Another Peach Pie...                                  

Getting down to the last of the fresh peaches from the tree in our yard.  I made another peach pie.  So yummy!

Cantaloupe are getting ripe                

Along with all the other things grown in the garden, one of the stars of the garden are the melons.  In this case, cantaloupe.  I don't know about you, but the sweet aroma and flavor of a fresh melon is one of the real pleasures of summer!  So, it was really a thrill to go out to the garden and find one that was ready to slip off the vine.  

Here it is... before we ate it!

The way to tell if cantaloupe are ready... other than looking at them...  is if they "slip" readily off the vine.  What that means is that as the cantaloupe ripens, the stem gradually lets go of the fruit, until... when you pick the fruit up and give a little twist, it just easily separates from the vine. 

Pineapple Tomatillos!!!                           

Tomatillos are ready.  I planted three varieties of tomatillos... traditional green Tomatillos, Purple tomatillos and Pineapple tomatillos.  I had never grown Pineapple tomatillos or Purple tomatillos.  The green tomatillos and Purple tomatillos are getting pretty large... filling the husks.  The pineapple tomatillos just were not getting big... I kept thinking they were not developing.... finally the husks were  turning papery and  they started falling off the plants.

Here is what they look like.

I picked quite a few... they practically fell off the plant into my hand.

Peeling back the papery husk...

Her's what they look like.  They are slightly sweet and they do have a flavor reminiscent of pineapple!

Peaches!!!                      

We do have a peach tree in our front yard.  Last summer it really didn't do too much.  I thought perhaps it needed pruning... it is at least 30 feet tall!  We never got around to pruning it and we haven't really paid much attention to it.  

Then I thought it must be time to mow the lawn and noticed some fallen peaches... looked up and saw some really nice peaches way up high!  Using the 10 foot ladder and one of my butterfly nets with a four foot handle, 4 dozen absolutely picture perfect peaches were harvested!  We are already enjoying them and have visions of peach pie and peach jam!

Cucumbers, Broccoli and Tomatoes

The cucumber crop is coming in as are the tomatoes!  A nice bunch of broccoli rounds out the harvest!

The Diva Cucumbers are a 2002 AAS winner (All-America Selections) and they are very tasty.  Nice cucumber flavor and not at all bitter.  It is an interesting variety.  Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine says that the Diva produces all female flowers... and it does not require pollination.  It also says that the leaves are less bitter, so it is less attractive to cucumber beetles!  That is a good characteristic, in my opinion.  

All-America Selections Winners are new garden varieties of flowers vegetables and plants that have been tested and proven to be superior for home gardens. 

Harvested:

2 pounds broccoli

4 cucumbers

2 pounds tomatoes

Zucchetta Rampicante is ready!            

Also known as 'Tromboncino' squash, a Washington State University publication refers to it as the Garden Gorilla of Italy.  Once you have grown this, you know why.  This squash is amazing!  It grows vigorously and rampantly, with 10-foot long vines climbing all over the place.  The squash do well trellised and that is why I installed that fence panel as a trellis.  This is no weakling squash.  It is strong and it is prolific.  I grew it in Idaho... trained it up strings on a redwood privacy fence in the back yard.  It is very tasty.  The seeds are all in the bulbous end.  And, no... it is not a gourd!

It was 95 degrees yesterday and is 88 degrees today.  It was so hot and humid, all we could think of was where to hang out to keep cool!  I should have picked the squash yesterday... but I didn't.  Here is a picture of all the squash I picked today!  

It was time to hill up the potatoes again.  I added another six inches of soil.  

Harvested today:  

25 pounds of squash!  Yikes!!!

If you want to read more about Zucchetta Rampicante, here is the link to the Washington State University horticultural bulletin. 

http://agsyst.wsu.edu/zucchetta.html

Blueberries! And More Squash.........

There was one small blueberry bush in the backyard when we moved in.  It did not produce any fruit last summer.  However, we planted five brand new blueberry bushes last summer... 3 different horticultural varieties and apparently that is what the older bush needed... some pollination from another variety!  Because this year it has a few blueberries... Yum!

Lots more squash coming on.  The squash varieties are left to right: Ronde deNice (zucchini type) , Horn of Plenty (yellow crookneck) and Bennings Green Tint (pattypan).


Six pounds of squash
1 scant cup of blueberries