What’s Growing in the Gardens!

Finally, I have gotten it together enough, to show you what we’re growing in all of these garden beds we’ve got going.   I’m telling you, I find it extremely challenging to blog about garden updates, because everything changes so fast!   So, this post shares some of the rapid garden progress that can happen in what seems like the blink of an eye.

But I also wanted to share this little story with you.  A couple of weekends ago, we had a spontaneous tag sale.  We had quite the traffic for it too (thanks to Michael’s  Tag Sale professional signage that no one could miss).  But what was so funny, was people were more interested in our gardens when they got here, than our tag sale items!!  It was comical.  They were walking around, peeking under leaves, asking questions and generally flattering us to death.  For 2nd year gardens, we were puffing up a bit and struttin’ around like peacocks. I know…then we felt guilty.  lol.  But seriously….people were all over our gardens.  We sold a lot at the tag sale though too, once they got on task for their stop in the first place.

So anyway, back to the point of the post….

Shown here first, is garden bed #1.   This photo was taken June 23, 2010, as are several of the following photos.

In it, we have growing 3 varieties of tomato plants:  2 Romas, 4 Early Girls, and 2 Burpee Big Boys.
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Here is another view, taken the same day, to show the height of the plants.   As you see in this garden, we also have some Marigolds, Celosia, and Cosmos.
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Garden bed #2.
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In this one we have growing several plants of  California Wonder Green peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, and Straight Eight Cucumbers.  We also have in this bed, 2 more tomato plants, of the Sweet 100 Cherry variety.
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Here’s another angle, from the same day.
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Also in this garden, is my turtle.  I had a turtle just like this one some years ago, in my hosta bed, and the kids lost it!  We never did find it either.  So I bring it up now and then to the kids, when it comes to mind, because I really missed my turtle!  Well, we were in Michael’s Arts & Crafts one day, and one of them spotted the same exact turtle I’ve been missin’.  So they all pitched in a dollar and some change, and bought me a new one.  So this one has even more sentimental value, because the kids were thoughtful enough to buy it for me, and compassionate enough to feel bad about the one they lost, when I….was trying to make them feel bad about the one they lost. lol.  I love my turtle.  You don’t have to.  But I think he is cute.
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You’ve seen a 100 photos of our whole strawberry bed, so I skipped that.  But we got quite the crop from our June Bearing plants!  The kids were out there picking them every day.    This photo was taken on June 8, when we were really cranking them out.
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The days were still occasionally cool, especially when the sun wasn’t out. Thus, Old Lady Winter here, in her fleece jacket. lol.  My mother used to call me Old Lady Winter, because I was always cold when I was younger.  “If you can hear me up there, Mom, I’m not cold all of the time anymore!  I’m more like Old Lady Hot Flashin’!“

Our Everbearing strawberry plants have put out some smaller strawberries (as is expected with this variety) but not the  impressive quantity yet.  We should have a crop in spring, summer and fall.  But spring gave us nothing, and summer has only given is a small handful so far.  Maybe the roots are still not established enough?  Maybe we should have plucked the flowers in the early season of this year too?  Anyone know?  We’re holding out hope.

But if they don’t start giving us some fruit this year, we may just rip the Everbearing plants out, and let the runners of the June Bearing take over.  Because they have been very good to us!!  I’m thinking we might need 2 strawberry beds.  Maybe 3. lol
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Care to taste the fresh berry sweetness?
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This, is bed #4.  It’s the new bed we built this year.   The tag salers really couldn’t get over our squash plants. One tag sale’n guy was so very amazed, he just stood there staring and asked, “What the hell did you put in there?!”  (Pardon his French. lol)
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In it, we have Yellow Straightneck Summer Squash, and also Zucchini of some kind, which I forgot to take a tag photo of, just like the Sweet 100 Cherries.

So, just to show you some growth and progress, and proof that we haven’t killed anything yet:

….This is Bed #1, with photo taken this time on July 6, 2010.  The tomato plants had grown much taller and stronger for sure.  They are also beginning to produce fruit.  I am very excited about my tomato sandwiches to come.  : P’   Even the Marigolds and Celosia are bigger than we have ever grown.
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The Cherry tomatoes and pepper plants are growing well too.   Both gardens have grown even more, now a week later.  I cut the lower leaves on the pepper plants since this photo too, so we are expecting a big growth spurt.

But here’s what has really just grown out of control……

….the squash garden bed!  Man….that guy from the tag sale would probably fall right over, if he saw it today.   It’s truly insane, and I swear it has grown another half of a foot since this shot.  See that cosmo plant in the front corner there?  That thing too is MUCH bigger than our cosmo plants last year.  This thing has a trunk!

We water all of the gardens every night with the hose.  But I’ll tell you, the rain works magic.  If it rains during the night, we can’t wait to peek out there in the morning, because there is always very obvious overnight growth.  It feels like Christmas morning!
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Here’s just some fun summer squash shots.   I didn’t take any of the zucchini that day, because they were just so dark on the dirt.
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We can’t even keep up with the squash picking.  I sent a heap home with my father, and the next day we had a heap more.  It’s madness.  Gave more to 2 neighbors, and there is a bunch more today.    I’m going to try making some zucchini bread.  We love steamed vegetables anyway, but we might not much longer,  if we keep eating it the way we’ve had to!  I think maybe we don’t need this many squash plants.  Does anyone have any recipes for us to use these?  Do send.

No Giveaway in this post.  But you’re certainly welcome to grab some squash, if you want some!

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