I’m getting cucumbers, a few young Luffa (although they’re inadequately shaded — I didn’t realize that these plants don’t seem to grow as densely as needed to survive the intense Texas sun), most of my Romas are ripening on the vine, and the Sweet 100’s are still setting fruit despite the heat.

Sweet 100's - Every Color of Tomato

First cucumber! It was delicious!

I sliced it and mixed it with about a half-cup of sour cream, a few dribs of white balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. It was delicious. I was going to throw a handful of super-sweet 100’s in with it, but … I ate them.

On the other hand, the Cayenne plant that produced those wonderful peppers a few months ago is no more. I came out the front door a few mornings ago to find out that two caterpillars had completely denuded it overnight.

That's a cayenne he's munching on.

Gluttons.

Whoever told me that putting Cayenne pepper on a plant’s leaves would keep the caterpillars off of it? Doesn’t look like that’s true…

I had planned to preserve them and use them when the tomatoes are ready for salsa in another month or two, but it’s not worth it. The onions were too small, some as small as a quarter. On one hand, it’s disappointing that I didn’t get a good crop. On the other hand, this validates my early theory that the reason I haven’t gotten much of anything out of the garden is that there wasn’t enough nutrients present in the soil … which a soil test could have told me if I’d gone and gotten one. But this is my first year with the raised bed, my first year growing onions, and my first year gardening organic, and I was leery of overdoing it.

Since going organic, I’ve learned a lot about what plants need to look like in their different states, and the rest of my tomatoes and other crops look great right now. I’ve also found sources of fertilizer, garden soil, compost, and mulch that are organic in nature and not made from chemicals. Hopefully I’ll be able to harvest some of my ripening tomato and pepper crops soon!

Some kolhrabi plants don’t seem to bulb in the first place. My mom told me about this and I was expecting it. some of them create kind of a ‘vertical’ bulb. They tasted kind of off, a bit more bitter, but still edible.

But this late in the season? It’s just bugfood. Ants, which I’ve been unsuccessful controlling organically to date, have been (literally) farming the aphids. And I don’t need any EXTRA bugs.

Yep, Kohlrabi is a fall crop here in Texas. Just like the packet said!

Here’s a little embedded teaser:

Taking a lesson from Get Rich Slowly, I’m planning to save as much of my in-season produce as I can for later by canning it… especially what J.D. says is their favorite salsa recipe. I also have plenty of items that will get cooked (or partially cooked), frozen, and consumed later.

In the meantime, watch for a new section to appear up top as I start getting produce in the next month or two — I’ll be posting recipes for preserving and using massive amounts of the things I’m growing.