I know, I know, but I gotta share......

We picked all of this just this morning!!!

All of this wonderful fruity, veggie goodness...

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. 
Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad."
~Anonymous

...in all of its rich, colorful, healthy glory!!!

It was worth picking it all in a steady drizzle!!!

We (and our family) will enjoy this deliciousness in many forms this week!

Spicy jalapenos and sweet banana peppers

Savory-sweet bell peppers

Cherry tomatoes (and a few Romas and Big Boys)

All this incredible color and flavor!

All right outside our back door!

YUM!!!

By the way....I canNOT get enough of these banana peppers!!!

I am putting them in/on everything!!!

~*~*~*~*~

The tomatoes we picked today are just the start. Our 8 little plants grew in to 8 giant monsters just dripping with tomatoes! There are vines and fruit EVERYWHERE!!! And they are all starting to ripen. So, what's a city girl gardener to do?

Ball Enamel Waterbath Canning Set

Teach herself to can!

Yep! I'm a-gonna put up those 'maters just like my country diva sistas!

I have really enjoyed being able to give away bounty from our garden to our family and friends, but I don't want to give it all away! We worked hard! And I want us to enjoy that healthy bounty in to the colder months. The fall and winter is when I actually enjoy cooking! I love getting up early on a Saturday or Sunday morning and making a big pot of homemade sauce or soup. I buy cans of crushed, diced, or stewed tomatoes constantly. Why not enjoy my own, fresh, grown by us tomatoes?!

So, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, and dadgummit that means I gotta can! ;-)

In fact, I am so enthusiastic about learning this new skill that I braved HellMart on tax-free weekend here in MA to stock up on mason jars.

My plan is to mostly can crushed/diced tomatoes to use in sauces and soups, but I also make a pretty kick-ass salsa, and with our abundance of jalapenos I will can a bunch of salsa, too! Football season is almost here and we enjoy having our friends over for Patriots games. Chips & salsa and ice cold beer is the go-to game day snack! And the one other thing I plan on trying is making some pickles.

But, juuuuust in case I really get in to this canning thing, this book

The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

is also on its way to me!

~*~*~*~*~

My lack of blogging...and then when I do blog it is all gardens gardens gardens...would make it seem like there really is not much going on in my world. Hmmm. I guess that is kind of accurate. Gardening really has been the highlight of my summer so far, with the exception of a few fun things here and there.

BUT, good stuff is on the horizon, including:

~ a long-awaited trip to Bar Harbor

(which means many many many photos of my beloved New England!)

~ AUTUMN is almost here!!!

(which means TONS of stuff to blog about!!!)

~ speaking of Autumn, I have started work on this year's Fall Journal

(pics and a post to come SOON!)

~ My brother and I are going to our camp reunion!

(yeah, I have a "date" coming up with my brother! LOL)

~ Oh, did I mention AUTUMN is almost here?!?!?!?!

Happy 30th Birthday MTV

Yep...30 years ago today, at 12:01AM August 1, 1981, MTV was born!

MTV was HUGE to me in the 80's for many reasons, and I totally have a post about this brewing in my mind, but in order to do it proper justice and cover all I want to cover...I can't do it now.

I gotta get to bed!

MTV is 30....which makes me 40, people!

A girl needs her beauty sleep!

Harvesting...

Can you stand another garden post?! I can't help myself!!!

We picked all this tonight!!!!!!

29 cucumbers!!!

 Our first two spaghetti squash!!!

Bunches of green beans and jalapenos!!!

Zucchini, of course. There is always zucchini!

Bell pepper and banana peppers!!!

I have to say one of the pleasures in gardening this year, besides getting to pick all this fresh organic goodness all summer, is being able to share it all! The last couple years our garden was very small and produced just enough for us and maybe a little for our family. This year, besides giving tons to our family, we are giving stuff away to neighbors and friends and co-workers. It is so much fun!!!

Civic/friend duty...

Our friend Teddy is running for mayor!

(yes, I will call our future mayor Teddy!)

My brother and Teddy have been friends since kindergarten. So I have known our future mayor since he and my brother and all their other bratty friends were running around doing bratty things!!! ;-) Kinda blows my mind that one of them will soon be the new leader of our city (yes I am that confident...).

