Harvest Monday 07/12/10 One hundred and Still Going Strong

I am about to hit the road again. I traveled to Nashville yesterday to bring my daughter and 2 friends to Camp Electric, a music camp where they get to spend a week under the instruction of musicians who play for some of the top names in the Christian music industry. She plays keyboard and looks forward to learning much and having lots of fun.


I harvested tomatoes and okra this week. (15.75 ounces) My major event this week was harvesting 49 cherry tomatoes from the Energizer Bunny mystery tomato plant. This bring my total this year for this plant to 102 +. I missed some in the count because my 10yo son loves to eat them straight out of the garden and I don't always know how many he eats. (smile) The plant is still going strong and I expect to get at least 100 more from the plant. I have rooted several suckers from the plant and noticed that one of the suckers is just starting to produce fruit and the other is full of flowers. YIPPEE!!!

Well... I need to close down this computer and get on the road. Check out all the harvest events at Daphne's Harvest Monday.


Blessings,


Debbie

I LOVE SURPRISES!

 I love surprises!! Well... good surprises!!! I have been away from my computer for a few days and I was sad to miss Monday Harvest,  Oh, How My Garden Grows, and the Tuesday Garden Party. We were out of town for Independence Day and then I needed to make an unplanned trip out of town and left Monday afternoon and returned Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say, I was eager to get to my garden. A very special lady (my precious mother-in-love) arrived at the house for a visit about the same time I arrived home yesterday. Since she loves plants as much as I do and since we both needed to stretch our legs after driving, we eagerly headed out to the garden. I was excited to harvest 29 cherry tomatoes from the Energizer Bunny bush. I also harvested 5 okra pods. But my biggest delight was my find while showing my MIL the cantaloupe growing on the trellis. I showed her the one that I have eagerly been watching and blogging about. I told her that I was surprised to have only 1 "big" melon growing but I was glad to have smaller ones growing, too. As I was moving the leaves around to show her the trellis, I FOUND THIS SURPRISE . . .

And, yes, I shook my head and blinked my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things! This guy is bigger than the other one. It is about the size of a softball or grapefruit. Yippee!!! I don't know HOW I missed this one. (It is located on the back side of the trellis on the fence side.) I will definitely be in the store today to get the pantyhose to sling the two cantaloupes. Thanks, EG, for your education on slinging melons on a trellis.


Blessings,


Debbie

         

What's Going On?

I know I am overwhelming some of you. Three posts in one day!! But there seems to be so much going on in the garden. If you have been reading my blog, you know that we received lots of rain Tuesday and Wednesday. Well as I strolled through the garden this morning, I found some amusing as well as disturbing discoveries in my garden. I am hoping that someone can help me solve a mystery or two!!

First I know we have received lots of rain especially after a long dry spell but this little guy has confused my okra with a lilly pad. (smile) He's so cute!!

Next stop, these guys grew overnight under my cantaloupe.

Found another worm today. I was really bummed. Two more tomatoes are now gone...................... (big sigh!)

Now.... What is going on with my pepper plants and this tomato plants? Yesterday these plants looked great! Today the leaves are all droopy. I know it isn't the heat because right now it is very pleasant outside. Nothing like the upper 90s we had last week. Does anyone have wisdom for me? Words of encouragement? Trying not to panic.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Friday!

Blessings,

Debbie

Little Pleasures

I love to slow down in my garden and enjoy the little pleasures. This is some of my cantaloupe vines. It looks like they are holding hands and trying to stretch to reach out and connect hands with another!!

One of the cantaloupes growing on the trellis.

Can you imagine how long this Big Bertha bell pepper

would be if it had grown straight?

I love the okra flowers.

Here are some of the marigolds in my garden.

Debbie

This blog is linked to Fertilizer Friday/Flaunt Your Flowers hosted each Friday by Tootsie!

It Rained and Rained Some More!

Well, Tuesday we received a good rain. Wednesday morning I woke to a nice soft relaxing rain that stopped about noon. Then... around 5:00 it started to rain again VERY HARD AND HEAVY!! Soon there were tiny rivers flowing everywhere. I wish that I had thought to get a picture of the little river that flowed through my backyard. I had been potting plants on the back deck and had used the wheelbarrow to haul bags of potting soil over to the deck. Well, typical for me, my day was busy and I forgot about the wheelbarrow. Here is a picture of the wheelbarrow and all the water that was collected in a period of about 28 hours.

