Monday, July 26, 2010

Monday Garden Club

It's still Monday right? The Gardener and I were gone all weekend and returned home to a shaggy looking lawn and about 347,562,178 mosquitoes swarming around. We cut the grass right away and I went out and picked enough cucumbers that if I sliced them thinly, I'm pretty sure there would be enough to cover the eyes of every tired looking person in the entire US. That may be a bit of an exaggeration but not by much.
I brought the bucket of goodies in the house, but the cukes and zucchini (from one of 3 pickings since yesterday!) on the porch are still out there. There is NO MORE ROOM IN THE FRIDGE for such giants. I'm secretly hoping someone or something will drag them away overnight.

Too, the girls were gone all weekend to Minnesota with the Gardener's family and didn't arrive home until late last night. Couple that with swimming lessons starting this morning and the local Farmers filling our barn with hay today and blocking our driveway and the garden in the process, it was a busy day.

So no more excuses and on with the gardening!The giant pumpkins are continuing to live up to their name, completely crushing the row of rhubarb down the middle of the garden. This one here is already about twice the size of a standard basketball!

Having never grown okra before, I was a little confused at how the pods grew and assumed that they must have something to do with that beautiful flower, but today as I was poking around at the flower looking for where the pod would emerge, I noticed a few pods already on the plants just below the flowers.Only about 5 were ready so I picked them and tossed them into homemade garden soup for lunch. Delicious! I grew the red okra from seed planted directly into the garden, as I read on the seed packet that they only take 58 days to mature. Everyone I had to talked to who has grown them in the past had bought the started plants from a garden center, but I'm telling you, save your money and buy a seed packet!
I had to toss a few of the broccoli florets that started to flower when we were gone over the weekend but the rest is growing great.

Now for all you gardeners out there who wish to participate, either leave a comment on what's growing in your yard, or post a Monday Garden Club update on your blog. Don't forget to drop your link in the comments and I'll add it to this post.

6 comments:

Shady Lady said...

You do have the most amazing garden. I am really looking forward to next year. Ours won't rival yours, but it's going to be awesome.

Riot Kitty said...

Yes, it's still Monday - this day has seemed to go on FOREVER.

So is it me, or are tomatoes the rabbits of the plant world? I have some plants growing on our porch (my version of the urban garden) and I swear, the tomatoes are trying to take over the world.

sheila said...

I was wondering what that long red thing was! Nice! Your pumpkin is looking great too!

Sounds like you have a lot of work a head with all that hay! Yikes!

Ashley said...

I've always wondered what you do with okra! I think I tried growing it last year without success. And that pumpkin is awesome! Ours didn't do too well this year. But zucchini...zucchini I can grow. And cucumbers. :)

rachel... said...

Oh, I wish I could stop by and take some of that zuchini off of your hands for you. And I never would have guessed that that's what okra looked like. I always thought it was some kind of lettucy-type thing. Huh.

All your hard work is paying off! You should have the girls set up a little produce stand and sell what you can't eat.

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

You garden is looking great. Our pumpkin plant hasn't started to make any pumpkins yet. I hope it does.