How Our Garden Grows

An extra-long Beacon weekend meant lots of time at our plot in Stony Kill. It's been dry and HOT--the complete opposite of last summer--so while lots of things are happy (like Nancy's pattypan plant, which grew from a seed she planted there), others that were last year (like the collard greens) are not. My fingers are crossed that we'll have a bountiful August/September harvest.

Perhaps the oddest discovery of the weekend is that our neighbor, Mei, is growing Amaranth (the mystery green I discovered in Chinatown a few weeks ago). Very bizarre!

Our chili hots are LOVING this weather. While the plants themselves are much smaller than they've been in the past, the peppers are freakishly huge! So, we'll see what happens. More hot sun = spicier peppers, no?

And here's the first little ripening grape tomato of the season! I just hope the deer or groundhogs don't decide to eat it first... They've been going to town out there, taking weeny bites out of tomatoes, then leaving the rest of it to rot on the ground. What's up with that, animal? If you're going to ruin it, why not eat the whole thing? Picky buggers...