When I went out to the garden yesterday morning, I thought it would be just a quick visit to harvest a few veggies since I didn't need to water the plants. WRONG!!! I am not sure if it was because of all the rain but I found caterpillars everywhere. I lost count of how many that I killed on the tomato plants. I was not happy.

 I discovered something strange. On the tomatoes that were turning red, the caterpillars only ate the outer layer of the tomato. It look like someone had "peeled" the tomato.

With the green tomatoes, the caterpillar went deep and made a hole in the tomato. Maybe someone who knows more about the habits of caterpillars can explain this to me!! Look at this guy. He is was working hard!!

I also decided to pull up the pole green beans. Something was eating them and they just didn't look healthy. They had flowers and tiny beans but they just weren't growing. So out of the garden they went!! As I was cleaning, I found a few of these little green worms.

Hopefully today, I will be planting these little guys - Jack Be Littles. My kids love to use these to decorate the front porch for fall. Pumpkins are a first in my garden!!

I hope all of your gardens are going strong!!

Blessings,

Debbie

Refreshed

We had a good rain late yesterday and woke to a soft rain this morning. My garden looks so happy and refreshed.

Below is one bed of okra. I noticed this morning that a few of the plants have flowers and one has a tiny okra growing.

This picture has plants on the left that were planted the same time as the picture above. On the right in the back of the bed is the first okra I planted. It has been producing for about a week and a half and the pace of harvest is picking up. Soon I will harvesting okra every day. In the front of the bed is the cherry tomato plant that is definately an over achiever for which we give thanks. It was labeled as a determinate patio bush plant. WRONG!! I so wish that I had several of these plants. They taste so good and it is producing lots of tomatoes.

More pictures of my favorite tomato plant. I had to improvise with the trellis. (ha!) It wasn't supposed to get this big. I have topped out several of the vines so that it doesn't get any taller. I have rooted about 6 of the suckers I have pruned from it. But it still keeps going and going and going. Since I don't know what variety it is, I have dubbed it the Energizer Bunny!!!

This bed has bell peppers, an eggplant, ornamental peppers, and a few tomato suckers that I rooted and then transplanted.

This bed has Early Girl and Roma tomatoes. Notice Adam the Owl keeping watch over the plants. He is doing a super job of keeping the birds away. I just move him around every time I go to the garden.

Thanks for stopping by to join me on my morning walk in my garden.

Blessings,

Debbie

It's Raining!!!

It's raining! Not just a quick heavy downpour that only lasts a few minutes but a nice soaking rain!! I think I hear my garden giving a sigh of relief. Wait! What's that I see? It's the leaves doing the HAPPY DANCE!!! Or maybe it is me doing the HAPPY DANCE because I don't have to go and water my garden this evening!! (smile)

Things continue to grow. I am so excited about this little guy. When I asked my youngest if she wanted to see the cantaloupe this morning, she asked, "Did it grow overnight?" Hmmm.... Was she excited or sarcastic? Doesn't matter... she smiled, grabbed my hand, and strolled with me to the garden. I love my kids!!!

Yesterday I rooted several suckers from my cherry tomato plant. I love these little tomatoes and I am amazed at all the tomatoes on this one plant. I wish I knew how to save the seeds (if possible) for next year. I also transplanted 3 green bell pepper plants and 1 eggplant that I bought at Lowes. I was also surpised to see that the cucumber, crooked neck squash, and the white scalloped squash seeds that I planted 4 days ago were already peaking up at me from their underground nest. WOW! That was so fast!!

Today I planted 12 squares of bush beans. I hope that the heat will not be too much for them. We shall see. If they do, super. If they don't, nothing lost really. I can replant again for fall.

Over the weekend, I planted these flowers! They seemed perfect to celebrate Independence Day!

This post is linked to the An Oregon Cottage's TUESDAY GARDEN PARTY

and Oh, How My Garden Grows.

Blessings,

Debbie