Friday, August 6, 2010

Challenges and Updates

I have been a little delinquent in posting and it is in part because when the days are warm, the room with the computer is very uncomfortable an we have been having a lot of those days.

A few things to catch up on:

I guess it started with a call to show off your sunflowers by mama pea.  I love my sunflowers but mainly because of the story behind them. When we first moved in and we landscaped to put the veg garden in, I took my daughter seed shopping with me. I asked her to pick something she wanted to plant. I thought she would pick peas or beans, even broccoli but instead she picked sunflowers. I cringed at the idea of giving up precious space in my veg garden for these tall monster flowers. I planted them at the edge of the garden by the garage and have to admit they were beautiful and a wonderful addition to the garden the first year. They have returned every year and now have filled in the "dead" spot between the garden and the garage. I am forever grateful to my daughter for asking me to buy those seeds.
The show:


The second picture is a flower that is 10' high by the garage. The two on the right are from a dwarf sunflower 4' high with 10" diameter bloom.

Then came the refrigerator challenge that was put out by Erin followed by Granny. Forget it! It is not going to happen. I pride myself in keeping the garden up not the refrigerator. I had no idea that people connected the two.

Somehow, a swallowtail butterfly managed to escape my search and look at her. She was not far from going off to make her cocoon when i shot this two days ago. This morning I can't find her anywhere.


Some of my other eggplants are beginning to produce. I am excited for a new vegetable.


Listing for my own future reference, the harvests have been as follows:
Lots of tomatoes, I will pick most of the Romas this weekend for canning.
Cucumbers but not as many as I would like, I planted a variety that cannot be pickled so I guess that is good.
Peppers not coming in as they should. A burst of chills in the early season but very few now. Bells may be starting, plus a few Anaheims.
Kale, swiss chard slowing down in the heat.
Eggplant, ichiban have stalled but some fruit coming up on new plants.
Okra beginning to produce regularly
Squash slowed down in the last two weeks but may start up again.

7 comments:

  1. Lovely sunflowers! Yours self seed every year? How wonderful! LOL, the fridge thing wasn't supposed to be clean fridges... just to show how swamped we get this time of year and what happens TO our fridges LOL!

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  2. I'm so jealous of your eggplants fruiting. Ours is moving at a snails pace. I spied one of our plants is finally flowering! Hopefully we'll see fruit forming very soon. I love the sunflowers, gorgeous!

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  3. Beautiful sunflowers! I didn't plant them this year, now I wish I had.

    Refrigerator challenge...no guts, no glory ;-)

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  4. Your sunflowers are beautiful! I have only one this year that seeded itself. Next year, I have to remember to stick a few seeds in.

    I agree with you on the refrigerator challenge. I would be embarrassed to show everyone the inside of either one of our refrigerators!

    Your eggplant are looking good!

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  5. Beautiful sunflowers, I love that red one in the middle!
    Eggplants are also looking great. What is the variety in the second picture? It has lovely shape.

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  6. Beautiful sunflowers, I like the 2nd photo, what's the name of it? I'll have to plant some sunflowers next year at a difficult corner of the yard where nothing seems to like that location.

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  7. Erin, Yes they do self seed but I think with a lot of help from the gold finch.

    meemsync - This is the first year that I am growing these varieties. i am eager to see how they tast. Not a lot of fruit on each plant.

    vrtlarica, the second eggplant is supposed to be a Millionaire Hybrid. I don't think it looks like one. It is too light for that variety. The one on the right is a rosa.

    Mac- the original seed packet was a mixed variety. Since the reseed every year, I am not sure what I have exactly. i am so bad with names and varieties. I just love to look at them.

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