The garden's doing pretty well. That big cucumber in the foreground, that's an Armenia cucumber and is very prolific. It has variegated skin that is tender and doesn't need to be peeled. It looks beautiful sliced in salads or tossed in rice vinegar with a little sugar and cayenne pepper.
The yellow round fruit is a lemon cucumber and is so delicious we slice and eat them as a snack. We get about one a week from the vine.
Acorn squash have been growing nicely, and we harvested three this morning. There are a couple of zucchini that are growing so fast, we'll be stuffing them before long. We've had at least a dozen in the last couple of weeks. The second round of figs have ripened nicely on the tree and the fruit is meatier and sweeter later in the season. We've also been watering it a lot during the fruiting season. We've cut a deal with the birds: they get the top ones, - we get the others. There is a very happy squirrel hanging out in the tree that we haven't negotiated terms with ...
We have a honeydew that is about 5" in diameter and we are waiting for it to ripen. We enjoyed the first five Japanese eggplants and there are 10 more flowers and 1 new fruit. The three artichoke plants are thriving. The largest plant is thistling / flowering / fruiting (whatever) in the first year - and one is ready to harvest tomorrow! We tossed a sprouted onion in the soil and its growing great guns, next to the Mexican hot pepper plant with more peppers coming out. We've got 3 new 3x6 planters ready to set for the winter planting, to let these play out as far into the fall as they can go.
Thanks to this beautiful growing soil and weather, what seemed like tons of room at the time we set the garden boundary now seems a little cramped.
The only thing we are waiting on are tomatoes. They are huge and loaded with fruit, but they were planted late and so the fruit is still green. I'll be reading up on canning because, even though we have 4 different varieties (heirloom, a cherry, a plum and a better boy) we bet they're going to ripen all at the same time. The biggest surprises are the overachieving Armenian cukes and the first year artichokes doing so well. But honestly, it's all a surprise and a delight. My happy place, to be sure.
