In the Garden Today

It's no secret that I love gardening and think the world should take it up as its next great move toward sustainabilty. I recognize that not everyone has the means to do it, though, and I'm OK with that. This is why I share my garden so often on my blog.

I check my garden daily, usually twice, to water, weed and just look at it. I'm never less than amazed at how things grow and get a real thrill from growing things from seed. Plants are good, especially in colder climates where it may be harder to start from seed, but I like watching the first seed leaves pop out and enjoy witnessing the whole plant mature from the first pod to the last fruit on our plates. That goes for flowers, too - food for the bees. It makes our harvest a little later than others, but I think it's worth it.

Here's what I photographed this morning:

Cantaloupe flower.

Zucchini flower.

Almost Gone

I don't know where everyone else lives, but here in the Lehigh Valley, summer is most definitely winding down. The nights are cooler, the days more temperate, and the green is beginning to fade.

My harvest is nearly over. I have very few small tomatoes left, no cucumbers and the last zucchini was picked yesterday. There are a very small patches of green beans, but no more flowers to indicate that more are on the way.

My neighbor (who shall remain nameless) brought me a bag filled with pilfered produce. She isn't really a criminal - in fact, she was more of a savior in this instance. There is a nearby church with a rather large garden that seems to be forgotten year after year. The cabbage that grows there is always harvested, but the tomatoes and peppers are left to over ripen and wind up as projectiles for small boy-hands in the neighborhood.

This time the tomatoes and peppers were rescued and sent to a loving (and hungry) home. I'm quite glad that they were orphaned; we're happy to have them for dinner.