Tomato TomAto

Our cherry tomatoes are taking over our garden world! Other than the treacherous treasure hunts I have to go on to retrieve all the hidden tomatoes buried under all the intentionally untended vines (this is what happens with a first year gardener - you quickly learn the many reasons why you prune and stake!), we are enjoying the fresh sun-ripened tomatoes immensely. :-)

August is for Tomatoes!

 August is tomato month. My cherry tomatoes are finally ripening. We are picking about a pint or more every day, and eating them at astonishing speeds. My beefsteaks are still solid green. Hoping for those a little later in the month.

 This silly kid LOVES cherry tomatoes! Our favorite part of the afternoon is going outside to pick our snack.

And life wouldn't be our life without silly animals to constantly amuse. Here we have our fowl flower.

 Guess what?

...Fluffy chicken butts!

A walk through the garden

I somehow went from not being able to keep a plant alive to suddenly having the capability of growing food. Every day I view my garden as some sort of miracle. A gift of nourishment to me and my family. 

 These tomato plants are the very same ones that I started from seed back in March. I grew the seedlings in little egg cartons on my window sill. Now they are the biggest living things in the gardens. Eric cut the tops off of two of the beds in order to accommodate their size. No problems with squirrels so far.

Two weeks ago Eric built a triangular ladder trellis for the squash and cucumbers. What we didn't consider when planting, is that not all varieties of zucchini and squash climb....adding it to the very long list of things to remember when planning the garden next year . Fortunately it does help keep the huge plants a bit more contained though, which is incredibly helpful in such a small space.

The peas are climbing up the twine that is attached to the rafters above this bed. Interestingly enough, my plants only climbed as high as the top of the cage, even though there was nothing stopping them from climbing higher. The sugar snap peas we have harvested so far are the sweetest I have EVER tasted. Unfortunately the yield is quite small, giving us probably about a salad bowl full if we were to harvest them all at the same time. Right now we are enjoying snacking on them straight off the vine.

 And because I can't NOT post pictures of my chickens, I will let you know that I may or may not be owner to ten of the silliest chickens in all of Chicago.

And, perhaps, the two silliest girls as well.