This year is gonna be different… with the exception of the cherries which are growing gang busters. In previous years we have had a significant produce garden, more than ample in fact, for a household of two. 

Pounds of Produce

So, this year, instead of planting a whole bunch of annual veggies, I focused on flowers. That isn’t to say I didn’t plant any vegetables, but I refrained from going nuts. For instance, I didn’t plant any squash at all. 

For those of you who have planted squash, specifically summer squash such as zucchini, you know that once established they give profusely. Too profusely in our case.  

I don’t have one of those old fashioned farm scales to measure how many bushels or pecks, but I can say that although we ate all the zucchini we could fresh, froze a bunch of it, and gave a ton away to friends, family, and the food bank””we were still drowning in zucchini. 

Not this year. I am relying on the kindness of my next door neighbor for summer squash this year. For that matter, I hope she will give me some beans, cucumbers, and a few other odds and ends that in the past we found gave too much for us to handle. 

Growing Bing Cherries

Now the Bing cherries on the other hand… the tree is huge! A professional grower would have long ago pruned this baby down to a manageable height but well, we didn’t. 

It loved the above average rain combined with relatively mild temps we had all spring and as a result, is chalk full of luscious fruit. Even though we are letting the birds tackle the upper branches we will again have far more than we can handle. 

I see cherry ice cream, dried cherries, cherry pies, cherry sauce (with port over peppered duck!), chocolate covered cherries, etc. in our not too distant future. Come on over, we can hook you up…you pick though.