Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Well, here are the kids after a short trip to our garden. I knew that there were plenty of tomatoes to be picked; but what surprised me most was the fact that we have just as many that will be ready in the next few days. I weighed our potato and tomato harvests, just to see. It turned-out that despite the potato plants being completely over-run by the Rumbo squash, that we got 6lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes. I only wish that I had planted more of them (and further from the Rumbos). The tomatoes weighed-in at 29lbs. They are ugly fruit, but taste so good when freshly-sliced on a piece of toast.

I'm not trying to make anyone feel unhappy; we do the best in our own unique circumstances. But I know that it'll be a long time before I can have such a large garden again; and I don't want to look-back on this seasons' effort and wonder if we really had that much tomatoes and squash. Besides, it's an excuse to take cute pictures of the kids having fun while helping provide for the family.

The Squash that ate Omaha!!

No, it's not a title of a terrible 1950's horror film....it's really happening!

If you look in the pictures, you'll see the squash not only hiding the frames that are clearly visble in the last post; you'll see it climbing ON TOP OF THE CORN! Of course, it has all but swallowed the fence as well. Did I mention that there are only 6 squash plants in our garden?

Like I tell Amber: I don't go in the garden alone, after dark, anymore. I'm afraid, and after these pictures who can blame me.

At least we'll have all the jalapenos, tomatoes and various squashes we can eat and put-up. I'll sleep a lot better after we harvest the squash plants. Until then, I don't let the dog go in the garden...just in case.

Our First Tomato of the Season

Yesterday, I had the surreal experience of crawling through a "cave" made of tomato vines. I can't remember ever having a similar experience in my nearly 41 years, despite having a garden nearly every year when I was young. Even more amazing to me was the fact that among the probably 100 green tomatoes of various (and large!) sizes, there was exactly one fully-ripe tomato, which I picked. There was not even a single spot of yellow among all the many fruits, just one red tomato and at least 100 green ones. Just to add to the mystery of this delicious fruit...it was the size of my fist...no kidding!

Here are the kids, about a week ago, in the garden. I wanted Amber to take a few pictures of the garden with us in it, for scale. Isaac is next to the "Rumbo" squash, which will be comperable to pumpkin in size and shape. The corn is putting-up its tassle stalks, though you can't see that from these pictures. The girls are enjoying a pair of early carrots. And we have had fresh green beans at dinner for the last week.

Since these pictures, the tomatoes are almost 6 feet tall, and are covered with new blossoms. The strawberries are now spent, but were so delicious to snack-on. Our only question-mark this season are the potatoes. I haven't raised them before, and so I have no idea if things are going well, or if they are headed for disaster. We'll see.

Enjoy the pictures!