Garden Update

I'm preparing for my winter garden.  I'm considering growing potatoes, kale, spinach, cauliflower, radishes and carrots.  I'm not sure if I've missed the window for planting some of these.

I have one totally empty garden bed.  It used to be the home for my zucchini, round zucchini, yellow straight neck squash, California poppies, garlic and cucumbers.  The garden bed that used to have tomatoes, crookneck squash and jalapeño peppers, just has tomatoes now.  By the time I pulled my squash plants, I never wanted to see another zucchini for as long as I lived.  I have a lot frozen for the winter, so I'm sure that at some point in March I'll add it to a pot of tomato sauce.

Interestingly, just as I am preparing for my winter garden, my watermelon plant began going crazy.  It has only produced two fruit.  The first watermelon I picked way too soon.  I almost cried when we cut it open and it wasn't even pink inside.  The second watermelon is still on the vine, as I am afraid to pick it.  Now, all of the sudden, MONTHS after planting the watermelon... little babies are sprouting up all over the vine.  I hope that they survive.  I think that we'll need three more months without frost to make it happen.

My tomato plants are pretty sorry looking.  The cages that I bought them have basically collapses under the weight of the plants and the steaks do absolutely no good.  They don't seem too bothered by this, as they are more prolific than I ever could have imaged.  Each day I go outside an pick huge amounts of tomatoes.  I've been freezing the big tomatoes for winter sauce and eating A LOT of cherry tomatoes in my salads.  Let's just say that I have no deficit of vitamin C or A or  K, Potassium or Fiber.

Just today I picked this entire bowl.

I had these incredibly pathetic little cucumber plants in one of my beds.  They were never supposed to be there.  When I realized that the bed was going to be so crowded, I plucked the seeds out.  I guess that I missed a few seeds because these cucumber plants began sprouting up through the soil.  They were survivors, defying the odds, so I couldn't pluck them at that point.  They were always really pathetic looking, but I wondered if after I replenished some nutrients and pulled my squash plants they'd flourish.  NO. Not so much.  Here are all that they ever produced.  They are bizarre little pickle looking things.  I am not sure what to do with them.

Out in my backyard, my cardinal climbers continue to be my favorite thing.  They have entirely climbed up my pergola and are moving onto the roof of it now.  It's really difficult to get a good picture of this, but it has little red flowers that open in the morning and I like it because it seems to have a mind of its' own.  I have tried to direct it several times, but to no avail.  

My peppers produced a really nice, big batch of yellow and green bell peppers and I thought that I'd pluck them out and use my whisky barrel for something else.  But I can't bring myself to do it because these pepper plants just keep on giving.  They are doing so well and have another batch of peppers on them that looks pretty fantastic.

Sadly, my pumpkin vine only grew one pumpkin.  I had two vines.  One has died and the other looks pretty good.  Unfortunately the one that died is the same one that is housing my one and only pumpkin.  I think that I'm going to pick it later today, decorate it and proudly display it on my kitchen table.