How the Garden Grows

Here's the squash I grew from seed.  The little squash are finally starting to look like they might be edible someday.  the biggest one is about the size of my little finger:

Tomatoes I bought as plants.  So far, they are exceptionally fecund.  I've lost count of how many tomatoes are there.  My chiropractor told me the squirrels won't be interested until they start to turn red, so I have my eye out for that.  If they get any, I'll harvest them half-ripe and let them sit in the kitchen window for a couple of days.  That's my father-in-law's strategy with his beefsteaks.  These are Romas and they are getting bigger than I expected them to. Thumbs up for the self-watering 24" pots:

I bought four sweet pepper plants when they were pretty little, after all the ones I started from seed up and died inexplicably.  These are three-color peppers.  I wasn't sure how big they would get and if the pot would work out okay (12").  They are doing really well.  I only have one pepper so far, but loads of blossoms.  And this one grew really fast!  In like a week or something, it went from a speck to a recognizable pepper:

I will never have a bumper crop of lima beans I'm afraid.  But they have rallied after being bitten down to stubs by squirrels.  I have two pots of them and will be lucky if I harvest enough for a single serving.  Probably won't bother next year.  (Those are chives in the edge of the pot--they are a bumper crop!):

Carrots!  Whoo-hoo!  I cannot wait to pull these up.  I pulled one up the other day and it was about a quarter inch long, so I'm sitting on my hands now.  I have this pot of quite mature ones, and a few smaller ones in two window boxes.  Oddly, the squirrels have left them alone and tried to dig up the basil planted in a pot next to this instead.  Basil???

This is one of my own tomatoes grown from seed.  It was about an inch tall 6 weeks ago, which is why I broke down and bought some plants.  I couldn't let my seedlings go, however, so I planted the two strongest looking ones.  It's looking pretty good now.  I doubt it will make it to fruiting stage, but I am using it as a sort of experiment.  Next year, I do think I'll do seeds again, but start super early, like in late January or early February.  I didn't really start these until about mid-April this year.  That's parsley planted around the tomato:

Finally, my prairie!  Here are some wildflowers I don't know at all.  But they are pretty.  You can't see the milk bottle when you look up at the urn they are planted in, but I couldn't take a picture of the sky without losing the detail in the flowers.  So pay no attention to the milk bottle:

Comments

[Shereen]

The flowers look like they MIGHT be statice and bachelor buttons. Maybe.

Yay for gardening!

[caro]

Reminds me of Emily Dickinson: To make a prairie, it takes clover. One clover, and a bee, and reverie. The reverie alone will do if bees are few.

[SAHD Dad]

Wow, I'm feeling pretty ashamed of myself right now. I thought I'd introduce my four-year-old to the joy of growing things yourself and so off we went to the local farmers' market. we picked up six Roma tomato plants and some marigolds to go around them. Sounds easy, right?

He helped us prep the garden for about ninety seconds before getting bored. Mommy and I worked for about twenty minutes in the 95 degree heat before we too had had it. It stayed hot, we stayed lazy, and somehow the plants never made it off our back porch. Currently, they would make superb kindling.

Guess we'll have to try and do better next year. Or perhaps just stick to the farmers' market.

[Diatryma]

I have heard that you can trick wildlife into avoiding your tomatoes by hanging red Christmas ornaments on the plants before the fruit ripens. They get excited abotu the big red balls, then discover that these big red balls are not delicious tomatoes. I've heard it works for birds, anyway. My own squirrel tactics are mostly cat fur.