got...are you ready?....
Two

Yep count em....two
I stuck a strawberry near this one for scale for ya.

But wait....

Since these pictures were taken we've rain, sun, and fog....
So pretty much the same pattern as the whole summer...
And there is one more out there!

See?? Totally worth it!
I know!

Now I don't wanna go dissin on the new guys so in all fairness they all deserve at least one more shot during a more normal summer.

I mean here it is September and the pole beans are still just blossoms...

It's because of things like this:

Seriously a 2-3 inch rain in September??
They just look so sad...

No wonder the poor things don't know what to do...
I think I might be a little scared that I'm making excuses for my vegetables....
hmmmm...

The Soliel yellow fillet beans were scared too....and still in blossom...

Although I am happy to report that since that photo was taken we have harvested a bunch of them ....
Since we got a sun burst and they figured it was safe...
And boy are they tasty...
They will definitely get a rerun next year.

Another newbie that apparently likes a little sun...
the edamame has given us exactly one edamame and beer feast...

We waited all summer for them...
And I say, reluctantly, that is was kinda worth it...
They were really yummy ...
and I feel they deserve a real summer...

Beets are coming along....

Napa cabbage loves this time of year...
Unfortunately every slug and bug on the face of the earth loves Napa Cabbage...
Hopefully they will leave us enough for our fish tacos.