Garden Update 8

 Alright, I am SO SORRY that this has taken so long to post, and that it's so late. But after the Copperhead fiasco... well, let's just say there were more important things. But now that things have calmed down, I can officially post this! You may be seeing these pictures a few days late, but they were still taken on Saturday. So when the next update is posted next Saturday, you will still see progress at the same rate. Well, this garden needs no further introduction... so lets get started already!

Cantelope Patch

A baby cantelope! I have quite a few of these hidden under my leaves.

A cucumber patch (one of only 4 small patches)

Some cucumbers, just about ready to pick soon! See these, mom? These will be yours! :)

A watermelon patch. I see a watermelon from here!

My biggest watermelon so far, it's about the size of a golf ball. Looking forward to watching it grow!

A few smaller watermelons, one on each side of the picture.

My super humongous pumpkin patch, you can see how it has already grown over TWO small watermelon plants. As a matter of fact, it has spread out vines that have wrapped themselves around the watermelon leaves and stems, and it's hanging onto them for support and choking them out. Good thing I have a larger watermelon patch farther away... But no matter what, I'm super proud of my huge pumpkin patch :)

My very first pumpkin! It's about the size of a quarter... maybe a bit bigger. And growing fast!

Potatoes... I'm still not sure when I'm supposed to dig them up, but according to the game Harvest Moon, not until Summer...  lol (relying on a video game to teach me how to farm... yeah, that is definitely something I would do). Apparently they are supposed to bloom first, and I only had a few white flowers on some of the plants early on, so hopefully they will all blossom out in the next few weeks.

Carrots. These are some of my bigger/medium carrots. Based on an average carrot-top-diameter to carrot-length ratio, I estimate these carrots to be about 5 to 6 inches long... They are about 2/3 grown. Yay!

One of my tomato plants. You can see that they are producing quite well... much better than expected!

Here is a closer view of one of my tomato plants. See how many tomatoes there are? Which is amazing, because I have had a bit of trouble these week with my tomato plants.

This week's problem: That pesky rabbit keeps eating my tomatoes! Thankfully, my plants are producing so many tomatoes that I didnt even notice at first, but once I saw the first one half-eaten, I began to look around and notice more. I hope we catch the son of a--I mean, the hopper--before he takes down anything else in my garden.

A few onions. The tops are beginning to fall over, but I doubt they're anywhere close to being ready to dig up yet.

Some Red Bell Peppers. Some of them are going to get picked soon!

One more thing to blame the rabbit for... He ate out one of my peppers! Please dont touch the rest of them, rabbit!!!

My first Green Bell Pepper that is about ready to pick... so fresh and shiny!

The Santa Fe Peppers. They havent gotten much bigger; looks like these 2 are a bit stunted. No big deal, they can get chopped up for some chili!

My Cayenne Peppers. 2 of these 4 are about ready to be picked!

Another Cayenne. Look how big it is! :)

Banana Pepper. It will probably get about double that length if we leave it on the plant, but we are barbecuing burgers for dinner, and I think my hubby may want a pepper chopped up on top. He loves Banana Peppers; its the whole reason Im growing them at all.

The squash plants; yes, they have weeds growing throughout them. I'll have to get on top of that...

A bunch of baby squash growing. My in-laws all tell me to pick them when they are about this size, and I may pick a few this size, but I like seeing how big they can get. See these, mom? They are yours! I'll get you all different sizes too.

Salad Bowl Mix Lettuce; I love the colors on this one type that came out. Just gorgeous.

Another picture of the Salad Bowl Mix Lettuce; and yet another type popped up. It's interesting to see what kinds come out of a mix packet. Too bad I have no idea what all these kinds are called, lol.

Caesar Mix Lettuce

A view down the Sunflower and Corn rows. I love how many sunflowers are already coming out; soon the entire row will have huge yellow flowers all the way down.

Some of my taller corn together. They are all producing and growing quite nicely!

Some ears of corn popping out of the sides of the corn stalk. I have a basic idea of how to know when they are ready to pick, but I need to check it out to know for sure.

My favorite... the sunflowers! They are all beginning to open up, and I already have a few that are fully open. They smell great, they are just dripping with nectar (attracting an amazing amount of insect wildlife) and they are GORGEOUS. This particular flower is one of my tallest, standing over 6 feet tall.

*Picture of the Week* This is a close up of a sunflower. ITS SO PERFECT! I could not have asked for a more natural, beautiful picture. This flower seems to have posed for me, and smiled at the camera. Can you say "new desktop background image"?

Proud of my blueberry bushes; they have beautiful new leaves on them. Way to fight back against the goat attack!

My second blueberry bush; even more bright new green leaves on this one. Hopefully they will bloom again this year and produce more berries (but this time, WE will be eating them, not the goat).

My grape vines. Still growing strong after the goat/cow attacks.

Another grape growing back. Love their little heart-shaped leaves.

Strawberries... I have lost faith that they will grow big enough to produce anything this year, but I am at least glad to say that since being outside, they have doubled in size! Lots more leaves coming up in the middle, too.

My willows. I know, they arent a veggie, but I put them in the update last week and felt they should continue in the updates as well. I love how in this picture, the wind is blowing, and all the leaves are waving to the right. Some of them are getting pretty long, and it seems to have a few branches that are a bit longer, too. Well anyways, that's it this week! See you again next Saturday with the next update!