Tomatoes out the wazoo! Plus - More updates

This garden experiment has taught me some things. The biggest surprises have come with my squash plants. I have a million of them. They've all flowered. But some just haven't produced fruit, like my zucchini plant and my yellow summer squash plant. The summer squash did have several small fruits on them, which shriveled up and died. Hm. The plant next to it is thriving. Same soil, same sun. I'll have to try again next year because I think both of those varieties are kaput for me. I have a couple other squash plants that are producing fruits. The problem? I don't know what kind they are! I bought little plastic plant markers and wrote the types in Sharpie on them. The rain washed the Sharpie off somehow. So now they are mixed up and I don't know what is where. I'm pretty sure this is a butternut squash, but isn't it not supposed to come til Fall?

Maybe an acorn squash?

I guess we'll have to see as they grow!

Peppers are growing huge still and starting to get some color. Haven't eaten any yet.

Brussels sprouts are starting to come through.

And tomatoes.. TOMATOES! I have a million of them. 4 varieties- though they also got mixed up and I have to wait for them to ripen to know which is which. The cherry tomatoes are going crazy - there must be 100 fruits on there. I've already harvested about 25.

Several larger varieties too.

These will come in handy because I'm entering a salsa making competition in a couple weeks. I am practicing my recipes this week and will post them after the contest, lest someone actually looks at this and steals them! Ha! Let's just say they aren't the typical salsa.

As for my rabbit problem, problem solved! For my birthday, Ben & his dad fenced in the garden area for me. It doesn't seem right typing that because it was an ordeal that took them an entire day (or more). Ben's dad bought some fencing at a garage sale. He made the posts himself and also made this awesome gate himself!

Did I mention that the guys did this on one of the hottest days of the year? I don't know how they stood being outside from about 7:30-5:30. They were soaked with sweat and quite tired after that! I'm a lucky gal to have such nice people in my life!

Speaking of that, part of the reason I haven't blogged at all this month is that Ben & I got engaged on July 2! I'm still pinching myself when I think about what a wonderful guy my future hubby is and how lucky it is that our fates collided. We decided that we wanted to get married in the fall, and there is no way I wanted to wait until Fall 2011, so we are getting married on November 6- which happens to be the day that I posted the fateful ad that brought us together 2 years ago. I've been busy planning away. It will be a crazy couple months, but the outcome is worth it!!

The garden groweth!

The garden is doing GREAT right now. The only problem I've been having is with my broccoli and cauliflower getting eaten by bunnies, though I still have several broccoli crowns growing.

 

No brussels sprouts yet, but the plants are doing great and growing like mad. I'm just waiting for the little sprouts to start- the time is near!

The squash plants are all growing a lot too. I do have some growing already, which are a couple inches long, though most are just vining like crazy now. I expect a lot more soon.

While I don't eat pickles, I accidentally ended up with some pickling cucumbers one day, so planted them with the intention of making pickles for Ben & my sister and whoever else wants some. There are massive amounts of tiny cukes growing right now. I think I'll end up with a huge harvest of them. It's hard to see in the picture but they look really small and spiny.

 

The tomato plants are also growing at a rapid rate. You can really smell them when you are in the garden. I have 4 varieties of tomatoes growing and two varieties have small fruit on them, while the others are blooming now. See the tiny green tomatoes? Even though I don't like tomatoes, I plan on trying them from my garden.

Today I was surprised to see lots of small peppers growing. I hadn't noticed them before. This makes me happy!! I can't wait!!