Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Garden Update 2

I don't know about your part of the country but here in the heart of the Mid-South it's as hot as H.E.Double hockey sticks. Today's heat index was well over 110 degrees. It's so, SO very hot that we have planted our family in our little air conditioned home and don't intend to leave it's 75 degree heavenliness unless the plans include a pool or ice cream (or Target.)

One interesting thing about this crazy weather we are having is my little garden seems to love the blistering heat! We are already harvesting some wonderful tomatoes and are amazed by the monger cucumbers that we have pulled. As you can remember, our first attempt at a garden last year was quite the learning experience. We got little to nothing from it except knowledge of every disease, mold and predator bug known to tomatoes, cuc.'s and watermelons.

This year has been wonderful so far! I am amazed at my tomato plants and how huge they are! Just so that you understand why this is so exciting for us, I thought I would show you a picture of what our garden looked like in early September of last year when it should have been at it's fullest and most mature stage. Can we say Pit.i.ful?


Saaaaaaaaad. Here is what the tomato plants looked like. Be sure and notice all the empty stems where the hornworms ate all the fruit and foliage. I abhor those horrible, nasty creatures!


In comparison, here is what our garden looks like today. Yeeehaw!!!


It's so much fun to have a thriving garden! Not to say that God might feel the need to humble me and let it become a fun night out for the hornworms again, but for right now I am rejoicing and thankful that it's doing great!

Here's a few pics of what else is growing:

Baby cantaloupes and watermelons.

Tons and tons of Better Bush, Roma Grape, Early Girl, Beef Steak, Better Boy, Jumbo Cherry, and heirloom tomatoes.

This was probably THE best tomato I have ever tasted. We had BLT's with it last night! Yummy!


Our cucumber's are ginormous. Supposedly, they are supposed to be only 6 inches long, but when they were that short they look so skinny and scrawny. We let them stay on the vine for a couple more days to see if they might plump up some and they literally grew 6 inches in two days.


I look forward to seeing what else we can pull! The kids are enjoying watching everything as it grows and then being able to eat it after it has ripened.


Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

2 comments:

Amy said...

Well hey there Sonya! WHOA! Look at your gorgeous garden! My goodness gracious! Just beautiful! What fun to harvest all the fruits of your labor... mmmmm... nothing like fresh out of the garden tomatoes... oh my!

Hugs... Amy

maribeth said...

fun! i have vivid memories of growing up picking vegetables from the garden and then going inside to eat fresh cooked squash, beans and corn or tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. and, i will have to say that nothing taste better than home grown tomatoes. if you haven't tried it, just eat them as a sandwich with mayo. oh.my.gosh. to die for. must be one of my favorite things about summer-tomato sandwiches. because we don't have the space for a garden here, i have to wait for the ripley homegrown ones to roll into kroger. tmy mouth is watering just writing about it!