The Gibson Garden II

I figure it's about time for an update on the garden. Don't ask me why I'm taking these photos from such a distance. But that's how I started it, so that's how I'll continue.

You can't really see it, but we now have a total of 50 (!!!) squash and zucchini plants, 14 tomato plants, 21 okra, about 10 each broccoli and cauliflower, 1 bibb lettuce, and 2 jalapeno pepper plants. Woo hoo! No carrots or onions. Not sure why they didn't like me. Oh well. I'm pleased with what I have.

I do have to admit, though, that of the 21 okra plants, only 3 of them are ones I grew from seed. Daddy gave me a "Mother's Day" gift of 18 well established plants (he just happened to bring them to me on Mother's Day, so he called it his gift to me). Also, of the 14 tomato plants, only 3 of those are from my seeds. The others came from our local bank. They do a customer appreciation day each year and give away tomato plants. They give them away in sets of two, but we always look for the ones that have two stalks coming up in one cell. I found two different sets that had two stalks in each cell (making a total of 4 plants). I got one for me and one for Josh, and then my great aunt gave me hers. And, the jalapeno peppers came from a friend of Josh's parents. But those 50 squash and zucchini are all me, baby! We're gonna be squash and zucchini'd out by the end of this summer!

I'm going to be doing lots of canning and freezing, I'm sure. We had two tomato plants last year, and they produced more than enough tomatoes for us. Now we have 14! Marinara, anyone?

Okay, so I know the full garden shot doesn't show you much detail, so I'll post another photo of Mr. Squash that I featured in a previous post. *I think this is him...*

He endured a minor injury when Daddy re-tilled the rows for me yesterday. No big deal; he'll recover.

I also wanted to show you Josh's hops. He built a trellis out of pvc and rope, and the hops climb the rope. Pretty cool!

So, if I'm not chasing a chunky monkey around our house or chasing Josh around the "green house," this is what I'm doing.

By the way, I had no idea how back-breaking hoeing your garden can be! This whole gardening thing isn't just stick your seeds in the ground and watch them grow. You gotta be ready to work! But, I'm ready!