Ripe for the Picking

We're finally hitting my favorite crop of the season, fresh tomatoes and most specifically sun golds.  I discovered them during my very first season of growing tomatoes and I've had a least one plant ever since.  I've certainly tried other varieties but I keep coming back to the tried and true sun golds.  The longer maturing crops are starting to yield now and I've been thinning things that have reached their prime like the broccoli which produced several rounds this season before a few unattended days lead to some bolting.  I'm glad that we got some good meals out of the plants and now I'm thankful for the extra room for the pumpkin plants to spread out.  I never got a picture of the cheddar cheese cauliflower, some of my plants did produce good sized heads but overall they seemed to be a one shot plant.  Not sure I'll waste the space they needed  for just a few heads of cauliflower which no one really enjoyed but me.  Overall things are still thriving and nothing has gotten totally out of control this year.

Here's what we have been enjoying:

- Chives
- Rosemary
- Sage (so good with Matt's pork chops!)
- Peas
- Beans (the kids started these at school)
- Broccoli (now removed)
- Cauliflower (now removed)
- Sun gold tomato (notice there is no 's', so far only one which was eaten on Aug 3)

Here's the garden as of August 3rd.   You can really see how much it has grown over the course of the summer.  Despite the cooler conditions we've had it has done well with the sun it does receive.  I hope fall doesn't come in too harshly this year so we can enjoy the late harvest items as long as possible.

Here is a shot that shows where the majority of the broccoli and cauliflower was removed.  The pumpkin plants are already filling the space in the search of a hiding place for their fruit.  Last year as I was cleaning out the garden I happened upon a second pumpkin down by the stream so this year I'm trying to keep tabs on what the plants are up to.

Amazing flowers on the zucchini plant, almost worth growing just to see these open up in the morning sunshine. There are plenty of flower so I'm hoping the zucchini isn't far off.  I'd love to have the problem of having to leave them on my neighbors doorsteps.  

The pride and joy of my garden, the first sun gold of the season.  A sight to behold!  I wasn't sure if it was quite ripe enough to pick on August 3rd but I touched it and it fell down to the ground so I picked it up and enjoyed it.  Can't wait for the plants to start delivering more of these each day!

My cabbages are continuing to grow and increase in size, this is one area of the garden that I will need to rework next year as the cabbages are smashing my row of carrots.  The carrots are still growing and frankly I'm over trying to grow carrots.  I enjoy more visible results in my garden or at least something that can be enjoyed early in the season while I'm waiting for other things.  I am planning big things for these three cabbages - so far I'm most excited about Uncle Chris wanting to make sauerkraut out of one of them.  Should be interesting to watch them continue to grow.