There’s plenty of Grilled Zucchini on the menu at my house!
Last time I shared an update about my garden I was excited about baby vegetables starting to appear, and now a few weeks later I’m happily using vegetables and herbs from the garden and looking forward to more to come.  The photo above shows what happens when you don’t keep up on picking the zucchini.  Most of these are about the size I like, but the two giant 8-Ball Zucchini in the back are going to be grated up and turned into something like Savory Whole What Zucchini Muffins with Green Chilis and Cheese!

For the last two years I battled tomato blight in the boxes along my new deck, so this year I planted squash and cucumbers in those spots and moved the tomatoes back into the main garden.  I actually kind of like the look of the squash plants lining the deck, and I think it’s helping me keep them picked!

The zucchini are in full production mode, as well as the yellow straightneck squash you see here.

The last squash plant I put in was this scallop squash, so it’s barely starting to get some baby squash, but I’m excited for these.  I love this type of squash for Marinated Summer Squash and Chickpea Salad with Lemon, Herbs, and Parmesan.

The cucumbers are not quite as attractive or happy growing along the deck, but I’m getting a good supply of cucumbers from them. 

In the garden the first bed has Red Russian Kale (which is thriving), as well as some radishes, a bush-type winter squash, and some tomatoes in the back.  (Please ignore all weeds!)

I don’t always have great luck growing dill, so when two volunteers came up near this bed I decided to let them grow here!

The next bed has swiss chard in the middle, with red bell peppers on one side, Poblano peppers on the other side, and tomatoes in the back.

For the last couple of years I’ve had to put netting over the chard plants to keep the birds from eating them, but this year they don’t seem quite so bad.  The net is kind of a pain, so I’m keeping an eye on it so far, and letting the birds have a few nibbles.

I am excited to see one Poblano pepper making an appearance!

All my tomatoes have lots of fruit.  These are my beloved Green Zebra tomatoes!

I was thrilled to find San Marzano tomato plants this year.  It’s my first year growing these Italian tomatoes which are supposed to be so flavorful for sauce and Slow Roasted Tomatoes, and the plants are loaded with tomatoes.

I also found Lemon Boy tomatoes, which are a very flavorful yellow tomato that’s another one of my favorites, and they seem to be doing well.  (Not pictured are Celebrity Tomatoes, Better Boy Tomatoes, and Brandywine Tomatoes, all of which are thriving.)

The third bed has curly green kale, which doesn’t seem to be growing as fast as the Red Russian Kale.  There are more tomatoes in the back (which you can’t see) and four Ichiban Eggplant along the side.  I love these for making Spicy Grilled Eggplant!

The fourth bed has French green beans, with three tomato plants in the back.  As you can see, I have a lot of green beans in my future.

In the herb beds, I’ve got parsley, flat parsley, mint, rosemary, dill, Greek oregano, Marjoram, thyme, tarragon, and chives which I’m using often, and I’ve already picked two big salad spinners full of basil from the two basil plants that I planted from seedlings.

I usually plant a couple of basil plants and then fill in with seeds, but the basil seeds don’t come up nearly as well with the drip sprinklers as they did when I had overhead sprinklers, so in the future I will probably buy a few more basil plants.  (The two little ones on the far right inside the pipes are Thai Basil, which I am trying to nurture along although they’re not too happy there!)

So that’s what’s happening in the garden at Chez Kalyn.  If you have a garden at your house, let us know in the comments about what vegetables you’ve been eating from the garden!  (You can see all my Garden Updates since 2006 or the 2012 Garden Updates if you’d like to find out more about my garden.)

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