significant garden things

Well, I am back. You know that feeling when you get back to work/regular life after vacation and you find yourself struggling to catch up with every possible thing? (or so it feels).

That's me right now. With work, my garden, and my freelance photography, I have plenty of stuff to do. Unfortunately for me, all I want to do is sleep and get back to this blog. (Right now I am choosing one over the other. bummer).

Since this post is essentially just to say, "hey y'all, I'm back!" I will now only give you the brief break down of my life these past two weeks. I went to Bolivia. I turned 25. I went to Illinois to photograph a wedding. I came home and found a jungle where my garden used to be. The first three in that list are the ones that are really worth blogging about (and I have a lot to say about them). However, this blog needs to be short so I can get some sleep.

So with that being said, even though I have things to say about some of the most significant things that have happened to me recently, my garden has also done significant things. I will talk about them instead.

Significant garden things

1. I harvested my first tomato! It was a yellow one too (Bio-diversity! as Sanford would shout). I had it for supper yesterday. Oh. my. word. Every year, I forget what tomatoes taste like until summer rolls around again. Utter bliss. This yellow one had a different taste too. It was more tangy than sweet.

2. I came home to find that every possible weed grew up in my garden. This is what it looked like.

You seriously can only see one box because of the weeds. You should be able to see the outlines of at least three here

I have since mowed, hoed and pulled them up. Things are getting back to "normal." Minus the pumpkin patch/watermelon patch. That is a lost cause as far as the weed situation goes.

3. My Antonia's have died. But my one other watermelon is doing great. So I will just transfer my hope to that one instead.

4. Hagrid has taken over the compost. He is so LARGE, which works out with his name. I am also less convinced he is a pumpkin. I have some other pumpkins growing (you know, ones I planted myself) and their leaves look different. This is probably the biggest gourd plant in the history of histories. Bummer. I am disappointed, but I let him stay there all the same.

5. THERE ARE BLOOMS ON THE CUCUMBER PLANT! This is breaking news. After all, I started the season off with 6 plants. I now have 1. (well, unless you count the one of the porch, but you probably shouldn't since I keep forgetting to water it).

hope

6. The beans are starting to come in. Actually, thanks to what I have so far and what we've been gathering from the farmer's markets, I was able to can 4 pints tonight.

7. Speaking of farmer's markets, I bought a cantaloupe today. I used to hate these guys. But then I went to South Africa and loved them. (Mostly because in the hot months at the Manse, we wanted anything that would help cool us off. So we ate fruit). Cold melon is the best. I cut up this guy and cannot wait to eat some of it for lunch. (I also love the smell of them too).

hmm. smells so good

8. The plague of zucchini was started. Every year, I forget what it is like to have too much zucchini. (The worst). So I planted two plants hoping at least one would make it. They both did. Of course. Since being home, I've picked 3 zucchinis. We still have one in the fridge from the farmer's market. Coming to this blog soon: creative, zucchini themed meals.

It's funny how I search and search for topics in the winter that are relevant for this blog. (Okay, maybe it's not too hard to find them, but still). Now that it is summer, I have so much to say and apparently so "little time" in which to say them. I am hoping to revisit some of what I mentioned tonight. So stay tuned for more garden fresh recipes, canning instructions and farmer market adventures.

In the meanwhile, I will try to "keep my head above water" as I dive back into the non-pool side part of summer: heading back to work.