Rain Rain Go Away...

Check out this article on the Late Blight Crisis affecting our tomatoes. The main cause is all the rain and humidity. Our crop has never fully dried out. We have hardly watered the garden at all. This is very unusual for mid-July!

Blight

Our poor tomatoes have blight. Last year our garden was perfect. So perfect that we canned a ton of tomatoes and even gave bushels away. This year, we don't know what happened. Mother says that she didn't try so hard last year and maybe there is something to that. This year she stepped it up and fertilized and spent more time on them. I on the other hand stuck my tomatoes in the ground and hoped they'd make it. Both ways, the tomatoes are dying. HUGE BUMMER! It rained a lot this year, I don't know if they plays into it or not, but either way we're just hoping the tomato plants we have will live long enough to allow the fruit to ripen.

On the other hand our blackberries and pumpkins are growing very well!

My children and their buddies picking blackberries!

And here are the pumpkins:

Pollination in its true form.

Cinderella Pumpkins hanging from the trellis.

Pretty little fancy gourd!


We also have loads of green beans. Mother and Granny have canned over 100 jars of beans.

This is my tiger lily. I bought a box full of plants from a yard sale for $5. I think I got my money's worth for this shot alone.

Bringing the Abundance to Friends

I picked 32oz of blackberries last night. We have so many left over from last year that I brought them in to work. In addition to the blackberries, mother picked loads of squash, zucchini and cucumbers. My father and I both took the extras to our office to share.

Mother and Granny have canned over 50 cans of green beans....and that was from the last count a week ago. I saw at least six jars sitting on her counter freshly canned yesterday. Mother had an enormous basket yet to be canned and four more rows to pick. It seems like a lot of cans for one year, but we go through the green beans.



The pumpkins are taking over. I have to go a few times a week and move the vines away from the peppers and tomatoes. I have also trellised them. I am always amazed by how big the pumpkins plants get.




The peppers I am growing at my house in pots are bearing fruit now. These are the false alarm hybrids. I can't wait to taste them!

It Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger!

"That's a Baby Boo"

My son is taking his over-ripe squash to school for show-and-tell.



These pumpkin plants (above and below) are volunteer pumpkins. The above plant is growing in our flower garden. I am not expecting too much from that plant because it is in a mostly shaded area. The growth has been minimal.

The below plant is growing beside my porch railing. The sun is just right. There is poison ivy growing beside it, so the weed killer may get it.



A couple of the first ripe tomatoes!



We found a ripe one!


Look how tall the tomato plants are! They have barely begun producing. We're going to have tomatoes coming out of our ears!


The pumpkin patch continues to grow. Mother and I were talking and agree that they are probably going to double or triple yet!


Here is a gourd. This one looks different than the last couple we've seen! It'll be fun checking out the different varieties we planted.



This is my Cinderella Pumpkin. It's growing on a trellis in hopes of saving the peppers and tomatoes from suffocation!

Here is our Cinderella Pumpkin. We have some others but this one is currently changing colors, so I featured it. It was a cream color and is now quite golden. This pumpkin will turn dark orange, almost red when ripe.



Here is our first Sweet Sugar Pie pumpkin. We hope to can these and use them for muffins and pies.



Our sunflowers are in full swing. Isn't the above sunflower lovely and unique?



My son is picking and eating blackberries. Next week we're going to have more than we can eat!