Mmmm, veggies

Vegetables grow at an alarming rate - slightly over a week has passed since the previous vegetable related post and it really is a jungle out there now.  It's really amazing what a handful of seeds will turn into.

WOAH

These pictures were taken yesterday...
I'm pretty sure the pumpkins are even bigger today.

Peppers & tomato

Onions, lima beans, green beans, purple beans

Black beans, yellow beans, lettuce, more onions

  

Welcome to the Jungle

Until now the only pictures of the 2012 veggie garden have been really lacking.  Mostly because it was so damn weedy it was hard to see where the real plants were.  Shawn and I were fortunate to have an assistant weeder/rock picker yesterday (who will be rewarded with lots of veggies come harvest time) and things are looking quite marvelous - see for yourself.

Hooray for veggies!

Sweet cherry peppers

Itty bitty sweet cherry peppers

Big guy jalapeno
Supposed to get up to 5"

Peperonici
*These are grown from seeds that I saved from last year's crop!

The seeds I saved for the sweet peppers did not germinate.
So, I bought some seeds and these guys are a bit behind.

Big Mama tomato!

Lima beans

Green beans

Purple beans
*Also grown from seeds saved from last year's crop

Black beans

Yellow beans

Mmm, lettuce

Onions
These are planted around the perimeter of the garden:
Rumor has it bunnies don't like them.

The 2 remaining eggplants

The rogue tomatoes!  I think/hope they are summer salsa - nice, meaty tomato.
If not, they are the supersteak hybrid.  Magic tomatoes that were growing amongst the onions.  Must have been from a tomato that fell on the ground last year & rotted.

Horseradish

Bucket-o-taters

Update: in 5 photos.

We are literally going to have 100s of peppers.
I counted the largest ones and came up with 80.
That's not including the blooms & mini-peps.

Shawn and I measured the longest vine...  15' long!

One of the many pumpkins on the biiig vine.

I still can't believe I grew these things from a seed.

The last of the lilies to bloom.

Let the harvest begin!

Where to begin?  June came and went, we took a vacation, summer is here, and my crazy lady bathtub veggie growing is starting to pay off.  It was really startling seeing the garden after being away for over a week.  We actually harvested two cucumbers immediately upon our return, and two more the next day.  It's amazing to me that I started everything (with the exception of the two purple cabbages) from a seed - in the bathtub!

Roxxy likes to help weed the garden :-)

Yep, still the same three little plants.
Audrey III is in the middle -  now the smallest plant of the 3.

The pepper field - full of blooms and mini-peps!

Did I mention the tomatoes are nearly as tall as me?

The cucumbers were just the beginning...  Lettuce, radishes, green beans, onions, and peppers have all been harvested and we are ready for more!  It was a bit disappointing to learn that the purple beans turn green when cooked, but they were still delicious.  If the white pepper looks tiny, it is.  I "accidentally" pulled it off the plant while investigating it.  What can I say except it was tasty.  

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well, in the course of the last week we've seen the rise and fall of Weinergate, Sarah Palin rewrote history, and Lulzsec had fun with numerous sites including good old Sony...  Meanwhile, I'm still trying to grow vegetables.  Not nearly as thrilling as a meat tweet BUT it certainly has its rewards.  When looking back at the last post I am stunned to see how much the garden has grown - see for yourself:

Did I happen to mention that the pumpkins also went nuts?  They have all officially spilled over the edge of the mini patch.  What's interesting to me is the plants on either side of Audrey III are seeds from the same pumpkin but they are growing very differently.  As you can see one is super long but the other one is rather bushy - only time will tell I suppose.

More exciting news: LILIES HAVE BLOOMED!  There's 8 or so currently open and more look ready to burst.  They're mostly a surprise to me since we bought them on the cheap last year ($1.65 each I think) - after they had bloomed.  Wasn't sure what colors I'd be seeing this year, but so far it's mostly white with one yellow.  I won't recognize the yard when we come back from vacation!

Photos Galore

We seem to be out of the mega rain we've had for the last few weeks, ending in a big way with confirmed tornadoes in our area.  The neighbors will be finding a new place to live since a tree fell directly in their living room - thankfully everyone (including the cats & dog) is OK.  We were very fortunate, no damage to any of our stuff.  Shawn had made tomato cages the night before the mega-storm hit on Thursday so we did not have a single veggie casualty.  The plants have really enjoyed all of the rain and have flourished.  It's amazing to me to see how much the garden has grown since my last post - we even have some micro cucumbers out there!

The mini pumpkin patch.  Audrey III is in the center.

The left half of the garden:
Onions, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, and some lettuce.

The right side:
Pepper field (19 plants, 4 varieties), cucumbers, cabbage, and beans.

Cucumber flower

One of many micro cukes

The herbs:
Cilantro, basil, dill, parsley, chives, and catnip.

Look, ma, I'm gardening!

We are no longer dirt farmers!  The patch out back looked more like a garden as soon as Shawn put the fence up.  Saturday I evicted the plants from their cardboard homes and put them in the garden - suddenly the tub-o-plants doesn't seem so crazy!

6/7 cukes are adjusting to life outside.
One is looking EXTREMELY sad (not pictured).

The onions have been outside for several weeks - doing quite well.

Supersteak hybrids & summer salsa - nom nom.

3/4 of the pepper "field"

The Herbs