A good year for gardening

This has been a remarkable year in the garden.  I believe that the draught and warm weather has actually helped us out.  Typically, at this point in time, I am throwing away tomatoes that have developed black spots and mold and others would be sitting green on the vine.  This year, we've been harvesting ripe tomatoes for weeks.  I also already have winter carrots and lettuce in the ground and they seem to be doing well too. 

The showiest tomatoes we have are these violet ones.  They are the deep color of eggplant and have an interesting sweet/tart flavor.  The other two varieties are a pink variegated variety of cherry tomato and another called "black truffle".  The latter, pictured below, are the tastiest.  They are also the ones that are taking the longest to ripen and they are also the ones that the squirrels seem to like the most.  

The true star of this year's garden are the cucumbers.  We over planted with eight plants but the towers have worked out nicely.  Where the towers left off, my daughter's fourteen foot tall sunflower took over.  Some of the cucumbers are so high, we will probably need a ladder to get at them.  We are harvesting about ten a week and giving away many of them.

This past weekend, we pickled several jars of cucumbers and beans.   They should be ready in a few weeks and I am anxious to see how they came out. 

The whole family got in on the "pickle assembly line" this year, which made things run more smoothly than usual.

Until the pickles are ready, we can still enjoy a mix of our cherry tomatoes.  This year has been a real treat.