Garden at 13 Weeks

UPDATE

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When I went outside to pick the ripe tomatoes for my salad tonight they were ALL GONE.  And next to my garden sits a bowl from my kitchen and the remnants of ranch dressing.  This could only mean one thing: Lila strikes again.

I am starting to see some real progress in places that there wasn't much this week.  Everyone (even Jay) seems excited to see the baby watermelon plumping up and turning into juicy little fruit!  Also, my pumpkin are sprawling and got their very first flower.  

But first, let me talk about my very first plant to produce a vegetable.  My crookneck squash plant.  How big are crookneck squash supposed to grow?  The plant itself is giant, not growing in vines like my other squash, but it's the size of a bush with huge branches that are growing up and out and are producing gigantic squash.  

Yesterday I picked and cooked this monster squash that is much larger than my HEAD!!!!!!!  

 Here are a few little squash that are growing from one of the limbs that sprouted outside of the garden plot.  And this is only a few!  I will bet the farm that there are at least 20 squash in there that will be read to eat within the next few days.

 This plant is over 3 feet tall now.

I couldn't bear to look at my yellow, wilted watermelon and cuke's any longer.  Yesterday I picked them out of this garden bed and pulled up the plastic from under the compost bags.  The problem was pretty obviously that the roots weren't able to break through the bottom of the bags.  The green that you see popping up around this garden is rogue peppermint.  I think that I'll pick it all out and make a bit of tea this afternoon!

While Dancer was staying with us he jumped into my whisky barrel and dug up all of my pepper plants.  I replanted them, but was concerned that they wouldn't make it because their roots were ripped apart by a little Chihuahua.  Luckily, they seem to be doing okay.  

These Cardinal Climbers are probably my favorite (or close to it) thing in my garden.  I just think that they are so beautiful and I can't wait until they reach the top of my pergola.  Does anyone know if I should be repotting them into something larger?

Acorn Squash!  They are around the size of my fist now!

 Okay, so my round zucchini had hit a lull in production for a week or so... which was good because I was running out of things to do with it.  I have both eaten a lot of zucchini and I have also given a lot away.  Something happened when we left for our camping trip.  When we came home we had an insane amount of round zucchini that had somehow quadrupled in size.  Here is a shot of a patch on a vine.  There are three huge round zucchini there.  I mean, I have so much zucchini that I will need to begin chopping and freezing it.  It's just... too much.  It's only 9 am here and I've already made a zucchini quiche and put a pot of pasta sauce on and have zucchini simmering in it for a vegetable lasagna.

And do you know what else I think I'll do, bread and pan fry some thinly sliced zucchini and make a little tray of zucchini Parmesan using daiya mozzarella (which I bought for the lasagna).

I think that all of this cooking means that I'm ready for Fall.  But does fall really happen in Concord, California?  That is yet to be seen.

 The zucchini vines are stretching out to the street.

 I give it 14 days before it hits the pavement.

I've been using my jalapenos here and there.  They are getting pretty big on both plants!  Does anyone have a good recipe for them?  I already have a great popper recipe, anything else?

I am so in love with my corn plants!  You know, I feel the same way about them as I do about the cardinal climbers and my pumpkins and zucchini.  There is a certain pride that is great when you grow something successfully from a seed.  A few of my plants come from seeds and a few come from seedlings (like my tomato, watermelon and peppers).  I am always excited to see growth and production, no matter how I started the plant.  But growing from seeds is sort of an ultimate accomplishment for me.  

My cucumbers have their first flowers!

You are looking at ripe tomatoes for my salad tonight!  There are SO MANY tomatoes in there and they are DELICIOUS.  When I say "so many," I mean, at least 100.  Most of them are still green... but can you imagine all of the delicious things that I can make when they are ripe?  Or, even just giving them to my girls to snack on with a little bit of dip (one of their favorite things).  

 This is another one of my tomato plants.  It was the last plant to get flowers and baby tomatoes, but it's looking good to me!  Does anyone know what fried green tomatoes are?  I think I need to google it!  I am in a cooking mood.

 This beefsteak tomato is the first to start ripening!

I am looking forward to pumpkins!  I have two pumpkin plants here.  This is my first flower but I have high hopes.  I want each of the girls to be able to pick a pumpkin for Halloween and I'd really like to make pumpkin pie from scratch with my own pumpkins for Thanksgiving.  

I've saved the best for last.  Here are two maturing watermelon.  They are the cutest things in my garden and we all love them.  I saw another baby that is smaller than a grape, but I have a lot of flowers and imagine that there will be more to come.  I am SO glad that I planted this.  I considered giving it away or tossing it out.  I didn't have room in the bed in my backyard where I planted the other watermelon (the watermelon that didn't grow and that I plucked out and provided "the true death" to.)  I stuck these in my front yard near a strip of rose bushes.  This plant is now a huge vine and is wrapping around the rose bushes.