Before Summer ends, I wanted to share with you veggies I planted and still have in my garden. Summer is ending really soon and the garden is looking ready for clean-up. There are still few veggie for fall harvest but I am already doing the clean-up little by little. So before everything gets cleared out, let me share with you the veggies and fruit I planted this year. let’s get started!

Red Cabbage

I am going to start with Red Cabbage because this was the most recent one that I harvested from the garden. I had always been drawn to colorful veggies and Red Cabbage is definitely one stunning vegetable in terms of color. This was my first time planting Red Cabbage. I skipped planting it last year because they take up so much space, as you can see, they are huge. But I saw this Red Cabbage is the plot besides me and I cannot helped but admire how beautiful it was. So this year, I decided to plant one. I got a seedling for this one, 4 pieces per pack which is quite a lot for one person. Nonetheless, I kept and grow all for of them.

This year we had a long cold wet year and straying vegetable from seeds did not really go well for me. I like last year, almost all my vegetable were started from seed. Cabbage is one veggie that needs to be started early and they take a long time to mature. I transplanted this around March – April and I am only able to harvest it in a August, almost 5 months. The other 2 still needs tone and I hope it will still make it before it gets cold, I have 1 more ready to harvest soon. I love how vibrant the color of this Cabbage. I never bought Red Cabbage before as I often go for the green variety but I have to say the Red Cabbage looks stunning. I had been researching for recipes that I can make from this. So far, I’ve already made Red Cabbage Slaw, Pickled Red Cabbage and Red Cabbage and Green Beans Stir-Fry

Cauliflower

Cucumber is one vegetable that I often use at home for salad or even for just snacking. I planted Cucumber last year and was not happy how it go and so I tried again this year. I planted two and one flourished and provided me more than enough Cucumber that I can use for my salad and Tzatziki. I bought the bush pickling variety seed packet and was quite surprise with how big the Cucumber came out. This is definitely not what I expected but hey, bigger is better for this case so I welcome them with open arms. This is one prolific vegetable that is definitely worth the space in my garden. I will definitely plant this again next year. Next year I plan to setup a DIY trellis to give climbing vegetable area to climb and Cucumber will definitely one who would benefit from it. Although this is a bush variety (non-climbing), it still needs space to grow and I think a simple trellis help or grow better.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is another vegetable that is worth planting for me. This past few years I’ve come to love Cauliflower and the navy ways that I can use it for. Gone are the days that Cauliflower is just for stir-fry, today you can use it to make “Cauliflower Rice”, Cauliflower Pizza, Roasted Cauliflower and more. They also takes a bit of space but not as much as the Cabbage. Cauliflower takes time to mature, and they can be planted 2X a year, Spring for Summer harvest and early Summer for Fall harvest. I will definitely grow this again next year.

Cherry Tomato

Tomato is a gardener favorite vegetable to grow. You will find Tomato in most if not all gardens. Although they are quite tricky to start from the seeds, they are worth growing in the garden. I always plant determinate variety as I do not have any trellis setup for the Tomato to climb. This year though, because of the extended cold rainy weather, none of the one started from seedling survived. I suspected I’m that will be the case and so I bought seedlings from nursery as a back up to assure that I will have Tomato growing in my garden. I picked 4, Cherry Tomato, Roma Tomato, Beef Steak Tomato and xx. The ripening is quite slow of the the late hot weather but the Cherry Tomato so far was the first one to ripen. The big ones are still green, I hope they ripen before the Summer is over.

Beef Steak Tomato

I love Beef Steak 🍅 Tomato. They’re big, firm and juicy. This is the second year that I planted this tomato and it never disappoints in terms of the yield. 1 plant gives so much huge tomato. I love the uneven rustic shape of this tomato, they’re great for salad to show case their beauty.

The one thing you have to remember, big tomato takes time to ripe. I was worried this will not make it through before the weather starts to get cool but I am thankful they made it, at least some of it. There’s still a lot that are still green l.

Beans

Beans is one easy prolific vegetable to grow in your garden. They grow even faster when you saw them when the weather starts to get warm. I planted few last year and was so far happy with it so I planted more this year. I already harvested so much and I cannot be more thankful. This is a bush variety again, although they do to need a tall trellis to hold on, I think it is still best to have something that they can be tied so that the air could circulate. This is one thing that I need to fox next year. I have to provide more space and a small structure to tie them.

Bok Choy

Bok Choy is one of my favorite Asian vegetable. I used them a lot for my dishes. They are quite cheap to buy, easy to cook and quite flexible. I love to steam, stir fry and add them to soup. I tried growing Bok Choy last year and was not as successful. I started them at a wrong time and none of them mature to the fullest. This year I started some from seeds and also both some seedlings for assurance. Both grow but the one from the nursery turned out to be huge! I’ve never seen a Bok Choy this big in the market. Seedlings bought from nursery tends to grow bigger because they have applied fertilizer and grown in a proper soil and condition. I planted Bok Choy during Spring from the seedling I bought and I have one growing from seed now for the Fall harvest. Basically, a lot of plants that you can grow during Spring can be planted late Summer for Fall or Winter harvest.

