Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Very Vegetable


An explosion of edibles from the garden installed earlier this year.  I had forgotten how incredibly easy and satisfying veggie gardening can be (and I'm saying this even before the tomatoes have ripened!)  The peas trail along a plum twig trellis, generously made especially for me from my Dad.  I love the three pods in the photo above- I just think of a xylophone dinging "dink, dink dink!"


This Flying Saucer or Patty Pan Squash looks like it's wearing a cashmere bodysuit with all its fuzzy whiskers.  These taste delicious with prosciutto and fresh basil.


The French Pickling Cucumbers continue to trickle in and the first batch of quick pickles won rave reviews at our weekend BBQ.  Tiny foods...  so irresistible, hidden among the leaves!


And a sun-bleached long view of the Titan Sunflowers (still growing and not even flowering yet!) with the Sunsweet (an improved Sungold) tomato growing everywhere except the middle of its tomato cage.  Cosmos, Zinnias and a sprinkling of Bachelor's Buttons lure pollinators and give me an excuse for a non-native cutting garden.  Scarlet Runner Beans have twined up the Sunflower stalks, shooting bits of red-orange firecracker sparks in the background.  A rampant mess and I couldn't be more delighted!

3 comments:

  1. I didn't think of growing my scarlet runner beans on sunflowers. Mine have the good old fashioned bamboo teepee, as we are sans corn this year. Love your patty pan squash! Just harvested some summer squash this evening, that is currently being assimilated into a lovely pasta sauce. Now we just need tomato season to get underway...I'm getting a bit impatient!

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  2. How big do those Flying Saucer Squash get before you eat them? I've got a handful on my plant but they're very tiny. When's the ripe time for picking?

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  3. Clare- I'm impatient, too. We just had our first Sunsweets, but I'm ready for the avalanche!

    Frank- I didn't know either and couldn't find a direct answer online. I just pick mine when they're about 3 to 4" across, so I can pick 3 of them and have a nice side dish with dinner for two.

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