It's more like the "I've been HHappier place"

I was at the garden for four hours: watering, hoeing that stinking field grass, and trying to salvage the tomatoes. I trimmed the withered up dead stuff off the vines last week. Today I pulled grass and fertilized. They are showing new growth which is encouraging. Found a new tiny honeydew. The lady peas remain the star producers. Really really need to get a tiller.

Bringing in the Peas

The corn may have been wimpy. The squash and zucchini have succumbed to the bugs and heat. The tomatoes have been productive, but it's been a battle.
Then there are the peas. Apparently, that's where I'll really succeed this year. Gallons of of pods--all needing to be shelled. The results are very satisfying. There should be plenty of dry pods for seed for next year.

How do you know someone has a garden?

Look at their kitchen window.

Like a Good Neighbor...

I'm enjoying this gardening experience. I've learned a lot, though I'm not sure how much I'll remember for next year. One thing I'll remember is to FERTILIZE THE CORN! I picked the last puny ears today. The deer had gotten into it last week, but now even they are avoiding at my sickly stalks. My biggest haul today came from my neighbor, Wilson. He had a truck bed full of corn and told me to take all I wanted. I shamelessly took about 12. Then he offered me some white potatoes, green beans and an eggplant. He and Willanda are so nice and generous. I'd love to offer them something, but my produce is pretty meager compared to theirs (sigh).

Pea-pickin' Good Day

It's been a week since I stepped into the garden and all I can say is, "thank goodness for Caroline and Greg!" they made sure plants were picked and watered while Steve, Garrett and I were at Greers Ferry Lake. Even with them and Mom picking there were still bunches of produce to pick today.

It's been >100 degrees all week, so I was nervous the garden would all be shriveled up. Other than the deer getting into the corn, things look pretty good. I brought home about a gallon of lady peas and 3 gallons of purple hull peas to shell. There's 10 ears of corn for Sunday dinner and little onions, banana peppers, tomatillos, and lots of tomatoes for salsa.

Tomatoes nearly ready!

Today was all about water, weeds and fertilizer. Caroline spent the afternoon with me at the HHappy Place. It took about 4 hours to give everything a good soaking. I followed behind with multiple cans full of Miracle-Gro to douse every plant. The never ending job of keeping the weeds and grass at bay continues.

Out went the worm infested cauliflower and in went cherry tomato seedlings. The count on the corn is now up to 70 ears. The pea plants are growing like crazy and the first pods are showing. We'll be picking the first cantaloupe next week and honeydew right after that. And the tomatoes.... Caroline took a couple of small romas today, but next week we'll need baskets to hold our harvest!

Growing

It's amazing to watch the melons grow. And the peas and beans. The corn continues to tassel, but it still looks pretty wimpy compared to the other gardeners' plots. I counted 23 ears on about 90 stalks. Today I picked cucumbers, zucchini, carrots and some lettuce. Planted tarragon, parsley, and a few more beets and bell pepper seeds.