Overworkedjanet

I have become a gardener extraordinaire. I've more tomatoes than I know how to eat and have given many away. Ditto with zucchini. I've  over a dozen jars of pickles. On and on. Below is something I have worked hard to grow.  I raised the first batch starting in 1980. That flower created her own batch. My how they've grown. The kids, I mean! The sunflowers, now over 10 feet tall, were easy in comparison. I got them to stand still for about 3 seconds then it was over. Some of you may remember the births of GS2 and Little Miss. GS1 starts high school this fall. I continue to have a happy summer!

 Apparently I've got a green thumb! This is my first attempt at okra and I've learned a few things about growing it. Wear gloves. This morning I keep scraping my fingernail over my palm trying to find the spiny thing embedded in it! I also did not know their potential for height and will be trimming the plants in the next few weeks as I've enough towering specimens. The fresh okra is awesome. This was my garden on July 6. Although my next photo will not show the okra growing on the far left of the garden, be assured it is now about 4 feet high. On the right, among other plants are my sunflowers. On this date they were just about 7 feet high. We had quite a violent thunderstorm last night and I had to remove one fallen sunflower and shore up the tomato plants that were leaning. The sunflowers are about 9 feet tall! They grew 2 feet in two weeks. The one that fell was about 6 feet. Boo-hoo! I've not grown them before and considering the amount of space they take up, I...

 I'm in the beginning of vegetable overload already.  My first Japanese eggplant has been harvested and I have a recipe or two I can use with the rest of my snow peas and perhaps shrimp or chicken. They call for lots of garlic and soy sauce. I have Tamari, a Japanese soy and sesame oil so it sounds like an oriental dish for my dinner! Today I picked a zucchini and there are two more in the wings that will need harvested in a few days. I've got all my jars ready to prepare pickles, now I need the right pickles to develop. Another 'Japanese' named vegetable, the slicing cucumber has turned out to be simply delicious! It's green-black and large. The skin is thin and not bitter. Even DH enjoyed it slathered in Italian dressing. I gave away green beans and snow peas to my grands. They had helped harvest and ate more off the plants than they placed in containers. I love having these kids who love raw veggies off the vine or plant. Cherry tomatoes hold no hope of ending on...