Growing Season

I need to stop scheduling my vacations in early summer.  In my area, that's when things ripen or need the most attention.

Pretty much all of my tomatoes decided to ripen a few days before I left, so I made marinara.  You can freeze the leftovers for later if you don't want to can them.  The sweetness of the Bradleys brought a wonderful depth to the sauce.  The older vines on the beefsteak died as their fruit ripened, so I cut the whole thing back to allow new growth.  The smaller sprouts below are already producing.

I have two cucumbers growing!  Like the pumpkins, cucumber plants have both male and female flowers.  I found two close to each other.  One I hand-pollinated, but didn't notice the other until after it was growing.  Also like pumpkins, cucumber plants have large leaves that obscure what's underneath.  At least these don't seem prone to fungus.  Think I'll schedule this year's tea for when they're ready to pick, so I can make the cucumber sandwiches with produce from my garden.

My lone surviving pea plant has a pod!  I didn't realize it had bloomed.  Must have done it when I was at work.  Hoping some of the other buds on the vine have similar luck.  The boysenberry has a couple new blossoms, which surprised me.  I thought it was done for the year.

Techie Smurf is about two months behind.  It's still cool in Pennsylvania and he's growing lettuces.  His tomatoes and peppers are established, but still barely more than seedlings.  He has the advantage of regular rain in addition to watering.

Writer Smurf planted two kinds of pumpkins in the front yard.  She didn't read the spacing instructions and put two packets in a row of hills about twelve feet across.  I showed her my pictures from last year, and she is going to train them all over the yard.  It will make for a really neat Halloween decoration.  I was joking that she could sell whatever she doesn't carve or cook.  Or they could get a chest freezer and fill it with stewed pumpkin for the year.

I also appreciate that I only have a few birds and squirrels who may want my veggies.  They need to put up rabbit fences and something to keep away the chipmunks and hedgehogs.  I haven't seen it, but there's a fox in the neighborhood.

Seeing them just getting started for the year makes me happy that I have plants producing year-round.  Especially the tomatoes.  It's only a long weekend, but I feel like I'm missing whatever magic is happening in my small garden.