Mid-August

Something told me there wouldn't be too much to do
in the garden today ... was I wrong ... I arrived
to find the new squash doorway I'd built collapsed
(no big surprise really - what was I banking on -
miracles - it's put together with tomato ties and
not even sunk into the ground more than 1/4" because
I got pooped out hitting the top of the post with a
rock at an awkward angle ... and it seemed to stand
up) ... SOOooOooO ... I spent about an hour & a half
trying not to get knocked out by the swinging pumpkin
as I rebuilt it with more tomato ties and little stakes
placed at a whole lot of rinky dink angles to support
the two main posts ... many of which are hidden from
prying eyes by copious numbers of vines and leaves.


So here it is now - O-Ya! please let there be no wind
or any weather, etc for the rest of Summer - just miracles!


... evidence that were some ripe red tomatoes before my visit
today - eat the whole thing & leave me some next time chipmunk ...


... other things are ripening too but not quite there yet
(in the b/g are some mini chocolate peppers - I'm assuming
they are hot - if not - then that's a whole lot of
energy out for just one little salad.


I spent another hour and a half clipping off dead branches
and spotty leaves - I'm being ruthless this year ... these
guys are getting lots of air flow ... there are still flowers
on some of my plants ... there's still potential for some ripe
tomatoes (next year I'll let the whole garden take a tomato
rest - I say that now) ... that's a lot of fried green tomatoes?


Todays catch ... flowers & herbs (dill, thai basil, mint),
squash blossoms, tomatoes, garlic and a marrow (it might
look like there's a lot of tomatoes in there but there
aren't ... not enough for me to get sick of eating them
which is the whole point - not by a long shot)


... the year of the zucs & cucs what can I say ... they are going gangbusters and I'm enjoying them in salads (except for the tough seeds and they are almost all seeds - heheh) ... and I finally have all the ingredients purchased to make a zucchini bread so there will be baking.

1st Tomatoes

I think I'm about a week or two behind last year ... I was a little late getting the tomatoes in after a cold and rainy Spring ... my tomatoes were really small as well.


This is the first year for morning glory ...
beans will work along the fence next year!

The first big tomato ... albeit it's split but it's ripened!

Last week after putting up the door frame ...

What a difference the week made to
perk the pumpkin plant & the pumpkin up ...


The herb patch ... and yes I'm letting
purslane grow in the pathways - it's edible!


Catch of the week ... just one zuc (phew) ...
some tomatoes, chard, mint and a little cuc

Zucs & Cucs ... and Soldier Beetles

Moments after coming back from the garden, I noticed a Tweet about soldier beetles being good garden insects to have - phew - because I saw some and thought, 'Oh No - now I've got these?' ... I scooted a couple of them off leaves and got them going in the direction out of the garden and into the woods. Hopefully they didn't follow my direction. I'll try to get photos next garden visit. I don't think mine are redheads though. Anyways - here's the post I saw about them ...


The blue tomatoes are coming along ... I was hoping they
would look pretty beside the gold ones ... and they do.



I hadn't counted on having to build a doorway for what
I'm calling pumpkins but they might not be OWell wOoPs
... they grew a few yards longer in just a week ... YA!


And there's fruit growing on them too - I perched this one
up here hoping it will like it there as it grows and ripens.

That's it for today ... I'm not going to write about the corn that doesn't exist anymore because some animal had a feast on all the cobs - probably the chipmunk that frequents the plot - even while I'm there - the one that wakes me up when I'm snoozing on the lawn chair and scares the paparazzi out of me (I tend to go for my camera normally when I spot it) ...