So, my garden is at the point where going away for three days apparently makes a might bit of difference. I'm house-sitting starting this Friday and can use the cash, but am not looking forward to being away from my darlings... In the three days I was at the coast last week, this is what happened to make my jaw drop:

To get you started (I realize that few are as interested in gardens, dogs and babies as those who take the pictures... but hmmph!), two overall pictures, the first outside the garden (looking mostly at the flowers I planted along the perimeter), and the other inside looking at the cabbages, corn, sunflowers, lettuce, pumpkin, peas, etc, along the back wall.



The sunflowers you're looking at below - placed in the corners mostly, or to act as "tall things" along with the corn and beans to try to prevent the squashes from cross-fertilizing too much - have among them two that are over 10' tall. They grew three of those feet while I was away (one per day?!). And all of the sweet peas bloomed while I was away... all of them! The plan, which was to plant sweet peas at the doorway and here and there around the edges, was concocted to ensure a beautiful smell as I weed and harvest. It really works... the whole garden smells heavenly.



All of my peas look pretty much done. I harvested a ton of them, and there are a few left, but the plants look tired and done... so the pole beans took over. When I left, the peas/beans were pretty evenly spread; when I returned, I could hardly find the peas on the trellises, and all of the little flowers on the bushes turned into 5" beans.



On my buttercup squash and my cucumber plants below, I went from about 10 blossoms to about 10 squashes/cucumbers. The cucumbers should be ready to harvest in a few days... all 10 at once, plus the blossoms still growing on both plants. What in the world will I do with them all? To the library I go soon to try to figure it out... I don't have enough friends in B'ham to join me in eating - it's hardly fair! Anybody up for moving to WA?



My basil is totally ready to do a harvest on and make some pesto, and some pasta with freshness, and the corn all grew tassels while I was away (plus added about 6").



And I now have one large regular jack-o-lantern pumpkin, and about 15 mini white pumpkins (the photo below shows the largest white pumpkin, but there are tons and tons of the little suckers). I haven't a clue what to do with the white pumpkins... yet. Does anybody else out there know?



Technically, the montbretia bed below is my mother's but it's rapidly becoming my favorite flower (along with nasturtiums, sunflowers, sweet peas, mock oranges, and honeysuckle). It's just such an intense and delicate orange... hard to resist. And the other flowers are from my patio pots. You can see behind them the new green/blue colors the studio I'm living in was painted a couple of weeks ago. Sweetness!



It all makes me happy, and I'm busy planning a summer-harvest party and a fall-harvest party to figure out a way to meet new people to feed.

Labels: Garden 8-2-09