2008 Garden update - Aug 13th

Time for another Garden Update.
In the last week and a half or so, the garden has really started to come up to where I thought it should be a couple of weeks ago. Long spring, and sudden hot summer really prolonged the growth spurt, but it seems to be here now.I thought you guys might like to see what it is that the whole raised bed section of the garden looks like in context, rather than just a pic here and one there. If you click the picture you can see the full sized version that I seamed together.

These are the Hamson tomatoes that I decided to try out this year. They're tasty, but the tops have all been split to as least some degree so they don't really make a great slicing tomato. But for salsa... perfect. They're also a semi-determinant variety so I get quite a few at a time as you can see. This picture was taken just after I pulled about five or six ripe toms from the plants.
Another late comer, but a very welcome one to the garden is the green bells. This one is forming just perfectly, and there are another 4-6 of them staggered just behind it, so as usual it'll be feast or famine.
Here's a late cabbage that I honestly didn't think would head up, because of the heat, but the fence that's just behind it and blocks the morning sun, combined with the shade of the apple tree that's west of it, must put it in just the right micro-climate to benefit it. No complaints here.
And speaking of the apple tree, it's piled full on a lot of the branches. One problem, the organic methods I tried to keep the bugs out either didn't work, or more likely I was not diligent enough with them. Either way, the apples will make fine applesauce and/or pies.
Above is Mount Squash. There are four pumpkin plants in there, and two butternut's. I the middle I placed one of the wire trellis systems that I used for my peas earlier in the year. The vines have taken it over and then some.
Here's one of the pumpkins that have set successful. There are a couple of them buried in there.
I planted marigolds to help attract bees and beneficial insects this year. Here is one of the ones that I started from seed. It grew a lot slower to start with and took forever to set a flower, but that sucker is two and a half feet tall. Are they supposed to be that big?
And on to the pickles which finally set. Now I'll be swimming in them soon enough. This is the first year for us actually growing pickling cukes. I pulled the first few pounds of them today and their very very tasty, can't wait to pickle some.

So, there you go, a bit of eye candy and a little catch up with what's been going on in the Freedom Garden. Tomorrow I'll get up some pictures of the girls, they've been laying consistently, and as a matter of fact, the younger ones that I got as a second batch are just starting to. Fun stuff.
See you tomorrow.
P~