Huge garden spammy.

[misora]

Wheeee pics!!

This is our garden at our new house that we've lived in since April. We first planted around April 23 - April 30, and have been weeding/fertilizing/watering since then.

And here are the results!




This is the space (for the most part, there's a little more than that) that we have to work with. From left to right (can't see the far left, I'm afraid) we have canteloupe, peppers (green & red bell, long green peppers), eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, and then tomatoes (6 different kinds). There's an artichoke in the back, but it only produced two mature artichokes before it died rather suddenly. :(

Speaking of the artichoke plant, after we left the last one on the stalk, it sprouted this really pretty purple flower. So vivid!

Apparently this really huge yellowjacket thought so, too. This was on zoom because I'm actually kind of afraid of bees, despite not being allergic.

Two of the tomato plants. This is about two months after planting; they're much bigger now.


The first of our cherokee purple tomatos. Oh god, these are really gorgeous. And huge.

A ripe one, just a couple of weeks ago. We picked one similar to its coloring and ate it, and the taste was delightful; firm, sweet and peppery flavor. Perfect for eating by itself, with just a little salt.

The cherokee purple plant, busting out fruits like no tomorrow. Quite productive.

Next up we have Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato. This is one of the first mature ones.

They end up being pretty huge too, actually.

The final color is greenish-yellow, still with its dark green shoulders. The little one next to it is a tiny mutant cherokee.

Of course, no garden is complete without cherry tomatoes to nibble on.

They made a beautiful salad ensemble.

Something I neglected to mention about this summer's activities, was that I spent an absurd amount of time collecting, pitting, and prepping apricots.

We had an enormous tree that produced a metric truckload of fruit.

Typical picking day for me. We also share a blackberry bush with our neighbors over the fence.

The coloring of these was just perfect. I brought many to work, because we couldn't eat/jam/dehydrate/freeze them all, and my coworkers raved about the taste. There's something to be said for homegrown organic vs. store-bought.

Blackberries blackening. They're quite tart until they're fully ripe. I froze most of them for easy smoothie making.

Also many of them fell victim to being decoration for banana pancakes. :p

In addition to our apricot tree, we had two trees that produced these at-first very strange little fruits. Turned out they were super-sweet plums. I'm not sure which kind, though. Any thoughts?

Canteloupe! :)

Watermelon! ^^

Honeydew! Initially he started out small, but look at him now -

He's now huge and the size of a large grapefruit.

Our little ichiban eggplant. The picture doesn't do this little plant justice; it really is one of the prettier plants I've ever seen. The leaves are soft and velvety, and a gorgeous greenish-gray color with dark purple veins, and the flowers are vibrant violet.

The eggplants themselves took very little time to mature once they started growing. I collected these guys tonight to stir-fry with pork. :)

Our first bell pepper.

I wish he was a little higher off the ground, but this guy is pretty solid and sturdy.

Back to the tomatoes. This is the First Light tomato, which took forever and a day to fruit; and the fruit doesn't grow quickly. These two have looked like this for the last two weeks.

Pink Brandywine. This poor little plant suffered for a while, but she's finally fruiting.

Roma. I was disappointed with how small these fruits seemed to be; I was hoping for the really huge ones that I could make pico de gallo with.

Kitty (Isabella) on the savannah on one of our hotter days. It hasn't been a really hot summer, though.

We also had tons of flowers. Gerber daisies,

Some gorgeous daffodils,

Roses,

And a sunflower plant. This was after he'd lived with us for two weeks; initially he was a little runt of a plant. We got him for free from the nursery (apparently because he was so pathetic looking).

Then he grew, and grew, and grew.

Eventually his bulb appeared. I think he was about 9 feet tall at this point.

...On the verge.

And then one day - poof! He's here!

Gorgeous flower. I want to make this an icon, but I'm worried I'll get confused with jennibare. ^^



More garden pics as things mature later this fall! ^___^

Comments

[jennibare.livejournal.com]

Yum and a half! These look so good. I'm jealous. Today, we discovered that we had a tomato plant growing in the weirdest spot in the backyard. Robert, my landscaper hubby, didn't realize what it was until after he yanked out the "weed" . We replanted it and watered so... *crosses fingers*. We tried planting peas and zucchini and melons but our 2yo lab decided that they were too tempting and ate the starts. What can I say? My dog likes his veggies.

Artichokes.... *drools* I forget that they flower. Very pretty.

Shall I change my user pic so you can be the sunflower? ^_^ I've been wanting to change to the peony.

[infinitygoddess.livejournal.com]

Aww. All that sunflower needed was some love and poof! All big and pretty.

And great garden, btw. I should probably ask my mom how hers is doing...

[tiddlywinks103.livejournal.com]

Droools over entire post...

Good Job!!

[intervigilum.livejournal.com]

Sunflowers! The ones here in Kansas get to be, no shit, like twelve feet tall and the flower can be the size of your head. They're pretty remarkable, and they do have whole fields of them--that's why we're the Ignorant Fred Phelps and Abortion Doctor Killer Sunflower State!

Your garden would make Doug weep tears of JOY. His various stuff growing around his house looks like NOTHING compared to this. He's got peppers, strawberries, blackberries, and tomatoes...I think he's making a pass at some frickin' CORN too, which I am like wtf how will you manage this it's growing in your front yard lolololol.

[drisela.livejournal.com]

WOW! Beautiful Garden!
You have such a green thumb!
DAMN that salad looked good! I'm salivating! ;P

I didn't even know what some of those things were ... (Is a city girl)

[moko-moko.livejournal.com]

Goddam, that's a gorgeous garden. And tasty to boot! My grandfather looked at these pics and guffawed in his hearty Chinese way and started complimenting how healthy they looked, which is hard for him to do. But he tthen proceeded onto some anecdote about his garden from back in the day. Hah, silly guy.

This apricots look absolutely delicious, nice job both of you :D :D

[platedlizard.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous, our tomatoes are about a month behind thanks to a cool and wet summer. Fresh picked tomatoes taste like summer, exactly.

It's funny to see someone going 'yay blackberries!' They're a major, major weed around here. Totally invasive and they will take over everything if we aren't vigilant. I've seen it swallow houses, parks, yards, and team together with English Ivy to destroy whole forests. Blackberries=nuke it from orbit. I suppose it's different where you are however!

That's a big fat bumblebee, BTW, not a yellowjacket. Yellowjackets are wasps, and are made of pure evil. Bumblebees are native bees :)

Are you going to can or dry the apricots?

[maggotpunk.livejournal.com]

An apricot tree? I'm so jealous. I would love to have a fruit tree with such abundance growing in my backyard. This damn drought seems to kill just about everything off.