Garden Update - July 27, 2011

Well hello out there to everyone interested in the garden. Here is a quick update on where we are in regards to it. (I promise, I took the pictures the other night and I will update this with pictures tonight.)

Better Boy Tomatoes are still producing. However, with the heat some of the tomatoes are rather small. They still taste good though. I think I will be getting tomatoes from them until the first frost. (Wow, it is a long time between now and October). I have purchased canning supplies so we will be able to save some of these, even if it is just one pint at a time.

Rutger Tomatoes are still growing. They have produced several flowers and I am expecting any day to see small green tomatoes on them. I am actually glad these guys continue to grow, although slowly. I have supplemented the soil around them with compost and fresh grass clippings to aid in their growth.

Cherry Tomato - The Ferry Morse Large Fruited Cherry tomato plant is doing well and has 4 small green tomatoes on it. These tomatoes are supposed to grow to about 1"-2" in diameter. Perfect for a snack or in a salad. I am looking forward to these guys. The Bonnie Plant Hearty Cherry is also growing well and has put out its first "string" of tomatoes. I am looking forward to those as well.

Bradley Tomato - These are the three in the back. One of the three is putting flowers out. Abby helped me water them some last night and it was really cute. I hope these do really well because these will be the first ones that I am going to save the seeds for next year. I am really anxious for these to produce. I am thinking about halfway through August I will start to have these.

Mystery Tomato (?) - The small tomato plant I bought at Walmart for $0.50. Is doing well and has several small flower buds on it. I am interested to see what type of tomato this is. The plant card only said tomato and that it was grown at a nursery for Walmart in Alabama. Needless to say, this will just add more to the tomato pile.

Clemson Okra - I have now gotten three okra off the plants I have. They are blossoming and producing more little okra everyday. Soon we will have lots of okra and I will have to pickle some. Probably looking at next weekend on this or maybe the weekend after.

Marketmore Cucumbers - These little guys are starting to grow. I have several flowers and several small cucumbers but none that are growing yet. May be a few more days until I see some of these guys. I did make the mistake on these guys by not staking them. Need to make sure I don't do that in the future.

Isaac's Pumpkin - The pumpkin is growing slowly. I think tonight I am going to mulch it with some compost to get it some more nutrients. I did however, notice that it has two flowers on it. Hopefully, it will grow a little more and start setting some female flowers.

Overall, I would say that the garden has been a success this year and has produced much more than my little plot did last year. I am learning quite a bit and remembering even more from when I was younger. I plan on in the coming weeks beginning the prepping of plots for next year's garden which will be even larger than this year's. It is rather neat to see what God's creation can do with the proper nurturing.