My...

... what big cukes you have!

This is what happens when you're gardening and you miss one.

Got Worms?

We do.

Not in us (that we know of), and not our dogs, thank goodness (though we've been down that road before)... but in the garden.

Not good, friendly worms either. These worms are hungry and they like my veggies. I've been finding little holes in a few of my green beans.

Bad worm. No cookie!

Today I found a large hole in a pepper. So I picked it (just one - not a peck - and I did not pickle it) and cracked it open. This is what I found.



Anyone know what it is (other than in biiiig trouble)?

First Fruits

I walked out to the garden this evening to photograph the alien cucumber babies, and I found a gorgeous zucchini that was perfectly ready to be harvested. So harvest it I did. I also found several green beans that needed to be picked, so they joined their courgette-y friend in a nice veggie wash bath and towel dry.




Ahhh. Isn't it beautiful? I've never seen such a pretty little green thing!

Y'all... Y'ALL... you just have NO idea how proud I am of this little zucchini. I've never grown anything that was edible other than a few little herbs a few years ago, and those didn't last long. But this zucchini is perrrrrfect, and he already has two little friends growing and waiting to join him in my belly.




I must admit that I didn't do a lot of the work. Heck, ok, so my dad did most of the work. But I do weed and water and feed, so I get some of the credit, no? These green beans aren't really the first of that fruit. My dad took some home last weekend. Puuuuurdy little green beans. Dustin says their scent takes him "waaaay back" to when he snapped beans with his grandma. He thinks they smell like apricots. I think he's a little off his rocker, but hey, they do smell sweet and sort of intoxicating so call 'em what you will.

Yes, Jessica, I did take photos of the little baby alien cucumbers just for you! I braved the wind and the june bugs (my freaking heck they're horrible right now!) and the big prickly leaves of the huge zucchini plant poking me in the rear to capture the strangeness of these things. They're weird but cute in their own way. The first one is bigger, only at about 1" long, though the photo makes it look huge. The second one is teeeeeny tiny. Bizarre little creature.




It's so amazing to me to watch plants grow and produce fruit. It kind of blows my mind. But what also blows my mind is seeing that little furry bumpy alien thing and realizing that sometime long long ago and far far away, some person was poking around outside and saw this creature and exclaimed, "hmmm... this is gonna taste gooood! Henryyyyy! Chop up some of that there lettuce... Imagonna make some salad fer dinner!"

I hope she at least waited until it went bald.

We have babies!

Baby plants, that is. Eeeety bitty seedlings!

I'm always amazed when I watch plants grow from seeds. It's such a cool process! I mean, that little tiny seed turns into a nice, fruiting plant. How in the world do people fail to believe in a Creator?


Our tomatoes are growing nicely:


We have little squash plants!


A few little cucumber seedlings:


And look at all these future green beans!


I'm told by my gardening expert (aka "dad") that we will have to get rid of some of these, probably. But ooh, aren't they super cute?

In other news, I seem to have developed a strange aversion to cheese. This is not a good thing since cheese is a good source of calories, fat, and protein for me. I usually LOVE cheese and eat it every day. But eeeewe, it grosses me out lately. I think my body is telling me to become a vegan... and that just makes me want to cry!

How does your garden grow?

It will grow well, I hope! However, we won't know yet for at least a few weeks. We my dad dug up an 8'x15' patch of the yard, tilled it, and composted it on Saturday. On Sunday, we planted some plants and seeds.




My first REAL veggie garden! We have tomato plants, red bell pepper plants, and we planted cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, and green bean seeds. It's a small garden because, well, I do not have a green thumb. It's not the hot Texas heat I'm worried about here... hopefully this garden will survive me.

We plan to put something up around it to keep the dogs out. Right now I have to watch them every time they go out there. I'd like to put up some trellis, but if it's too expensive we'll just be all hillbilly and go for the chicken wire. ;o)

See? Doesn't she look like a tuh-mater dog to you? She looks like a 'mater dog to me.


How about you? Are you planting a garden this year?