Here is the garden as it is today. The Cosmos are all self seeded from last year, and transplanted into rows. The Rocky Mountain Spinach is quite easy to spot with it's burgundy leaves this is the first time I have planted it, but I will get seed from it this fall ( I hope) and plant it again next year. The leaf lettus is putting out really well. Just now I am using the lettus I'm thinning out for salads. There are lots of Tomatoes in the Green house, the 2 Cobra tomatoe plants are producing lots and we have had 5 ripe tomatoes so far, with another just about ripe. The tumbler tomatoes 2 plants, are just about finished. We have eaten tumbler tomatoes for quite a while now and are getting a soup bowl of tomatoes a day. Also in the green house are 3 Heritage Brandy Wine, and 2 sets of 3 tomatoes that I don't know what they are. They are tomatoes Tina brought over and she had mixed them up and couldn't remember what they were. The do look like the are indeterminate and are growing quite rapidly now. All 6 are in bloom. Also in the green house 4 tiny tims in baskets,and they are in bloom, 1 already has 2 tomatoes setting they sould be ready to take over when the tumblers are finnished. Then I have 4 green pepper plants blooming and 4 small hot pepper plants that have already set fruits.
The garden is producing enough that I am only buying my potatoes, large onions and mushrooms and fruit from the stores now. Otherwise it is the garden and what ever is ready. A couple of days ago we had the first picking of Chard.
A couple of disappointments so far this year in the garden. The radishes were wormy when I pulled them and so that was the end of the radishes. The regular spinach came up a couple of inches and went to seed! So that is a right off. But there is always next year.
If you have some ideas for the radishes please tell me, and I could put in a few more, otherwise I think I'm wasting my time.

July 11, 2009

What a nice surprise we had yesterday. Our good friend Glen from Rolla stopped by and stayed to visit till this morning! It was such a treat to see him and get all the news from our old home town. Glen helped us move down here 7 years ago. I have been back twice and Glen has been down twice, last time with his wife and 3 daughters, Ken got to see them, but I was away at the time to my Daughter's wedding. So missed their visit.

As luck would have it we had invited Jack to dinner and had bought some steaks ( a rare occurrence for us), I quickly went in the freezer and found a couple more small steaks and thawed them for supper Friday night. sliced potatoes and onions with salt, pepper and butter on foil made into packets and cooked with the steaks in the BBQ and a salad from the garden made our supper easy, and we enjoyed visiting on the deck as our supper cooked.
The salad was made with lettus from the garden, a few leaves of the Rocky mountain spinach, some green onions chopped up with the help of scissors, and tumbler tomatoes.
This past week we had some much needed rain, and now we are again having 30 degree C. weather in the daytime. However nights are still cool around 9C.
The garden has finally started to grow, and tomorrow I want to rototill between the rows, I hope it will be dry enough to do. The peas are flowering and I noticed a few pods forming. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, soon to be eating fresh green peas, put in new potatoes mashed. I love the peas added after the potatoes are mashed. Just raw peas, it's a treat we look forward to each year, sometimes made even nicer with some cheese mixed in with the mashed potatoes before the peas are added. Heaven in 1 simple dish.
Oh, and we have a new to us Jeep truck 4x4. Ken has been working on it for the past week, and has a little body work to do to it, and then it will be ready for painting. It will be white, with black on the bottom of the truck and the trim. Right now it is red. We have taken the canopy off the back for the summer, and Ken made side rails for it. This means we can haul more wood home in it, and also when we go in the bush Zoey can ride in the back and be safe. I must remember to take some pictures of the truck before it is painted, for before and after shots.