Cityretreat

The garden harvest has officially begun and I fear I may already be behind!

Good problem to have I guess.

The tomatoes are all turning, cherries first and fastest. They are so delicious, I've been eating them like candy. They go from green to orange, never red. I learned by default when the first batch bursted at the seams before turning red. Still delicious.

Tonight I'm going in for the green beans. Stella has eaten all the leaves off along the fence, which is about the only thing she can do that makes me really mad. The beans seem no worse off.

I ate an eggplant from the garden this week and it was super. They are Japanese eggplant so long and skinny rather than plump.

The real extravaganza is the cucumbers. I need to begin researching canning as soon as I'm finished with this post. The cucumbers are totally going bonkers. They've tied and climbed up one of the tomato cages and actually pulled the whole thing down. They've woven around the sprinkler and immobilized it. They've crawled across the whole garden and may have designs on the deck soon.

And what, you may ask, is the problem here? There are flowers EVERYWHERE. And from flowers come cucumbers. Lots of cucumbers. I'm looking for recipients. Please send word if you'd like one. Or 10.

The apple tree is doing its thing. They are dropping from the sky as I type. I collect about 20 each day from the patio and dump into the composter. Very short cycle of life. Too tart for me and extremely cumbersome to make sauce (though I've done it). Apple crisp is good but doesn't require more than a few for that.

There are some losers too. I planted peppers and they don't look so hot (no pun intended). The zuccini leaves are enormous but only small signs of life below. Also, I don't actually love zuccini so please let this be a reminder to myself next year in the event that I'm tempted to plant it. It kind of takes over the entire garden and isn't really worth it to me. And the brussel sprouts are big and leafy but no signs of anything edible yet. I'm hoping they will arrival towards end of summer.

This is when I'm happiest, in my garden, picking the treasures out. We will have a big dinner on the porch Sunday and enjoy all our riches!