Wow! I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since my last post.
It is June 19th and my vegetable and fruit operation has grown out of my control. I can barely keep up with weeding. Watering is easier this year than it was last year and the fence has kept my dogs out of the plants. No major diseases have struck but the plants are not picture perfect.
It's a real mess
Still, the fruits of my labor have begun to appear. I pulled all the carrots out two weeks ago and I am still eating them. I began to pull the garlic out. Not knowing if I could eat the tiny bulbs, I threw them in the composter. My peas are all gone and the rest of the spring veggies all went to seed (literally!). Here are some of the upcoming stars in the garden:
CUCUMBERS
The cucumber plants are growing exponentially (I don’t know what that means!)
Coming soon to a salad near you!
PEPPERS
Oh Pepper, how do I love thee!
TOMATOES
I have harvested many tomatoes already. I even shared with my neighbor. She made a salad for her husband and he exclaimed that the tomatoes were delicious. He did not know they came from my garden. Yes, I am proud. Unfortunately, the tomatoes are consumed almost as soon as they come in the house and I have no pictures except for this one.
Galina and Large Cherry tomatoes
The blossom rot end (BER) problem was confined to my container tomatoes and it’s gone now –for the most part.
One firm conclusion I have arrived at this year is that I will no longer grow Determinate tomatoes. Unless someone convinces me that a Determinate tomato is SO delicious that I must grow it, I think this is my last year for growing them. I came to this because my Prairie Fire tomato plant is done. It has about 8 tomatoes left growing on it after I pruned the ones that were afflicted by BER. The tomatoes are beginning to turn color and the plant has began to die and it’s not even the end of June.
I checked on my fallen Blackberry bush. I am just in awe at the resilience of this plant. The blackberries continue to ripen and I even beat the birds to a few. They were so sweet!
Birds denied
Other things competing for my attention are:
MY BOYS
They are my life and they keep me busy. Here they are before we went exploring around the Arkansas River the other day. You can’t see their canteens, of which they were very proud!
The boys
WORLD CUP
Oh yeah! It’s that time again. The World Cup is on! This year, all the perennial favorites have met VERY stiff resistance from the rest of the world. The US is as strong a team as any and recently got robbed of a win but I still have hopes of advancing to the next stage. My other team is Mexico and my biggest fantasy is that the US and Mexico will compete for the Cup in the finals. Hey, a man can dream!
The North Korean team is awesome and could really be the Cinderella story of this cup. Politics have no place in Futbol (sure we call it Soccer but the rest of the world calls it Futbol) and the North Korean team won my respect by giving Brazil a run for their money.
Of course, if God loves me, he will let an African country reach the finals. If you don’t follow futbol, you may not understand the passion the game ignites in people and you may not understand the INCREDIBLE lift a spot in the finals could give a whole continent. I keep thinking of the millions of little boys and girls in Africa whose dreams will reach a new level if an African team reaches the finals.
Over and Out.
Grow And Tell 
June 19, 2010 at 4:41 pm
looks like the garden progresses well!! And the little guys too–summer is so fun for them and all the things they can do! Have a great weekend, and glad you found a moment to squeeze in a word–was starting to worry–isn’t that a funny thing–since I don’t even know you!
June 19, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Princessdiva,
Thank you! Now I gotta catch up reading blogs! And yes, I agree about the feeling of affinity. In a way, I have more in common with the people whose blogs I read than with some of my friends.
June 19, 2010 at 11:45 pm
I was just about to comment on your last post, “where’s David?” I was beginning to worry too. I knew princessdiva was galavanting around KS. 🙂
The rains have brought on the weeds as well as the gardens. Everything is growing like crazy. Those blackberries look delicious!
Glad the fence is working to keep the dogs off the plants.
Looks like your young explorers will keep you busy this summer!
Enjoy the tomatoes!
January 23, 2012 at 10:06 pm
I’m writing an article on protecting the garden from animals. I personally don’t have this problem (unless you consider children to be animals 🙂 but many of my readers do so I wanted to address it.
I would love to use some of your pictures as examples–specifically from this post that shows the fence around your garden.
If you allowed me to use those pictures, I would link the photos back to your site as well as give you credit in the article.
Would that be something you’d consider?
February 23, 2012 at 4:01 am
This is probably too late but yes, you can use my pictures 🙂