Garden Friday

Welcome back to Garden Friday,

where the summer heat is going strong.

Not much rain this past week,

so our drip irrigation has been worth its weight in gold.

 The squash leaves are something out of the rain forest,

spanning over a foot across.

Wowzers!

Nothing harvested here yet,

but we're getting close.

These are the butternut variety.

The long finger cucumbers have been picked

several times at anywhere from six to nine inches long.

The skin is thin, so no peeling is required.

 The October beans are defying all logic

and growing in the straw bales,

even though they had a rocky start.

These are drying beans

which will be used for soups over the fall and winter.

 The green Oakleaf lettuce still remains tasty

without a hint of bitterness.

It's become one of my favorite greens.

The Swiss chard is doing well,

considering that our temps have been in the mid to high 80's

nearly every day with no rain in sight.

This makes a great addition to salads,

but can also be sauteed like spinach or kale.

 Japanese beetles have decimated most of one of the strawberry plants.

The netting I placed on it was to dissuade birds from eating the berries,

but the beetles were a surprise attacker.

Once we have chickens (did I tell you we're getting chickens?),

they will make quick work of the beetles.

Can you say a-p-p-e-t-i-z-e-r?

 The sweet potatoes are responding to the heat

and the vines are growing each and every day.

I've been adding some of the leaves to my daily salad.

This year, I dedicated half of a large 3X8 bed to these gems.

They share space and trellising with the squash.

This week my Sow True Seed order came!

It's always like my birthday to open the package

and see all of that hope spill out.

 Check out this character.

Big K and I spied him yesterday on the sunflower

in the front porch bed.

Mind you, we always put out sunflower seeds

for the birds and squirrels when we fill the feeders.

This joker decided to work for his breakfast.

He hung upside-down underneath the head

and ate every single seed out of that sunflower.

 I'd like to see him try that with the 12 foot monsters

we have out in the garden.

On second thought, maybe not.

I was planning on keeping some seeds for eating myself.

Who knows if I'll get any, now that we have

this acrobatic fella stalking our flowers.

 These sweet things were found in a watering can at a friend's house.

This is the second batch of bluebird babies found in this spot.

A face only a mother could love.

With all of those seeds arriving,

I may have to get to work on planning the fall garden.

We will be hoping for some rain this weekend,

seeing as how there are no fireworks in the offing.

Happy Independence Day y'all,

and 

God 

Bless 

America!