The last of the summer produce

Well, summer is officially gone, and with it goes my garden. I have to say I really lucked out with my first stab at growing real food in my own backyard. Every single thing I planted (well, except my doomed-from-the-start strawberries), whether from seed or started, flourished. My basil plant has pretty much taken over an entire corner of my garden and I'm guessing I harvested upwards of 30 cucumbers this summer. I've picked plenty of jalapenos and too many banana peppers to even count. The bush beans provided us with some really delicious late-summer side dishes. But the thing that surprised me most (mainly because I didn't even figure out what it was until August), was my watermelon plants.

Sure, the watermelon ship may have sailed for the summer and most people currently have pumpkins on the brain, but a couple of watermelons from the garden have finally matured and, boy, was it worth the wait.

The first watermelon we picked was a big boy, and I think we jumped the gun by a week or two. It still tasted good, but nothing about it blew me away. This second watermelon, however, is knocked me back a couple steps.

In a good way.

Ruby red, sugar-sweet and extra juicy, this watermelon is absolutely delicious. It's definitely not seedless, but I'll take the time to spit out the seeds (or, you know, swallow a few) to get to the mouth-watering fruit they grow.

I honestly can't believe how well these watermelons turned out. I was bracing myself for them to begin growing and just die prematurely, but they're turning out just fine. And even if they did come in a little late, it's better late than never, in my mind.


What was your biggest success/surprise in gardening this year? Any embarrassing failures? It's OK to share - we're all friends here!