Garden Update

It amazes me how fast the garden grows. It seems like all of a sudden everything is huge!

The Walla Walla onions are doing so well this year!

The tomatoes are getting close! I just cannot wait for the first one. A year is just the right length of time to get over being sick of them (when they are coming out your ears!) and ready to start over.

I am excited about the butternut squash! The leaves are so big and round and pretty.

The mammoth sunflowers are, well, mammoth! There are a few flowers developing.

Peppers are setting and getting big. We used our first jalapeno this week.

Pumpkins are developing! I started late, but they are getting going now.

Green beans are ready! Ella helped me pick our first bowlful for lunch on Saturday. They are delish with a little butter and salt.

We did out first cleaning project on Saturday too. The peas were done and turning brown, so I recruited my little guys to help pull them out.  The lettuce is done too, and starting to flower, but it's just so pretty I can't pull it yet!

Zucchini Trouble

One day I checked on my garden and the zucchini looked like this. It had been so healthy and productive already, I was shocked. But, I was not surprised to find this:

A squash bug. I am sure they are called that because they like squash plants, but I call them that because I squash them. When you are trying to grow an organic garden, it's the only way to control them. I am hoping that by checking every few days I can keep them from finding my other curcurbits (cucumbers, butternut squash, melons, and pumpkins). They kill plants by sucking the sap from the leaves.

This photo is unclear, but the squash bugs are mating. Arg!

Their eggs look like this, on the underside of leaves. I check every leaf and squash them with rocks or sticks. I'm too chicken to use my fingers.

You would be too if you found this when you turned a leaf over. EWWWW! It gives me the heebie jeebies. These are the newly hatched nymphs. I cut this entire leaf off and threw it away. Hopefully I can persevere and preserve a few plants!

Bloom Time

Everything is beginning to bloom!

The strawberries are starting to produce. If I remember right, I am not supposed the let them until they grow more vegetation, but I forget and then we find ruby red gems.

The green beans are flowering, which means we'll be eating them soon!

I had never really thought about it, but broccoli is the flower of the plant.

The cantaloupe is flowering, and I can't wait for some melons!

Outside the garden the colors are picking up too. The phlox is in full bloom. 

I have never seen my sedum bloom, which means it is happy where it is now!

The daylilies are in full flower production. The name is very literal... each lily is only good for one day.

My hosta sent up buds and will bloom this week.

And my lime green hydrangea is just about to burst. So exciting!