Jeff had been busy...on-line and in the garden...trying to find ways to control the bugs and encourage the garden to grow. He's been very successful, too. This is a branch from a tree that we're using as support for the potatoes. You can see his care has gotten it to leaf

This is the purple bean with flowers. That row looks really neat! The beans will be purple, too, until cooked. Then they turn green.

This is eye-level...our tomatoe really are that high. Pretty soon we'll need a ladder to pick the fruit. Right now there are lots of flowers, buds and green tomatoes, all at the right level to pick easily!

Mystery Solved!

The mystery plant...in the corn...has been identified...at least by me. I think it's a dwarf sunflower. Anyway, it has a yellow sunflower-type flower. Must be a gift from a passing bird or squirrel. (Mom thinks it may be a zinnia not a sunflower. Jeff's voting NO to sunflower. Anyone else want to guess?)

Jeff says I've made the garden look bigger than it is by photographing it that way but I think it's really that big! These tomatoes are chest high on me. He's been mixing up a brew to kill/discourage bugs that seem to work. In fact, the more garlic that's in it the less mosquitoes we seem to have.

I can't wait until the tomatoes start to ripen! Jeff has picked hot peppers and I've picked some leaf lettuce so we're starting to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He's predicting all the tomatoes will ripen at about the same time and we'll be overwhelmed with canning them. We'll see. I'd like to try canning some peppers, potatoes and onions together. We used the big pressure canner this weekend and canned some chicken...comes out much better than the cans of chicken you can get in the supermarket!

It's pouring right now...guess we won't have to water the garden tonight. But, he did spray for bugs last night. It always rains the next day after he sprays.

Mystery Plant

Our...Jeff's...garden continues to thrive! Yesterday he tilled around the entire thing and between each row! Even down the middle of the greens/radish row! Now we can thin the radish & carrots and just move the little transplants over. We had to put up a couple Japanese Beetle traps...at $9 each...coz they're in the corn. I wish there were mosquito traps. We have plenty of them. (Oh, yea, mosquito traps are called bats and we do have some of those!) The tomato cages are working beautifully...very rustic, and the potatoe plants are starting to bloom. Potatoes flower on top of the plant but the fruit...potatoes...are under the ground. The peppers are bloomin, too.

And we have a mystery plant. Don't have any idea what it is so I think I'll go to Co-op Extension on the way home with the photo of it.

How The Garden Grows

Our garden has been getting a lot of attention lately and it shows. The rows are weed-free and the soil is rich and dark. Our corn is higher than most we've seen in fields around us...don't know if we'll have many ears but so far we're ahead! The cukes and pole beans have started up their 'rustic' trellis and the potatoes are leaning on their rope supports. The poles for the tomatoes are cut and hopefully will be put in later this week. I found the 1st green tomato yesterday morning!! Last night Jeff sprayed for bugs again...or for whoever is eating the cuke and bean leaves. And, oh, it was back! This is only the 5th time I've run into one in the nearly 50 years I've been in the house. The last one was in the bathroom a couple of weeks ago, so the visits are getting too close for my comfort. Jeff says if it comes back again I get to keep it. LOL! What do I name it? Slinky?? (It is a garden snake.)