We actually have some things to show off this week.  Took plenty of pictures after being a little bit lacking in the updates.  Our lunch breaks are starting to get to be hot, sweaty affairs as we get out there most every day to weed, pick, and trim.  Lot’s of work to keep things looking attractive, and even then there’s only so much we can do.  We are reaping the fruits of our labor however with everything from cucumbers, to green beans, tomatoes, and even some strawberries with a whole lot more on the way.

Things are truly getting gigantic at this point.  We didn’t experience anything like this last year…apparently some good, well drained soil can make all the difference in the world.  Take a look at our corn and sunflowers.  Massive.  We have sunflowers now up to 9 feet tall with leaves that are up to a foot and a half across…and they haven’t even flowered yet.  As you can plainly see our corn is now nicely tassling and corn husks have started to appear.  Now we just have to hope that the pollen from those tassles get down and pollinate those strands of silk so we will actually end up with some sweet corn this year.

Top left:  I spent three of the last four days clipping branches off the tomato plants.  They were getting so big and thick that we were having trouble identifying the tomatoes.  As you can see…yes, we’re going to have a few tomatoes.  That’s one plant out of about 20.  Top right:  Our little bundles of celery.  Slow growing, but finally starting to come around.  You can just start to see the celery stalks appear.

Top left:  BIG pumpkin.  Already bigger than anything we grew last year and still growing strong.  You can easily tell it’s bigger every day.  Top right:  More pumpkins.  We’re not going to be lacking for some nice pumpkins this year.  Perhaps a BMLA pumpkin carving contest is in order this year when Halloween comes around.

Top left:  The sweet corn is now more than tall enough to block our composting area.  Here is Sam cutting up some trimmings for composting.  Top right:  One of our most active areas…we dump all our garden waste here to turn in into organic mulch for the future.  You can also see our back bed.  Not as far along as our other beds, nevertheless, the bell and chili peppers and other crops are making progress.  You can still see though that we’re missing bark mulch for the paths still and still have some weeding ahead of us.

Top left:  Our largest Honeydew Melon.  Currently it’s about the size of a small grapefruit (we also have watermelon at a similar size).  Top right:  Kristin’s personal request and the newest addition…a spaghetti squash.

Erin adding some organic fertilizer to the green beans.  These things are prolific.  We’ve already harvested close to 20lbs. of green beans total…with no sign of them slowing down.