My little baby watermelon. Isn't it CUTE?!?
Who knew a vegetable could be cute? Seriously, when I wandered past my garden the other day and came across a little baby watermelon just a little smaller than a baseball, I squeed. I actually let out a squeel of glee right there in my yard. I think the dog was confused.
But how can you not squee over something so darn cute?!? It’s a little bitty mini watermelon! It’s adorable!
Okay I’m done now, I promise.
So, for the first time in weeks, the weather’s actually NICE – dry, cool(ish), not too humid. It won’t last, of course – it’s supposed to be up near 100 again by Sunday – but for now at least, I’m enjoying it while I can. The windows are open, the breeze is blowing, and I spent quite a few hours in the garden yesterday, weeding and harvesting and generally straightening up the place.
Squash (acorn & butternut), eggplant, and cucumbers
All the viney plants are growing like mad – the pumpkins and squash look like they’re poised to take over the entire yard, the melons look great, and the cucumbers and eggplant look nice and healthy. I still need to make a trellis for the cucumbers – hopefully that’ll be something I can get to tonight. Definitely don’t want to wait much longer, or they’ll be so intertwined with everything else I won’t be able to do anything with them. At least something likes the miserably hot and dry weather we’ve been having!
A few little strawberries - keep it up! You can do it! Go strawberries go!
The tomatoes look great, the honeydew and watermelons are definitely growing strong. And it even looks like I’m gonna get another crop of strawberries. Yay! I was so disappointed when my strawberry plants were decimated a few weeks ago, but they’re back and looking good.
The only thing I’m really disappointed in is the onions – they seem to be failing pretty badly. Most of the plant parts are dead, and the onions themselves never got any bigger than golfballs. There were a few still looking fairly hearty, so I left them in the ground, but I went ahead and pulled up the rest. Not sure if they’re any good or not, but I figured even small onions are better than no onions at all. Wish I knew what happened there, so I don’t repeat it next year…
The potato plants are looking somewhat ragged, but they’re still struggling through. I dug up a handful of little potatoes, and they looked pretty good. I even ate a couple for lunch today – yum! Also pulled up a bunch of carrots – they’re nice and fat, but only about 3 inches long. Apparently that’s what this variety is supposed to do, though – they’re supposedly designed for heavy soil, and only grow about 4 inches or so. I left some carrots in, too, to see how they do as the summer continues.
Potatoes, carrots, onions, mint, and oregano from my garden
As you can see from the photo at right, I managed a pretty decent little harvest, all things considered. I cooked some hamburgers on the grill, and in addition to the onion soup mix that is my standard “secret ingredient,” I also added some fresh oregano. Sublime!
The bowl in the picture is also sitting on our new deck furniture – a small firepit table (which, my beloved husband points out, could also be used as a drink cooler, if we were to fill it with ice) and four chairs. We also got a tent/gazebo to provide some shade on the deck, and a marvelous futon swing. The latter is currently sitting in the yard, with a view out over the garden to the valley and Blue Ridge beyond.
In my opinion, there is nothing more heavenly than sitting on a comfy swing with your honey and a glass of iced tea, watching the sun set and the fireflies come out. Ahhhhhh…
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yay! Looking good garden girl!
Shankoo! Your hubby definitely helped.
And hopefully you guys can enjoy some of its success on Sunday!