In the garden, we are entering the exciting Stage 2, where the plants are *visibly* growing.
Stage 1 is “everything is in the ground and it’s just sitting there!” Impatient people such as myself get very irritable with Stage 1 … even though we know, intellectually, that while the plant “just sits,” it is doing important work like Getting Used to the Sun and Growing Roots.
Now, many plants are really growing, like the tomato to the right, which is setting fruit and gaining scale relative to the welded-wire cage it will live in until October. Now the plant is around two feet tall. By October, of course, it will be six feet tall, god and hailstorms willing. It will have given us many more than the one or two little green tomatoes it’s currently bearing. But for now – it’s growing!
The butternut squash are really starting to take off, too. (Be afraid … be very afraid.)
At long last, the cukes have sprouted where I planted them:
And some are growing where they weren’t invited. I have this volunteer from last year, and two more volunteers springing up near the compost bin. The only question? Did I grow hybrid cucumbers last year? If so, they may turn out funky offspring. If not, I love a volunteer to save seeds from and grow bigger-and-better veggies, already acclimated to our harsh environment (dry air, clay soil, hot, hot sun).
You can see the friendly environment this volunteer chose:
We also have numerous tomato volunteers, but those are likely offspring of our despised yellow tomatoes last year, which were (a) mealy, (b) frighteningly prolific, and (c) a hybrid, so this year’s babies likely won’t be any good. That said, watch us let one grow and it’ll be our favorite this year.
Finally, even our basil has sprouted at last. We planted seeds weeks ago, but here it is:
Each of those little babies is perhaps an inch across.
Out front, we’ve taken the pumpkin out of the wall of water, and our cantaloupe is striving to thrive. Those are both in eked-out sections of lawn. In our barrels, our little roma tomatoes are growing beautifully. Mr. Cheap has replanted some scarlet runner bean seeds because ours stayed inside too long and are not happy in the hot sun.
What’s up in your gardens?
Cheap Like Me 