ByeBye Cukes

The cucumbers came up, yall. I couldn't handle it any more! Every time I went outside this is when my "harvest" looked like:

A few beans.

A piece of okra or two.

A majillion cucumbers.

They are everywhere!!

Before Fourth of July, I decided to process this load.  We were house sitting and so I decided to take advantage of the HUGE kitchen.

After canning 20 jars of garlic, dill, and bread'n'butter pickles I was done.

 

So after a few days, when we were back home and settled in, I had at 'em.

(Yes, that's a horrible picture of me from behind wearing my pajama boxers in the middle of the day. No one, except, now, the entire world, can see me.)

What the...What is THAT!!? I didn't plant pumpkins...

 Lab results confirm that it is, indeed, a cucumber.

Including the baby cukes, I probably got 50 total. ::sigh::

Look how happy the rest of my garden is!

Progression

It's gettin' scary. Yesterday, I picked one the size of a small eggplant.

How does your garden grow?

Things are chugging right along with the garden! Everything is HUGE! In addition to keeping it well watered, I've added some of our compost and the chickens will soon be eating our pests! Things are looking up!

Make that "Things are looking BIGGER".

I got kind of busy and didn't pick much for a day or two. When I finally got around to it, one evening, I found some of the biggest pieces of produce yet! Unfortunately my okra got too big, but look at that cucumber! It's like a movie pickle! (a pickle you get at the movies. not a movie star pickle. ;) )

 I wish my bush beans grew faster. They are very sporadic and hard to find so I can't really use them as a side dish yet, and I can't can any of them. Luckily I discovered that Coen will eat them straight out of the garden raw. Suits me!

And here you have my Siamese twin summer squash!

Today to had to do a little "doctoring". My cantaloupes are trellised and producing!! My biggest, right now, is about the size of a peach!

 Because they are trellised I need something to support the melons so they won't break the vine with weight. I read about making a "hosiery sling" so I picked up the cheapest hose from Target I could find. Actually, these cute ones were clearance out for five cents more than the cheapest tan hose.

Ok, so you just cut a strip of hosiery, open the leg and voila!

Cantaloupe Hammock!!

Garden Colors

Every morning, while it's still somewhat cool, Coen and I spend about an hour outside in the yard. We play on the tractor, chase the dog, swing in the hammock, splash in the water, but mostly I tend to little projects in the yard. It's my favorite time of the day. Whether it's turning the compost, weeding, picking or watering, something is always needing to be done. Right now everything is starting to produce. (Except for my tomatoes. Gggrrr.) It's all so pretty, especially my Swiss chard called "Bright Lights". It's beautiful!

 The strawberries never make it inside. :)

Progress...

Slowly but surely, with a LOT of sweat and hard work, the yard is turning into a place I like to be. Four wheelbarrows later the cactus is G.O.N.E. . Unfortunately my bush beans didn't make it. Something...strange....happened to them, so we're on round two. I'll probably pull them up to make room for something else come summer. We'll see. Okra is doing good though! ::cheesy smile::

 The lettuce has a mind of it's own and is growing super fast. I think I'll have to do some thinning.

And I had one strawberry.

Emphasis on the word had.

Outdoor Work

 The past few weeks Daniel and I have been SUPER busy working outside and getting the yard, flower beds, window boxes and garden ready for spring and summer. We've re-stacked the wood pile, landscaped the sides and front of the barn, (no reason to go in the back), made our garbage can compost bin,  finally finished the bricks around the flower beds, added gutters for growing greens , added a 64 sq. foot above ground garden and I am currently in the middle of pulling up a GIGANTIC cactus. Whew!
 It's been a lot of hard work but I can't wait to see how everything will turn out. It's been especially important to make sure our yard is safe and comfortable because Coen will be spending lots of time outdoors this year. :)
 The ground out here is mostly clay, rock, rock and more rock. I think all of the effort I put in previous years has paid off because I found several of these beauties

 in my existing beds.

And hopefully this guy ....

....will make a permanent home around the barn.

So, hopefully this summer we will have an abundance of lettuce, bush beans, trellised cucumbers, cantaloupe,  tomatoes and peppers. Fingers crossed!!