Every year I have a bumper crop in SOMETHING -- but it's not always easy to predict what's going to take off. In 2022, I had over 60 pounds of winter squash, then the following year my squash were ALL destroyed by bugs. For a couple of years I was the queen of kale salads---this year, I wish I had planted more. (Note to 2027 me: more kale!) What succeeded for you this year, and what didn't? What do you WANT to have "too much" of next year?

Give it fertile soil and something to climb, and this baby will take over the world! Here are two at the mature stage. I have approximately 17 more ripening on the vines, and no, that number is not an exaggeration. This does not include ones that I picked in to eat like zucchini earlier! Mature, they are a buttenut relative and can be used in any recipe that calls for either butternut squash or pureed pumpkin.

I started a big grow bag with fall carrots last week, and covered it a sheet to keep the soil from drying out until the carrots germinate. The second day I went out there to spray the seeds and discovered a new garden friend -- a monarch caterpillar had decided to make its Chrysalis inside the edge of the container! Now I don't forget to water the carrots because I want to check on the chrysalis everyday. 😄

I was a little disappointed by the puny size of my tomatillos until I chopped them into a quick salsa -- YUM! This little batch was just a few tomatillos and peppers and a little onion and garlic, all from the garden, plus salt, cumin seeds, a squeeze of lime, and a pinch of sugar. Oh my goodness this was delicious! I used half as a marinade for grilled chicken and reserved the other half to spoon over the meat for serving. Sorry I did not get a picture of it spooned over the grilled chicken because it all got eaten way too fast! Have you enjoyed any meals with garden ingredients lately?

My garden buddy dug up MORE potatoes today! These two buckets are in addition to the ones I got on Thursday, and there's still one more plant of the russets out in the garden for later harvest. I'll post the final totals after way-ins, but it's certainly my best yield yet by a long shot, especially for the purple ones!