August 31st

It was close to 70 degrees here today, just perfect for spending the day outdoors in the garden.

I put a few wheelbarrows full of pea gravel around the out side of the vegetable garden to neaten it up a bit and to keep the weeds under control. Any weeds which come up through the gravel, will get a squirt of roundup.

These nice plump tomatoes are just showing a touch of pink. I trimmed off any of the large leaves which were covering the fruit, so the sun would hasten ripening.

The Bearded Iris given to me by a friend, have been planted in a newly created garden, along the outside of the fence, surrounding the vegetable garden.Today I put a layer of mulch around the Iris to conserve moisture.

Just a few more days and I will be tasting these beauties.

Almost ready for Zucchini bread.

This little guy was on the outside of the garden looking in, as I was going about the business of pulling a few weeds, and trimming any shabby leaves off of some of the Swiss Chard, Broccoli and kohlrabi. He sure did enjoy the trimmings when I dropped them in front of his nose.

5 DAYS MAKES A DIFFERENCE

While we were in CA for 5 days the weather here was just what the veges needed. With nice hot sun and water on a regular basis, my vegetable garden showed a marked change. There is nothing better than returning home and checking on the vegetable and flower garden for new growth. It seems when you are home and looking every day, the growth is not so noticeable.

The first Zucchini will be ready to pick in a few more days.

I am checking the tomatoes every day for the first shade of pink, heralding ripening.

A bright corner of the garden.

I know the birds are going to enjoy the seeds during the cold winter months.

A blue Hubbard pumpkin I hope will produce a few nice fat pumpkins for us. It has started to grow through the fence, and I plan on training it up the fence so it does not take up so much room.

The day we left on vacation this bib lettuce was no where ready to harvest and I thought it would be ready when we got back. As you can see I was wrong., all it is good for now is rabbit food and the compost heap.

It looks as though we may have a few ears of corn, providing we have some more hot weather. For the last couple of days we have had rain, which is OK, but now we need to see the sun.

For tonight's dinner, a nice fresh cauliflower. How wonderful it is to have my own fresh vegetables. Also helps on the grocery bill as everything is so expensive right now.

I love fresh beans, especially this blue lake variety. They have great flavor.

The the best surprise of all.

The clematis, I thought had died, is starting to come back. I was going to pull it out and replace it but ran out of time.

PLANTED TODAY FOR FALL/ WINTER HARVEST

The garden center just received their first shipment of vegetable starts for fall/winter harvesting. As MrC and I are going to be out of town from Wednesday to Sunday, I decided I had better get the first of these vegetables into the ground, then when we return I can buy some more to plant for a second harvest.

Leeks.
For stir fry, Leek & potato soup, or in many other recipes I enjoy.

A whole heap of Spinach.

There are many ways I enjoy spinach, whether it be in a salad or incorporated in another recipe.

Broccholi
MrC's favorite.....Not!! If I served this to him I would get a look of disgust.

Bunching onions.

I will harvest some of these early, to use in salads, then the rest can mature then harvested to be stored for use during the winter months.

Winter Romaine Lettuce.

Bull's Blood Beets.
When the Golden Beets arrive at the garden center I will plant some on the other half. I enjoy beets, along with other vegetables, sprinkled with olive oil, salt and pepper then roasted in the oven.

OH MY ACHING BACK !

This was one of two lovely Clematis growing on the trellis in front of my vegetable garden. When we went away for four days last week, I had a sprinkler set up on a timer to water the vegetable garden. Sadly the sprinkler malfunctioned and the water did not reach the two clematis.
I have spent the last two days installing a watering system, using soaker hoses in all the raised beds.







Here is one of the beds with the installed soaker hoses winding in and around the vegetables and flowers. I like to grow flowers along with the vegetables as they attract more bees, therefore giving me more pollinated vegetable blossoms. Also the gardens look pretty.





I planted these beans about two weeks ago, and since the weather has finally warmed up, the beans have sure put on a spurt of growth.










I have bent the leaves over the cauliflower and held them in place with a clothespin. Bending the leaves over this way, helps to keep the cauliflower nice and white. I have just four plants as MrC does not care for cauliflower, and fortunately they are not all growing at the same rate, so I will not have to eat cauliflower for days on end.





According to the saying "corn should be knee high, by the 4th of July" I don't think the corn knew about this, as a few of the plants are only about 18 inches high, the rest are shorter.
I really was hoping to have some lovely sweet corn slathered in butter.
Sighhhhhh!







The first crop of peas have produced abundantly, so I have planted this row hoping to have more of the sweet sugar snap peas to enjoy.










I can't say I have a bumper crop of parsnips, but the few which have grown are doing rather well, as are the carrots which were planted at the same time. I may plant another row of parsnips tomorrow for a fall harvest.






As I said I like flowers in my vegetable garden, so in this container are a couple of sunflowers and two shades of pink gladioli.










Swiss chard, one of my favorite vegetables and has been producing enough to feed us and a little left over to give a few leaves to the rabbits who hang around outside the fence.









There are quite a few tomatoes of a fairly good size and many more blossoms. My wish is for some nice hot days so I will have many, many tomatoes.







At last there are some tiny zucchini forming.

That is about it for now, and I am very tired after installing the watering system. Finally, I can sit back watch the garden grow, pull a few weeds when needed, then harvest the vegetable as they come ready. All the hard work is going to pay off.