Lest it revolt from neglect . . .

. . . let me update on the garden. I know I tend to go on jags where all I do is cook or sew or garden. It's just the way I am, haven't really mastered the simultaneous juggling of my interests so I follow them like a little kid in a candy store. Frivolously, yet wholeheartedly focused on that one interest du jour.

See that beautiful head of lettuce? It's the only one that survived what I affectionately call the slug massacre of 2009. It's so pretty that I'm sure it's going to bolt on me for fear of picking it. But in the meantime it perks up every time I give it a little water after a parched few days (much like today).


Here are the beautiful carrots. I love watching the carrots morph from little teeny frondy tops to huge bunches worthy of any bunny that might try to nab them. This time around we're trying to be patient and let them grow enough then slightly mature in the soil to get the sweetest carrots possible. Let's see how long I can hold off my oldest once he remembers these are carrots.




Look! A banana pepper! Oh yes, the pepper plants survived and look like they will produce quite nicely. This is the first pepper so far and I've been letting it mature while still keeping an eye on it daily to avoid having a bug beat me to the harvest. I find it interesting that such a short bushy plant gives such large impressive fruit.




Isn't this eggplant blossom elegant? Slightly purple tinged and hopefully about to grow a full sized eggplant. There is some bug evidence on the lower leaves but I'm hoping they'll lay off the producing area.




Ahhh, and the babied crop of my garden. The tomatoes. This one plant seems to be setting a nice amount of fruit and since all the tomatoes in my garden are of the indeterminate variety I've been trying to amass some tomato recipes in order to be ready for the continuous harvest.




Finally a little update on the kids' garden. The green bean plants are still producing enough green beans here and there to keep the kids hunting through the bushy leaves.




The tomatoes thrown in the corner are getting tall enough that I'll have to put a stake on that side of the box. I think these were brandywine which is an heirloom variety and pretty tasty.




A teeny watermelon in the forefront and the previous watermelons in the background. Seems the boys threw watermelon seeds in the box where the cucumbers were growing. My mom first spotted this little guy during her visit and the boys have adopted it giving me daily updates.