Catching Up

Summer is a busy time here at The Slice.  The garden is planted and growing gangbusters.  We've had a bunch of rain and plenty of sunshine.  It's all lush and green out there just now.  I haven't really had to water until this last week.  It's been wonderful.

Just the other day I dug up the first planting of potatoes and harvested a huge bucket full of reds, whites, and yellows.

Out of curiosity, just now I went out and weighed yon bucket o' taters.  They tipped the scale at 29.2 pounds.  I guess I know who is going to spend some time looking for ways to preserve and prepare potatoes.  I have another bed twice the size interplanted with the tomatoes.  This could get dicey.

A couple weeks ago I managed to pick enough black raspberries to make a small batch of 'jam' for ice cream topping.  To. Die. For.  I'm telling you.  If you have any room at all, plant raspberries.  You might want to consider making room.  You don't really need a garage, right?

This stunning specimen is my latest garden conquest.  Last year's broccoli died a horrible, crooked, warty-looking fungal death.  This year, I get this beauty.  That stuff you get in the store doesn't hold a candle to the home grown variety.  Extra tasty.

Yep, that's my big ol' hand in there just for scale.  That's one big head of broccoli.

Of course, in order to dig the potatoes, I had to pull up the onions I planted in the bed with the potatoes.  Most of them were ready anyway.  My onions never get very big, but I did notice that the ones that had become mostly uncovered over the course of their growing season were much bigger than the rest.  The ones on the left side of the picture below were basically sitting on top of the soil with just their roots in the ground.  They are the largest onions of this batch and might be the biggest I've ever grown at about 2 1/2 inches across.

This year I pleaded and begged and wheedled and whined until I got my husband to build a bed just for growing cucumbers and pole beans.  Here it is:

Yep.  It's a classic all right.  Those two round dealies at the top are genuine recycled bicycle wheels.  I painted them with black spray paint before he fastened them to the top of those posts.  All told, they're just a bit taller than I am.  I think they'll provide ample growing room for pole beans and whatnot ('whatnot' will probably = cucumbers most of the time).  There's a third little section in the middle that currently houses the zucchini production facility.

This year's pole bean selection is of the purple podded variety.  They don't look it right now, but the beans are supposed to be very purple.  Unfortunately, they lose their purple color and turn bright green when cooked  Still, it's fun to say: Purple Podded Pole Beans.  Try it once...or twice.

As usual, the garden this year is full of surprises.  What garden is complete without its fair share of volunteers?  This year we have:

Black-eyed Susan

Sunflower of unknown origin most likely my bird feeder.

Second sunflower of unknown origin also likely my bird feeder.

Fernleaf dill

A long time ago, I was told by a very experienced gardener that once you plant dill, you will always have dill.  She didn't lie.  I planted dill once about four years ago and I have it every year whether I plant it or not. 

Probably the biggest success in the garden this year so far has to be the zinnia bed.  In a word, it's tremendous.  Most likely the best zinnias I've ever grown.  It's so amazing, I can't even get a good picture of it.  This is the best I can seem to do.  To quote a good friend of mine, it's STUNNING.

Perhaps the individual flower shots are better looking:

This one might be my favorite.

My husband asked me the other day if zinnias are a perennial.  Sadly, no.  But, I can try to save the seeds and grow them again next year.  He seemed satisfied with that answer.  I like the idea of saving my own seeds.  I don't know what will happen with the zinnias, but I'm going to give it a try.

Garden Update!

Here are some of the things that are currently growing in my little slice of heaven:

Purple...verbena I think.  Nice color.

I decided to start with a flower.  Although I'm very proud of my veggie garden, this flower caught my eye this evening as I was taking these pictures.  It is growing in a hanging planter near the garage and flourishing there.  I'm not exactly sure what this one is but I think it's a verbena.  It came in the mixed planter that I bought at the garden center this spring.  Very pretty.

Red hot chili peppers!

The chili peppers are doing great!  They seem to love the heat we've been having.  I like to add a chili pepper to the dilly beans when I make them to give them an extra kick.

My first eggplant from seed.

This is, in fact, my first eggplant grown entirely from seed.  For the last few years, I've tried transplants and seedlings from various garden centers to no avail.  No eggplants ever appear.  Lots of flowers, but no fruits.  This one is beautiful!  I'm super proud of it even if it is tiny.

Got any good recipes?  I don't really like to eat them.  I just think they're pretty.

The first zinnia to flower this year.

For a number of years I have grown zinnias in my yard.  The last couple years I did not plant any.  This year, I decided I was going to have my zinnias again so I planted them in a cast off garden center pot that came from a shrub we planted last year.  The variety is 'Thumbelina' and they are adorable. There are purple and brighter pink and orange blossoms coming.  This is the only one that is open now.

Sugar Baby watermelon...baby.

Sugar Baby watermelons have been on my 'must plant' list for a long, long time.  They come out just the right size for two, or just for me if I've just finished mowing.  Sweet and juicy and I can hardly wait until this one is ready so I can dig in.  Nothing finer on a hot summer day than sitting in the shade munching on a melon.

Greenies!  Come on, I'm starving!

I am so impatiently waiting the ripening of the tomatoes! I'm tempted to 'photoshop' a little blush on these guys.

Bitty, baby cucumbers are so cute!

One of my garden favorites is pickling cucumbers.  Extra cruchy and tasty in salads as well as pickles, these little beauties never fail to satisfy.  I'll probably have more of these than I'll ever know what to do with if today's harvest is any indication.