Rosey the Riveter

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

I'm Baaaaack!

We returned today after a 3-week visit home in Massachusetts and a few days in DC.  For most of that time, hubby was here holding down the fort.  He did a great job picking Calendula flowers and air drying them for me.  He even picked cherry tomatoes.  I did not ask him to weed.  If you've seen how he weed-whacks, you will understand why.  I'm kind of partial to our marriage and wanted to keep it in tact.  As such, I came home to an overgrown mess.  Bolted broccoli, lettuce...

 cilantro, parsley...  yes.  This huge overgrown monster is all parsley!
 dried popcorn...
and drooping mammoth sunflowers!
Notice there's no more beautiful melon plant in the compost.  In a matter of days, I am told, the whole thing died.

The Butterfly Garden was even worse for wear!
The wormwood and fennel are taller than I am and the anise-hyssop and Dr. Seuss Plant aren't far behind!

I can hardly see the Homestead Verbena now that the weeds and stupid Bartlett Pear shoots have taken over.  At least the Bachelor's Buttons are thriving:
But the news isn't all bad.  I had a few happy surprises...

The ginger is finally doing something:
And the marigolds are apparently very happy.  Somewhere, there's a tomato plant in there:
The cherry tomatoes are doing great.  If only someone would eat them:
The Roma is producing, in spite of blight:
One of the watermelon plants has a fruit.  The other just dried up and died.  Can't for the life of me figure out why:
And yet another melon of some sort (I forgot to label them):
The lemon balm just took off.  Which is good, because I want to make teas!
As I finished weeding most of it this evening, I was feeling a little discouraged by all the work that needs to be done.  But then I saw a hummingbird taking a nice long drink from my bee balm, and all was right with the world.  I wish I had my camera, but here's the flower:
We did get to harvest a few things.  First up were the potatoes from the two containers that I planted.  I'm guessing around 4 pounds or so.  Nothing earth shattering, but they were potatoes from the pantry so I can't complain.
We also got 3 Poona Kheera cucumbers which are AMAZING!  I thought my family would balk about the yellow/brown color, but I had to peel them, anyway (the skin was chewy)... turns out, we all loved the taste.
And finally, the Tom Thumb popcorn.  Not going to be enough for much, but I'm planning to plant more now that I know it will grow and pollinate!
Lots more work that needs to be done.  Stay tuned as I try to play catch up.

4 comments:

  1. The Tom Thumb popcorn is adorable....not enough for family game night but stinking cute! I consider that a success since you were able to harvest something! Are they suppose to be that small? -Nancy Flanagan

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  2. yeah, they are. I'm going to plant more soon and hope to get another harvest now that I know they will pollinate.

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  3. Oh! The Marigolds and Lemon Balm look fabulous! You grow girl! -Nancy

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  4. the lemon balm was from stuff I winter-sowed. For a long time, it wasn't doing anything so I was happy to see it thriving. I harvested some this morning to dry for teas.

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