After a quick trip to the A. C. Moore craft store for some drawstring tulle bags, tomato bagging has commenced.  These are the 5 x 6/5" bags.  Not too big, not too small.  They have printable coupons, so I got these at 40% off.  So $3 for 18 bags.  I didn't think of it at the time, but the store also had a large size bag.  I was thinking those might be perfect to protect my grapes from the birds.  Last year the birds ate every last grape in the course of one night.  Not this year!

Today's harvest. Lucky Cross, Stupice (one), and a few Sun Gold tomatoes. Caroline raspberries. Oregon Sugar Pod peas that I forgot were out there. They have full-sized peas in the pods since they were picked passed their prime. I thought the peas would be hard a lack sweetness since they grew so large. The pods were alright, but the peas inside were quite delicious. I have to remember just to plant shelling peas in the future. We just seem to enjoy them more. Oh, and the brown clumps in the bowl are dried zinnia heads. I am saving some of the seed from my Oklahoma red for next season. These are blooming machines with NO mildew. Tropical Milkweed is again releasing seeds. I saved a few for next season.
Graham Thomas rose. It's been a bad year for roses so far. Only a few blooms in the beginning of the season. Then long periods of drought hit. Then flooding rains. Now that the weather has moderated, all the roses are putting out new buds and flowers are starting to finally starting to open.
Perhaps a week or so before Irene's rains hit, I cut back my blackberries to about 4 feet tall so the laterals would put on more growth. I tossed the prunings into a heap and went inside. An hour or so later I thought, "what a waste". I went out and cut the branches into 8 inch sections. Removed the lower sets of leaves, and tossed them into this container full of used potato soil....from my potato containers. It's been a few weeks and it looks like some of them are hanging on despite flooding rains and neglect. Others, on the left, haven't faired so well.
I had some left over green coated tension wire, so I finally gave my Major Wheeler honeysuckle a place to climb. It was rambling through my azaleas and on the ground. I really want it to travel up along my light post. The green color is barely noticeable from a short distance, so I think the honeysuckle will look quite nice blooming there next season.
Happy Gardening!

Veggies in the Garden

Red Zeppelin and Copra onions. About 75% of the plants were harvested yesterday. They were a lot smaller than last season, but that's mostly my fault. Lack of fertilization and regular watering stunted them. Who knew?
Salad Bush cucumbers, or as my three-year old calls them, pickles.
The Cherokee Green blossoms that I bagged are looking picture perfect so far. I forgot to remove the bags before my vacation last week, so they grew enough where the clothespin released the bag for them. This was my absolute favorite tomato in 2009! Delicious!
Stupice tomatoes are coming along nicely. I've never grown or tasted this variety before, so I'm anxiously awaiting their ripening.My daughters little hands make our first two Sun Gold tomatoes look huge! They barely survived long enough for me to snap a picture. That girl loves tomatoes. Turns out she also loves blackberries. The first few that were ripe didn't make it two steps before she gulped them as well.
Tomatoes in the back from left to right: Four Sun Golds, Lucky Cross, Cherokee Green, and Stupice. My Spirit pumpkin taking up most of the other space. Salad Bush cucumbers weaving around in the front left. Sweet basil blooming in the front. There are still some onions planted on the front right.
These hot days are rough on the Spirit pumpkin. Looks pretty pathetic, huh? Once the sun goes down, it springs back to life. A good shower with the hose perks it up as well.As with every season, I'm having my ups and downs. Overall, I am pleased. I hope you are pleased with your gardens as well. There is one thing that I have learned over the years that make each year more and more enjoyable. It is more rewarding to grow things that I will enjoy eating. Why did I want to grow broccoli? I wouldn't eat enough to justify the space. I need to be in a really strange mood to WANT to eat broccoli. It would end up being nothing more than a large blooming flower here. Yet I have a hard time resisting the urge to grow something after reading about how great they are in seed catalogs. Self-control Kim. Self-control. Now this doesn't mean that I will no longer experiment with different things and different varieties. I just know that about 90% of my annual flower and veggie plantings need to be something that has been successful in the past. The other 10% keeps me learning and satiates my need to experiment with new things. It's what makes gardening fun for me. What makes it fun for you?
I hope your gardens are full of successes this season! Happy gardening!

The last of the peas have been harvested. Some were dry and will be saved for seed. The rest were eaten or added to the worm composter. All the vines were composted.

Free Heirloom Tomato Seeds

At the beginning of the year I found a site called WinterSown.org. If you are interested in starting plants from seeds, whether to save money or try varieties not offered locally, WinterSown is a great site to reference. In addition to all of the free information and downloadable brochures they do offer free seeds for a SASE. You have to print out their address page and fill in your wish list. In return they do ask that you save seeds in the future and mail them in so the free seed offers may continue for others. It's not required, but for the amount of seed they give you, it is worth the small cost of postage to mail them seeds from your harvest. Plus you'll feel good that you're helping out others, so I highly recommend checking out this site.