Parsley

Parsley a long with Chives is one herb that was really prolific this year. This was from last year and it did even better the second year. Since Spring until now I still have Parsley growing in my garden.

Lettuce

Lettuce had a long growing season this year because of the extended cold weather. I’ve planted quite a lot last year more than I can consume and so this year I tried to plant a reasonable amount only. I grown Leaf lettuce, Red lettuce and few head lettuce. Lettuce just like Cucumber is something that I often use in my meal. I love incorporating vegetable in the meals and so far lettuce and cucumbers are those kind of vegetables that you can easily incorporate in your diet.

Kale

I had a funny experience with Kale last year that thought a good lesson. No matter how much you love Kale, do not plant too much 🙂 Last year was the first year I did my gardening and just like any first timer, I was excited like a kid. I planted so much of so many things that I ended up not wanting to eat any of them anymore, Kale included. It is easy to plant so much when you are a first time gardener. Looking at the super tiny seeds did not give me the idea of how much this tiny seeds will grow. I watch video and some advice to plant more than one to have a backup in case that one seed did not end up germinating. In my case, more than one means 15 and they all germinated and grow into a full blown Kale. There’s just so much Kale that I cannot keep up eating them. I shared a lot with my fellow gardeners and also froze a lot and still, I have more. So this year, I planted only 3 which is a huge drop from 15, but still a lot. I will over either this so hopefully I don’t need to plant a new one. This year I planted Green Curly Kale variety for a change. I find their leaves a bit softer than the Purple Kale.

Snap Peas

Snap Peas is one of the first to grow in my garden, even before Arugula, Spinach, Lettuce, Bok Choy and Radish. These vegetables are normally planted at the same time which is early Spring. Last year I had so much Snap Peas, but this year not as much. The extended cold and rainy weather heavily affected the growth of most of the Spring vegetables. Snap Peas produces so much as long as you keep on harvesting them. They consume a lot of space in the garden though and definitely needs a trellis to climb. They are easy to grow, as long as the weather condition is good. They don’t like too wet soil as the seed starts deteriorating.

Arugula

Arugula is a good addition to salad. It has a peppery taste so I often prefer to mix it with other salad greens. I plant them during Spring and end of Summer. Last year was good for Arugula, but not this year. My Spring Arugula bolted(flowered) too soon even without reaching the size for harvesting. I started some last month for Fall harvest and this one so far is doing well. The warm weather helps the germination faster.

Spinach

One of my favorite cool weather green is Spinach. Last year I did not have any luck with them, but this year it turned out ok. The Spring planting did not grow as I expected but the one I planted for Fall harvest went well. I had a chance to pick them and used them for my savory oatmeal. This is one vegetable that is really worth planting.

Eggplant

If there is one vegetable that is worth buying as a seedling, Eggplant is one of them. I’ve grown them last year from seeds and although I was successful, it took forever! I almost lost hope that it will survive. I do not have a proper setup at home to grow warm vegetables like Eggplant, pepper and tomato and so growing this vegetables indoor was quite a challenge. Except for Tomato, I have decided that these are some of the vegetables I do not mind buying as a seedling from nursery. So this year, I got myself 3 Eggplants seedlings. The first 2 I bought almost did not make it because of the cold rainy weather we had even during May and June. I am starting to see eggplants now and it’s already late August. I am worried that this will not reach the full size ready for harvest before the weather starts to cool down.

Jalapeno Pepper

This is the first time I planted Jalapeno peppers and so far i was happy with the result. It was a bit late blooming because of the weather, but I managed to harvest some. I love spicy food and I always find good se for Jalapeno peppers.

Radish

Radish are cool loving vegetables. They’re planted early Spring and late Summer. All of my Spring Radish did not do well because of the extended rainy days that we have until May. I decided to plant some again for Sumner – Fall harvest and so far they are doing well this time.

I think in 1 or 2 weeks time I will be able to harvest everything in this container. I am doing a succession planting to have continuous harvest until the first frost date hits. Succession planting means planting every 2-3 weeks apart so that they don’t grow at the same time. This way, you don’t get bombarded with AMA vegetables at the same time.

Strawberry

Strawberry 🍓 is a very attractive fruit to plant in the garden. They come back year after year, up to 4 years which is a long time. They are easy to grow, and where I live they can tolerate milk cold because we don’t get as much snow in British Columbia.

I planted Strawberry last year and they propagate like crazy. They took so much space in my garden that I had to transfer all of them in the container. One thing I learned is that Strawberry do not want overcrowding in the container and they do not want to get too dry. You have to keep the soil moist otherwise the leaves will wither so quickly. The good thing is that they get revived easily once

Zucchini

It’s never too late! I was hoping to plant Zucchini during Spring for Summer harvest but I run out of space in my garden. The good thing about Zucchini is they grow fast and they can be planted during Spring for Summer harvest and during Summer for Fall harvest. I have yet to wait for them to get big and I am really hoping that it will hav time to grow big enough before cold weather arrives. So far I have yellow and green Zucchini and I am really excited to harvest them. I already have something in mind to use them for.

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