Garden Update

It’s been quite a while since I posted garden pictures. Everything is growing really well this year, I couldn’t be happier! These pictures were taken about 5 days ago so everything is even bigger. Everything seems to grow so much overnight it is really amazing!

Here is a shot of one corner of the garden, I’ve marked it with numbers in case you aren’t sure what some of this stuff is. Click on the image for a better view.

1. tomatoes – We’ve only got the two plants this year but they are both loaded with tomatoes, most are still green but they are coming along slowly. In our area people grow tomatoes in greenhouses or they cover them to keep them dry, we just let them do their own thing this year. Next year we’ll have our green house up and can grow them that way.

2. Sunflowers – we have 12 sunflower plants growing, they are currently 7-8ft tall and beginning to develop their flower heads.

3. brussels sprouts – we have 12 plants, all doing well and beginning to develop tiny sprouts…see image farther down.

4. peas – I actually began harvesting these about 6 days ago. I got 2 lbs on the first harvest, we only had 8 plants or so. I will do one more harvest probably on Monday and then pull them up.

5. Leeks – these are looking really good and getting nice and thick.

6. lavender – I have 4 plants back there waiting to be dug up and moved to my herb bed sometime this year.

I love pumpkin and squashes so we went a bit overboard and planted 3 plants. One is supposed to be a giant pumpkin, the other 2 are squashes, we aren’t sure what type, the package was a mix of different types so it will be a surprise. These plants are literally taking over that entire corner of the garden. They have grown into our pole and bush beans and completely overwhelmed them, they vines have grown into our potato patch, their heading for our compost piles and the garlic, carrots and onions. Everyday they grow so much and I have to check them every morning and coax them into a direction that will be less invasive. Next year we will do the pumpkins differently! But I do love them so I am sort of indulgent of their excessive demands for space.

We have 4 fruits that look promising. Here is one, this picture is a few days old, it’s now about the size of a cantalope. I think it might be the giant pumpkin. It’s growing right in the middle of our pole beans.

And here is one of our cucumbers. We only ended up with one plant, the others were killed early on by cut worms or something. This plant has 2 8″-9″ cucumbers and 2-3 new ones coming in.

We planted 3 red cabbages, I’ve already harvested one, this one is ready but I’m leaving it for the time being. The other one is growing really strangely, it actually formed 3 heads! One of them has died but the other 2 are doing well so far! They are small but look healthy, I will get a picture later this week.

A closer view of the tomatoes.

And here is a peek bwtween the leaves of one of our brussels sprouts. All those tiny buds in the “arm pits” will grow up to be brussels sprouts :O)

I like this picture.