Happy to feel the rain

The garden and I are enjoying this gentle rain. However, for the kid's sake, I hope it clears up enough for fireworks.

I did a terrible job of staking my tomatoes and they've all toppled in one way or another. Hopefully I can remedy my mistakes with some rebar and fencing tomorrow.

Brent, Preston and Dylan dug up the last of the new potatoes yesterday, so I have an entire bed that can be resown - maybe we'll plant some peppers for pickling or salsa, they like the heat.

Watermelons and squashes are taking over the front garden, but the dog is the only one who's unhappy about it most days. Other days I find her chillin' in the shade of the bean teepee, but I can't quite seem to catch it on camera.

Here's a few cute pics of the kids enjoying the garden on the 3rd of July - Flippin set of fireworks at the park and had a little carnival/BBQ that the kids really enjoyed. The fire department hooks a giant sprinkler up to the fire hose - they loved that, but Margie's baby, Aidan, just was getting too hot, so we headed home for some extra sprinkler time.

Have a great fourth of July everybody!

Why I Love my Veggie Patch

Tonight I opened the fridge and found nothing to eat but leftover mushrooms and noodles, so Brent and I headed out to the garden with a bucket for sides - lo and behold, we had a feast in less than 45 minutes flat!

Tonight's favorite was fried summer squash and okra. I tossed it in a bit of melted butter than into dry Jiffy Cornbread mix and fried it in a pan with 1/8" canola and olive oil for a few minutes on each side. Steamed baby carrots and green beans were excellent with just a bit of kosher salt and black pepper. Add a few glasses of milk and some rolled deli turkey on the side -voila! One random, yummy meal complete!

We also found a bunch of green tomatos attached to broken limbs, so we brought those in, sprinkled them with a mix of salt, sugar, and tarragon plus a pinch of cayenne, then added herb vinegar over the top - they taste great now, hours later. They'll be so good on salad tomorrow!

Preston plans on picking the last of the potatoes for grilling tomorrow at our Fireworks BBQ - we found a yummy spinach salad recipe that has roasted potatoes and bacon "to serve on the side". He's such a little foodie!

Dylan is happy Donny and Marg will be bringing Jake for the grill, even though he's sure to only eat hot dog after hot dog after hot dog :)

I may have to transplant some of my perennials into the potato bed just so it doesn't look so bare - or maybe I'll move the few okra that are getting off to a slow start - they are dwarf, so the 2' raised beds won't make harvesting too tough.

I'll have to post a photo of our sunflowers. Each plant has 10-20 blooms sized between 8-24" and LOADED with yummy seeds for the birds. Also, we're up to 2 watermelons and 12-18 (now tiny) butternut squash. Once our cucs get going, they're bound to keep us busy for months.

So exciting! If these mild days continue, it will be much easier to spend time out in the veggie patch. Here's to hoping for continued bountiful harvests well into autumn.