So, I am doing my civic/friend duty and helping out with his campaign however I can...like addeessing hundreds upon hundreds of mailers.

Hey...it keeps me out of the heat holding campaign signs! 

(just kidding! I would do that, too...closer to November! LOL)

Got cukes?!

19 cukes!!!

picked Sunday 7/17/11

And currently there are more out there ready and almost ready to be picked...more than I can count! 

We also have about 20 spaghetti squash in varying stages of almost-readiness!!!

Garden 2011.....

WINNING!!!

Cukes & zukes & Tahoes, oh my!

veggies picked 7.15.11

Seemingly overnight our garden is producing massive amounts of produce! Especially cucumbers and zucchini! Yesterday afternoon I went out and picked 20 cukes alone and couldn't even count all that was still growing and yet to start forming! 

The zucchini is going crazy, too, and they are playing games with us. We will go out there and find some normal sized ones ready to pick and scope out the others that are still growing. We move vines and leaves and think we are checking every inch....then a few hours later one of us will go out there again and seemingly out of nowhere one of those behemoths seem to appear. 

 I generally prefer we pick them when they are the size of the two on the right in the picture, but it seems that no matter how diligent we think we are, no matter how observant we think we are a few manage to hide and grow in to something you could club a person with! Just this morning Kevin found another ginormous one (not pictured).

 In addition to the cukes and zukes, we also picked loads of string beans (there are only a couple in this photo, for, ya know, artistic reasons...) and we picked a few sweet banana peppers!

Best. Cucumber. Evaaaa.

As soon as I brought the veggies in yesterday I had to enjoy a fresh cucumber. O.M.G. it seriously does make a HUGE difference when you grow them yourself (or purchase direct from a farm, CSA, or farmers market) verses purchasing them at a supermarket.

So speaking of SUVs....what? You mean we weren't speaking of those? Oh, ok....well, let's!

Wanna see my new baby???

 My new-to-me Chevy Tahoe!!! 

(yes that is me in the background that I blurred out because I looked like hell in the heat!!!)

We just got her (yes, its a "she") today! And I get to bring her home next Saturday! The dealership we got her from is over an hour from our house so it is much easier to go back on a Saturday than a weeknight after work.

I love love LOVE her!!! 

Loved sitting in her, loved driving her, just love!!!

And I feel so blessed and grateful to have her!!!

So, that's my weekend...cukes and zukes and Tahoes!

Welcome to the jungle, we got your fun and games!

HA! Who's got Guns-n-Roses stuck in their head now?!

Happy to oblige...

:-)

If you've never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden.

~ Robert Brault

This...

and this...

and this...

and this, too!

All of it. The entire garden this year. In such a short time it has already gone so far beyond what I imagined it could be!

Everything is just growing like crazy!

And we are starting to harvest all kinds of goodness!

The photos I took yesterday really tell the story fine on their own. There is not much I can add. I am just very pleased with our progress so far. For two people who have only been gardening a few years, and the last couple years we just had our one teeny little plot, the fact that we have not only been able to keep EIGHT raised beds plus numerous pots not only alive but thriving it such an amazing feeling of accomplishment! 

It is usually hot as hell out there, and the weeding and tending can be back spasm-inducing work, but it is oh so worth it! All the sweat, all the dirt, all the terrible tan lines....all worth it!!!

Cucumbers

 Cucumbers

 Cucumbers

 String beans

 Kevin harvesting string beans

We enjoyed some last night and we will have more tonight!

 Zucchini

 More zucchini

(now that I am really viewing the photos I am realizing how phallic these look! Oh my!)

 See what I mean?! ;-)

 Little baby bell peppers just getting their start!

 Bell peppers

 Sweet banana peppers!

 Banana peppers

 These little guys will become Big Boy tomatoes later this summer!

 Little now...soon to be Big Boy!

Just as a recap, we've got 8 wildly thriving tomato plants (different varieties), 8 pepper plants (different varieties, three different types of cucumber all growing like crazy, two huge zucchini plants, five string bean plants making beans all over the place, an acorn squash plant and spaghetti squash plant that share the same bed and have gotten so big I don't know where one ends and the other begins and there are little baby squash galore in there, two types of radish, carrots, eggplant, and loads of herbs!!!