Garden Update

This is what I got off last night! You can see all the tomatoes in the back ground. This is about half of what I have gotten off. I have made several batches of salsa now. I made one batch last night with the tomatoes in the platter, all the onions I pulled up, serrano chiles from my first year garden that were frozen in the freezer.

Last night after Dunning went to sleep, I went oustide to work in the garden. I just intended to spray my squash plants down with a little soap and baking soda mixture to neutralize the powdery mildew that seems to be attacking them. I ended up out there for a good hour! I trimmed the tomatoes, which also have a fungus, because of all the rain we got at the beginning of the summer, picked green beans, tomatoes, onions, a few bell peppers and cleaned up the squash. The tomato plants now look really bare because I had to trim off most of the leaves in hopes of getting rid of the fungus and encouraging new growth. I accidentally cut off a good branch of romas that haven't ripened yet. I was so mad! I have more tomatoes and green beans than I know what to do with!! I thought the squash plants were done for, but they are amazingly resillent and have started to grow new leaves so I buried the stems in the dirt so they will put down new roots. As the stems grow out almost like a vine, they put down roots to stabilize the plant and get nutrients from the soil. I even have a few more little squashies that are starting to grow! God's design is amazing! I also have more green beans than the jolly green giant. They grow so rapidly that not even the japanese beetles are putting a dent in them. Of course it's so hot that I think most of the beetles just gave up and went back to Japan. I don't use any pesticides since I don't think the garden is big enough to really warrant it and I'd just rather not since I am using some of the veggies for D's baby food. The bell peppers are slower and just now starting to produce. I got three small peppers off. I have four plants right now, but two of them look like they need some help. Tonight I will water and fertilize. I'm also going to plant my fall crop of peas, snap peas, beets, lettuce and spinach. It's my first fall crop. I wanted to do pumpkins too, but you almost need a whole garden just for pumpkins because they are vines. I would love to have more land and do more! Maybe some day! Some day we may all have to do that because of grocery prices!!