Veggie garden update

The veggie garden is just about done for the year, and it looks a lot different than it did a couple of months ago. Overall I'd have to say that my harvest was a disappointment: too few tomatoes, cantaloupe that weren't as flavorful as I had hoped, beets that didn't do well.

The beans are still producing since I planted them quite late, but I haven't been harvesting as often as I should, so they end up being too old and tough. Right now this bed is mainly a cypress vine bed, so let's take a look.

***

As I said, the beans are still producing:

and there are a few tomatoes still coming along too, although they're not pretty, and are somewhat small.

They still taste great though!

There are some banana peppers:

This plant has been producing pretty well, but I won't be planting again next year because we haven't found a good use for these. I mainly wanted to see if any peppers would grow in my soil -- I've had terrible luck with green peppers, but this gives me more hope for next year.

That's it for the edibles, and all that's left is vines and flowers:

The hummingbirds love that I let the cypress vines take over, as the flowers are perfect for them.

The vines are pretty vigorous though, and I have to hack my way through to open the gate every couple of days or so. Unfortunately the vines were sturdier than the gate, which has started to fall apart. I'll need to repair the fence sometime before next spring anyway, so I'm not surprised or concerned about this.

With the yellow rudbeckia triloba (I've heard it called "brown-eyed Susan) as well as the white-flowered garlic chives, this corner looks pretty nice right now:

This is a bee and butterfly haven right now -- the amount of pollinator activity is amazing!

Oh, I almost forgot one edible that's remaining:

Horseradish! I planted it two seasons ago and didn't dig any up last fall, so this should be a bumper crop. Although I'm not particularly fond of hot and spicy, I have family members who are. Since I've read that you can control the hotness of horseradish by how you prepare it, I'm hoping to make some mild and some hot horseradish in the next few weeks.

I just hope I don't mix up the jars.