Venison Ambassador

Me vs The Tomato

The meandering cherry tomato tolerates my attempts to tie him down, trim him back and generally control his chaos. We both know the futility of my actions. In one overnight move he stretches skyward toward the Sun - oh, the Sun! More tiny balls of delightfully sweet tomatoes are ripe - his appeasing gift designed to remind me that his freedom and desire to sprawl are paramount and the only way to an incalculable harvest of red, orange and yellow orbs too tasty for mere words. The tomato is Victor!

Germination!

Finally! One of the Carmen Peppers that I replanted about a week ago has germinated (yesterday).

Also, I took clippings of several garden herbs, the Super Sweet 100 tomato, the Carmen Pepper, and the Yellow Pear tomato - all growing in the outdoor garden. I put each in a Grodan cube. Now the waiting starts - will they grow into a full-size plant indoors???

How is Echo? So glad you asked! She is frisky, mischievous, adorable and sweet! Check her out:

 

Follow the Sun

Jeff wanted a field of tall sunflowers-

Jack Be Little Pumpkin
 

Winter Peppers - Winter Squash

Last night I planted 2 Carmen Peppers and 1 Flavorburst Pepper. Yes, I am still trying to grow a Flavorburst because I am dying to taste one!!! These are so that this winter we have fresh peppers in the indoor garden room.

Yesterday morning I fed fish emulsion in the garden and picked the winter squash. I also pulled the melon vines. I collected as much okra off my 2 plants yesterday as I could possibly want (please read as "desperately searching for additional okra-requiring recipes"). I also collected a couple of Roma Tomatoes and an assortment of cherry tomatoes. Two cucumbers also made it in my basket.

Regarding winter squash, all of the ones planted in my garden here at the house are finished. The funny thing is, my Sweetie (Jeff, of course!) bought me a "Grow" magazine on Friday night and guess what one of their ideas for saving space was?!?! Grow your winter squash out of the compost pile!! How funny that ours did that on a voluntary basis! Anyhow, that spaghetti squash is still in the ground, not quite ready yet.

Yesterday afternoon I had a real butternut squash treat. I cut a tiny one in half, scooped out seeds then baked it in the toaster oven till soft. I added a touch of butter, some honey and apple pie seasoning - so good!!

Romas - They're What's for Lunch!

Delicious light lunch! Leftover pasta (plain) with italian seasoning, salt, pepper, fresh roma tomato, parmesan and mozzarella! YUM!! Microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. So good! Eating local, knowing your food source? Check it out - I can narrow mine to a plant! No chemical yuckies, just super yummy freshness!

A True Champion

Yesterday Jeff picked our first Champion Tomato - yum!!! Its meaty, not too acid and very good! It also has the advantage of looking like pictures of tomatoes look. I say that because Black Krims and Brandywines tend to have "odd" shapes and different coloration than people picture when the word tomato comes to mind.

My parents came over Sunday for dinner - it was such fun to share our garden with them! We had Zucchini Squares made from zucchini and shallots we had grown - that's  a good feeling! We also had a rhubarb pie since a friend of ours was kind enough to drop off a really nice bunch of rhubarb the day before.

Because, of course you are dying to know (grin, grin) - Echo (kitten) is doing great! She has discovered her ability to climb trees and made it into quite the aerobic activity. She runs up one tree as though her tail were on fire, then down it and across the yard, tail straight up, crazed look on her face to the next tree, then repeat. She is currently taking some very good naps.

Volunteerism in the Garden

We currently have 3 volunteer plants. 1 tomato, of unknown variety. 1 Squash, which we now know is a Spaghetti Squash, and 2 Sunflowers, courtesy of the bird feeder. The tomato and squash grew directly out of the compost pile and have seriously impeded composting since we are unwilling to destroy anything with that much gusto. As everyone knows, compost must be turned to "finish", neither one of us had the heart to disrupt this unanticipated food, so we will just have to enjoy those veggies and cope with the unfinished compost.

Check out the go-getters!

 

Pick of the Day

This is representative of what we find in the garden daily:

Cherry tomatoes (mix of Super Sweet 100's and Mexico Midgets), Black Krim Tomatoes, Patty Pan Squash, and Cucumbers (2 varieties), and an Okra.

Cherry tomatoes so fresh, there's still mulch on them!

Black Krim, Black Kitty

Today Jeff & I tasted our first Black Krim Tomato! Delicious!!!! Highly recommend this variety! Can't wait till the next one of these is ripe and ready!

We also tried our first Yellow Pear Tomato - good, but not as wow as the Super Sweet 100. Waiting to try a couple more, this one could have been a day or two longer ripening, so that could easily be the difference.

Jeff froze several 1 pound packs of zucchini and yellow squash discs for winter and some packets of 3 cups shredded zucchini as well - let's hear for Jeff!!! Woo hoo & a big thank you!!

Kitty is doing great! She's hilarious, adorable and a very loud purr er - what more could a person want? So far, we're calling her Squeaky. Its because she squeaks as opposed to a regular meow. We go to the vet Saturday, so we should have a better idea how old she is after that. Currently she loves her catnip toy, aptly named "zoom around the room", and being rubbed on the tummy.

Garden Poses

Here it is - the butternut squash I showed you a couple of weeks ago!

Cute, crunchy cuke!

Carmen peppers changing from green to red, crispy yumminess!

Remember that "baby cantaloupe?" Look how its grown!

The watermelon is gaining ground!