Wednesday, June 2, 2010

On my plate

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Oh, my! Those tomatoes are insanely delicious.

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I’ve waited (impatiently!) all Winter and well into Spring  to be able to sink my teeth into these beauties.

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I also picked my first red hot chili peppers and a Cajun bell this morning. I’m dreaming of salsa.

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The garden is looking fabulous. These blooms are destined to become lemon cucumbers.

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The sugar baby watermelon has it’s first bloom.

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The Amish muskmelon (cantaloupe) is growing profusely, but no blooms yet.

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The zucchini squash has begun putting out it’s first little blossoms.

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The eggplants will be prolific this year… I counted 5 blossoms on one plant already. And I have 6 plants!

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I must tell you that a squash blossom is one of my absolute favorite flowers. Beautiful. Brilliant color.

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And I do declare we will be having yellow crookneck squash for dinner!

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It' saddens me to show you this, but I’m keeping it real. I’m losing my war on weeds.

I mulched heavily with straw to keep the water in and weeds out, but it isn’t really working against the weeds.

Plan B; pull them up by hand. And I’m not looking forward to it.

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The Homestead tomatoes are still thriving. See that cluster hiding in there?  Yum.

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I’m extremely happy to report that we’ve had significant rainfall for the past 2 days in a row.

And so you know that I wasn’t exaggerating about our drought conditions, I took these shots the morning before it rained.

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The Contender green beans are hanging in there like champs. I’m sure the rain will make them happy again.

One can only irrigate so much. It just takes a good rain once in a while to keep a garden healthy.

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And it’s looking like mama needs to break out the garden hoe here, too. Sigh.

But, all those fresh fruits and veggies will be so very worth the effort.

6 comments:

Maura @ Kisiwa Creek Photography said...

Oh Melissa I totally relate to this post. It rained off and on for approx 2 weeks here so I wasn't able to get into the garden to weed. Since this is the first time in who knows how many years since this garden spot has been used it was FILLED with weeds and crab grass. Even though we tilled all the weeds under and pulled what we could before planting...the weeds (millions of elm seeds germinated and crab grass) came up..everywhere! After around 5 days of serious weeding and hauling it off the garden we are nearly done! I was thinking of putting down straw but I'm still not sure I should although we really do need mulch down with the hot dry weather we have. That sandwich looks wonderful and I bet your tomatoes are delicious. Our's won't be ready for about a month or so. Looking forward to seeing more about your garden...and maybe I'll post a picture one day too. Have fun and enjoy your produce! Maura :)

Ann said...

Your veg are a lot further along than ours, all we've had so far is lettuce! Oh, and of course, lots of weeds. Our weather is now sunny and dry, we could do with rain too.

Those chickens are looking good, looking forward to seeing how they do with the laying when they are old enough.

Your trip to the beach looked fun, glad you managed to get away for a few days, it does you good doesn't it.

inadvertent farmer said...

I'll send you some of our rain...we've had so much the warm weather crops are not growing at all. They just hand their heads in despair.

Your garden looks great! Kim

Melissa Price said...

Ann, it is always so very good to be able to slip away for a few days. I came home feeling fabulous! (And tanned!)

Kim, so sorry you are still being innudated with rain. I do hope it lets up for you soon! The heat loving veggies are my favorites. : )

MAYBELLINE said...

6 eggplants?! You're insane. I had only one last year and couldn't get it to stop producing.

Melissa Price said...

Maybelline, you are absolutely right! I planted 2 last year, and they weren't terribly productive. So this year, I started 6 seedlings, and every one of them germinated. They were the only plants that germinated in a flat of 72 seedlings! So, in a word, I was *determined* to plant all 6. We'll see how it goes. If all else fails, I have family just around the corner. : ) Melissa