Found Them!

The good news? These were IN the coop. The bad news? They were nowhere near the nest boxes. When chickens first start to lay, the eggs are small, and are called “pullet” eggs.

Rainbow carrots. The secret to carrot germination? Keep a piece of burlap or other cloth over the bed and water twice a day through the cloth until the seeds germinate. The purple carrots taste pretty much the same as the orange ones.

Summer may officially begin (in August!). I finally have ripe tomatoes, and have been eating pasta with a barely cooked tomato sauce for several nights in a row.

My cucumbers have taken FOREVER to grow. This is the first pickling cuc, almost ready to harvest.

Baby cantaloupe. This was a last-minute addition when the soy beans didn’t germinate worth a hoot. Not sure if they will make it or not, but sure are fun to see.

Yellow squash, complete with sleeping insect in the blossom.

I LOVE growing onions, even though they are inexpensive in the store and one of the least contaminated conventionally grown vegetables. They just take almost no work, and literally push themselves out of the ground when they are ready. What’s not to love? Recently saw a recipe for spicy red onion (think caramelized) jam that I have to try!

Decorative small gourds. I also planted luffa and bird house gourds, which I don’t think are going to make it before the frost. Fingers crossed. But these guys are ready to take over the garden.

Jalapenos always do pretty well for me. Too many at once and they get dried if they are ripe or pickled if they are green.

I get almost as giddy about bell peppers as I do about tomatoes. Have you priced organic red bell peppers in the store? Holy cow are they spendy. That is because they are HARD to grow well, especially if you aren’t living where it is warm at night for months on end. So this sight makes me really happy. Too many at once? Roast on the grill and then freeze for later use.

Delicata winter squash, one of my favorites. Perfect for one or two people. They have been quite slow, and I regularly remind them that they better hurry the bleep up. But they are ahead of the butternut, which hasn’t even bloomed yet!

Pie pumpkins. Surprisingly not actually the best squash for pumpkin pie, but I love them anyway. Only had one seed germinate, but the plant has 4 pumpkins on it.

Acorn Squash. Been a while since I’ve grown this one.

Buttercup, one of my all time favorites for flavor.

The spaghetti squash have done well. I’m not personally a fan, so these are for sale rather than for me. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they love them. I feel the same way about squash and tomato sauce as I do about rice and tomato sauce. Yuck.

The sunflowers have been so gorgeous that I can’t bring myself to cut them down and sell them. I’ll need to plant a LOT more of them next year. This was the first red one to bloom.

Vegetable, or alien invasion? (photo grabbed from internet)