Friday, August 16, 2019

Garden Friday




It's Garden Friday
and it also happens to be my birthday!
The giving starts here with these shots of the garden
taken with my new phone.
C'mon, let's take a stroll.


Tuesday night brought a fierce storm
with ferocious winds and about an inch of rain.
The poor sunflowers held on for dear life
and I have no way to prop them up because of their size.
Some of these are upwards of 12 feet tall!


Thankfully, most of the garden was unharmed.
This butternut squash should be ready to harvest within days.
I see soup in my future...


The pumpkins started flowering this week
and were promptly fertilized.
No doubt the rainfall helped them along their way.


Last year, I grew okra in a raised bed.
This year, they are in raised rows,
and they are much more difficult to harvest 
because they are low to the ground.
I have a couple in a straw bale,
so I'm hoping those will be a bit easier.


The magic of beans, in this case,
Red Ripper beans.
Here they are in two stages,
fresh and dried on the vine.
The dried beans will be used to make soup
and also used for sprouting.


The loofah is really taking off now.
It seems to thrive in the heat
and doesn't mind one bit if it stays dry for a while.


This is the first gourd I spotted on the trellis,
and it's now turning yellow.
Never having grown these before,
I'll have to do a little research about peak harvest times.


This plant is a delight to grow and I will continue to add it 
to the summer garden each year.
It asks for very little and the sweet golden blooms alone
make it worth growing.


The melons are starting to suffer from something.
Many leaves are turning yellow or brown
and it's too late in the season to try to save them.


There is one hanging on the arches that looks promising.
Even if it's the only one we get, I'll be over the moon!


Here's a little bitty one just getting started.
This is one crop I will try to do better with next year.
We can't get enough melon around here!


Considering that I wasn't planning to grow tomatoes this year,
these volunteers sure look healthy.
I picked a couple of them so that the critters couldn't get them,
and I'll most likely give them to a neighbor as they come in.
(I'm avoiding tomatoes at the moment.)


Aren't these sweet potato blossoms just the cutest things?
The bees love 'em and I often see them fighting for space inside.


The black-eyed Susan vine is enveloping the straw bales
where the cucumbers refused to grow.
Works for me.




With summer coming to a close in the next month or so,
the butterflies will soon be bidding us adieu for another season.
They have been plentiful and spectacular this year,
and for that I am truly grateful.

Today I start the last year of my 50's.
Where has it gone?
I'm thankful to have had another year with my family,
friends and neighbors.
I hope this year is filled with opportunities to give back.

Enjoy your weekend!


4 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday, Daisy! I'm still waiting for the first loofah blooms. Not sure if there's time to develop a loofah, but those flowers are pretty. And the black eyed susan vine too. Enjoy your day!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Laurie. I appreciate your visits and positivity!

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  2. Happy belated birthday friend!!!! I'm not sure where the time goes either. I still have (and plant) some loofah seeds that you gifted me years ago. I love growing them! Such a lovely plant. I'll be watching for any tips regarding melons. We LOVE melons and I stink at growing them..... Beautiful photos as always!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. I am a newbie with melons, so I will help if I can. We enjoy eating them so much in the summertime that I'd love to be able to furnish them for our family. It's a work in progress!

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