It's a baby! Pumpkin that is!

I believe this is a little holiday pumpkin for decorative purposes only and not the large jack o lantern kind. It's so cute!



The pumpkin acts as a ground cover for the corn here. I'll have corn in a couple of weeks. I love how they look paired up with the black eyed susans.


There are 6 large (and 3 developing) bell peppers on my potted test plant. There are still none on my plants that are in the ground. I'm really proud of these babies.


Bottle neck gourd.


Aerial shot of the south east side of the garden full of perennials. In the upper left corner of the photo is where I may put the veggie garden next year. That area gets the most sun.


Over the weekend, I was able to do some weeding. There were quite a few weeds (3 wheel barrels full), but not as much as previous years. I am already thinking about moving certain plants for a better display next year. There's so much to do!

Is it food yet?

They're alive! The carrot seedlings are appearing and the basil plants are growing.



The summer squash is showing blooms already! I hope that means we will get squash soon. They came sooner than the green zucchini did last year. These are male flowers so I hope the other one is a female 'cause ummm...well I hate to break it to you, but it takes a male and female plant to make baby squashes.


Radishes are growing fast now and peeping out of the soil.


Pumpkin plants with rows of Corn in the background.


Sugar snap peas and Snow peas are also flowering, so we'll have peas soon.

Camou your Veggie Patch

So if you were wondering why I was leaving drive by pictures this week, it's because I'm hard at work on the back garden bed. Here's a sneak peak of the concept I'm working on.

Using that weed suppressing landscaping material, I cleaned off an area to put my corn patch for this year. It's right against the shed, lots of sun, water and it's unobtrusive. I cut 4"x4" spaces out of the material in rows and plopped 2 corn seeds in each hole. Thin to the strongest one plant per hole. It's been 2 weeks and now they are at yummy bunny eating height and I know I've been successful with each planting hole, but...it's ugly as all with the rain and wind blowing all sorts of stuff on it. The material isn't something off a fashion run way either.



So I topped it off with about 1" high of peat moss. Peat moss has all kinds of uses and one of them is you can use it to "mulch". It's safe for veggies because it doesn't contain chemicals like the landscaping wood mulch. Looks better huh?


Then I had to put up the old ugly wire fence to keep the bunnies out until the plants are tall enough out of the bunny nibbling reach. In the corner is a container of pumpkins which I plan on co-planting with the corn. The pumpkin vine will act as a natural ground cover to keep weeds somewhat at bay.


Mmm Do you like your corn with or without butter? Or what else do you put on your corn?

Chicken Corn Chowder Soup

I love soup! I especially love soup during the summer. Fresh vegetables are really key in a good soup.



Ingredients:

• Fresh corn on the cob (1) , onion (1), basil, tomatoes (5)
  
• Leftover chicken breast - diced (can be left out for vegetarian)
  
• 1/2 cup Minute Rice (oh, the sacrilege!)
• Salt, pepper, chili pepper flakes, olive oil & cumin
• 8 cups of water

1. In 1 pot, boil some water and cook the corn on the cob.
2. Chop up the tomatoes or blend a can of whole tomatoes. Dice the onion.
3. In a second pot, saute the onions, tomatoes, and chili pepper flakes.
   
4. When they are cooked and lookin' yummy, add the dry minute rice. I like Minute Rice for soups because it cooks up quickly and doesn't take over the soup.
   
5. Add the salt, pepper and cumin.
   

6. Remove the corn from the water and allow to cool. Gently add the corn water into the 2nd pot.
7. Using a knife, cut the corn off the cob. Add the corn to the soup. Simmer 15 minutes.



Enjoy with some tortilla chips or top with some cheddar cheese.

Highlights from the garden

"Carnation" or "Peony" Poppy


I'm sorry to say this, but for such an highly anticipated flower, this flower is just ugly. I started these poppies from seed and they were rather difficult to get started actually. It took weeks and only recently have they grown to size. The flowers aren't very "flowery" at all. I plan on relocating these to give them more support next year.

Corn - Harvested some corn for dinner tonight!


Sugar Snap Peas - I think we have a runner up compared to last year's largest pea.


English Cucumbers


We have had 21 successful English cucumbers to date. They are delicious and great to pickle or bring to work (they retain their water). I've shared many with my neighbors too. The cucumbers are beginning to winde down, but I hope more come back. I wonder if I should trim the lower leaves on the vine?

Basil


More basil than I know what to do with! With the rain and heat, the basil has really bolted. I harvested, washed, dried and submerged the leaves in olive oil to save for winter use. I made tons of pesto which I've been eating on everything! I'll post the recipe soon.

Carrots


I was curious to see the progress on the carrots, so I dug a little bit just to see what it looks like. It's so cute! I don't know when it's time to harvest though???

What? I can't hEAR you!

Who doesn't love sweet corn in the summer? The corn is my newest addition, so each day I look forward to their progress. Once they have set in, they are easy to grow and require no maintenance.

They are taller than me now and I'm 5'1/4" tall.



July 3rd - Suddenly these hairy top thingys popped out. Slowly, I began to see the shape of the corn swell a bit.



July 6th - We came back from the beach and now you begin to see the ear forming and sticking out. Kinda like when a pregnant chick goes from 4 months to 5 months.



July 7th - The tops were changing color and the ear began to develop further.



July 10th - Now we're just waiting for them to get nice and juicy. They should be ready to eat soon.



[click to enlarge photos]

Big and Small

As I weeded today, I spotted a wonderful surprise! A wee wittle eggie plant!



Then I found a big surprise; striata zucchini!



Corn is about 3.5' tall now.



The cleome is a awesome! What a great filler plant. It's big, tall and bushy. It smells like marijuana too.




Cucumber



Does anyone know the name of this?



Dahlia



This dahlia is different. It's long and sprawled over the ground.