Outside
Inside, from the opposite corner
Looks like there is a Beefsteak Tomato just about ready to be picked!!!!
Red Onions and Zucchini. We've already eaten a few zucchini, but the heat we've had the last couple of weeks really slowed the growth. FINALLY there are a couple small ones growing again.
Patio Tomato plant - still producing! These are smaller tomatoes, but are great for just me. I can usually eat at least one a day. The netting on the top of the garden didn't work - the birds just figured out to fly THROUGH the fencing. So I took it down and wrapped each individual plant and it seems to be working - no more holes in the tomatoes!
Cucumbers!!! I've picked a few of them, and there are another four or five on the vines, but they are short and FAT!!! I think the heat affected them, too. I'll be picking them at the end of the week no matter what size they are - hopefully that will let the other tiny ones that are on the vines start to grow and they'll grow to a bigger size.
The Beefsteak Tomato plant! The tomatoes aren't growing very big, but I think (again) the heat is the problem. The plant still looks a little shriveled and ordinarily I'd water it, but there's a possibility of more rain today, so I'm going to wait. All the tomatoes taste so good! They aren't as pretty as the ones you buy at the store, but the flavor is SO Much better! I had to tie one of the branches up, so used pantyhose so it's not so hard on the plant.
The three Heatmaster Tomato Plants - lots of green tomatoes on them! They also taste really good - yesterday for lunch I went out to the garden to pick some lettuce and a tomato, so within 5 minutes of picking I was eating them. Nothing like FRESH food!
The four Roma tomato plants - these aren't producing very well, but I think it's because they don't get quite as much sun as the others. When I have time, I think I'll try to figure out a way to rearrange them so they get more sun. That's one of the benefits of having the plants in containers.
The pepper plants are doing super - they've really grown in the past couple of weeks. Still waiting for them to produce, so don't know which one is red, orange or yellow.
My green beans! I guess I'm lucky that I'm still getting beans - one of the ladies at work said most people have pulled up their green beans already. I don't get a bunch of beans, just enough for a serving or two, but I try to pick some every day and if they're not eaten, blanch them in boiling water, then a bath in ice water and put them in the freezer. I may try to can one or two jars just to see how they work. I still haven't canned anything but I'm anxious to try.
A close up of a few of the beans.
Long shot of the raised bed - closest are the green beans, then red onions, lettuce, another variety of lettuce, white onions, then two more kinds of lettuce, then green onions.
Here are the red onions - a few of them were shaded by the green beans so didn't grow, but a few more are doing pretty well. You don't pick them until the tops fall.
Giant Ceasar Lettuce
White Onions - a couple of them were growing too high so I added some top soil I had. Next year I think I'll plant the seeds of most of the things in the garden a little deeper.
Outsides are lettuce #4, middle rows are the black seeded lettuce.
Green Onions (planted first)
More Red Onions
Potatoes!!!! I planted some in the entire barrel, but for some reason only half of them sprouted. Really anxious to see how many I get from these! Have to wait - these you don't harvest until two weeks after the plants fall. The container was too close to the side of the garden and the deer ate a little off the ends. I pulled it in then.
Angel's corn - they recently moved so possibly he'll be able to take it home.
Radishes - these are pretty old and probably just need to be picked, but I've been busy with other stuff lately.
The second batch of green onions -these have really looked better the last couple of days - probably due to no as much heat and the rain.
more radishes
more green onions
Carrots - need to take time to thin these out, but the tops have grown quite a bit lately.
So there are the pictures. Still love having the garden and think it's doing pretty well for my first garden. I"m really enjoying going to the store for groceries and not buying salad, tomatoes or green beans (which were almost always on my list). Next year we're hoping to have at least two more raised beds instead of using mostly containers, but we'll see.
In other news, we finalized the 2nd qtr tax report for the CPA and he's telling us that we're going to have to start paying estimated taxes for the last two quarters of 2012. Todd's either making too much money or we're not spending enough!!! lol Guess I'll need to go shopping! (Already had to buy a new laptop for the business, so that's a deduction.)
The new people at work are now licensed, so I'm probably going to cut back to one or two days a week, then fill in more when people are on vacation. I keep going back and forth as to whether I should quit completely or keep working. I keep busy enough when working three days a week and also working on Todd's business; the extra money is nice (Hawaii trip will be paid off soon), but the days I work I just don't get anything else done around the house or for Todd's business. I think I'll work a maximum of 3 days a week when I need to fill in if someone's out.
Have a wonderful day!
