As soon as I cut the first squash from the vine, this second one started growing immediately.  We could see it increasing daily.  I think it is up to about 10 pounds.  

 

I wish the deer hadn't eaten the third one;  it would have been fun to watch that process again.  Oh well...Next year I'll be sure to plant another Cushaw squash.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here are some other marigolds we grew this year.  I collected the seeds from Rosalie's beautiful flower bed, last summer.

 

I am downhill, looking up at these marigolds.  But they are still nearly 5 feet tall!!!  I put several in the vegetable garden, and more in our terraced beds.  As you can see:  along with my rogue zucchinis.  I love seeing their bright, cheerful flowers.

 

They make me smile every time I walk by, or look out the kitchen window.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

No, really.  These are my favorites, today.    

 

I love Marigolds.  I plant hundreds of them every year.  I don't even know when I last bought seeds.  I just keep saving the seeds and planting them over and over.

 

Marigolds produce thousands of seeds.  Each flower has about 50 seeds.  And of course I collect them, and store them in a dry place until time to plant again.  I sow the seeds when I sow tomatoes and peppers and eggplants.  They like warm soil.  Then as they grow, I transplant them into cell packs.  I can spend hours doing this part.  And when they are big enough to put out, I plant them everywhere!!!   I love the whole process.  It feels like I am participating in some kind of magic.  

 

This row of Marigolds is in the first row in the garden.  It's what we see when we drive up the road.  

 

When I go out to the garden to pick cucumbers and tomatoes, I also bring in Marigolds and put them in little vases all over the house.  They make me happy.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Check out these tomatillos.  They look like little lanterns.  

 

When they first set, (you can see one all the way to the right)  they are empty.  If you squeeze them, they feel like little balloons.  As they grow they fill up the lantern with a little tomato-like berry.  Then the skin splits, and you know they are ready to pick.

 

One year we had a huge harvest, and we made salsa verde.  We also like to skewer them, and cook them for a few minutes on the grill.  They are so sweet and delicious!!!  I ordered new seeds for next year:  Yellow ones.  I'm excited.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look how pretty!!!  This Genovese basil is about two feet tall, and half as wide.  There are about ten plants just like this one.  Did I tell you that I grew them from seed?  Of course I did.  ;)

 

We use it fresh on pizza, in flower arrangements, and on just about everything green:  salad, green beans, eggs, and so on.  The berries (the seeds before the get dry and hard) get tossed into fruit salads, you know, like melons and grapes and blueberries.

 

When the frost comes, I will pull them up, hang them upside down in the basement, and in a couple months we'll have dried basil for the winter and spring.  

 

For now, though, I really love to brush my hands along this row, and breath deeply:  That's called 'aromatherapy.'

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

On our walk the other day, we noticed this Cardinal-flower down by the creek.  We looked for them on the trail, but saw none this year.  

 

My Wildflowers in Color book identified it as Lobelia cardinalis.  Most Lobelias are blue and purple;  this is the only red species.  It also says that it grows along streamsides, roadside ditches, in marshes and wet meadows.  Yep, that's exactly the habitat in which we have seen it.  

 

Look for Cardinal-flowers on your walks, especially in wet places.  It is blooming now.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look at all these beautiful tomatoes from the garden.  We are running out of room on the dining room table.  

 

So, what's next?  Canning.  What a perfect activity for a rainy day.

 

We blanched and peeled the tomatoes, sautéed onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic.  Then dumped it all into a great big pot, added dried oregano, basil, thyme, and some fennel seeds, all from the garden.  No, wait!  Everything but the celery and onion were from the garden.  Cooked it all down for a couple hours:  now, we have a great big pot of tomato sauce!!!

 

Now the fun starts.  We washed and heated up pint jars to 180 degrees.  Then filled them and put them in the pressure canner.  Jon has the job of watching the gauge, because I tend to walk away from stuff, and that's not a good plan with a pressure canner, (or many other kitchen projects.)  Our canner holds 9 pints, so we had to do it twice.  

 

We ended up with 16 pints of delicious tomato sauce.  Now I know what you are going to say.  Why didn't you just use 8 quart jars?  We have done that in the past, but have found that it takes us too long to USE a whole quart of sauce, and a pint jar is just the right amount for many of my recipes.  I have a great tomato soup recipe that I will add to the recipe section.  It uses 2 pints of tomatoes and a pint of tomato sauce.  

 

HAPPY DAYS IN THE KITCHEN!!!

 

 

 

Look at this beautiful squash. It is a Cushaw squash, a winter squash.  That means it has a tough skin and is harvested when the seeds are mature.  Most winter squashes keep well in a cool, dry place into the winter.  Think of zucchini as summer squash, and Butternut and pumpkins as winter squashes.

 

A couple of years ago, my sister took me to a farm in Gloucester VA.  I saw a gorgeous big green squash and had to bring it home to NC.  It weighed about 6 pounds, and being a grocery store shopper as opposed to a farmers' market girl, I figured they sold them by the pound.  I'm thinking 12 bucks.  And trust me on this: it was so gorgeous I would have paid that.  When the nice couple added up Linda's purchase, they charged her 2 dollars for that fabulous squash.

 

It made it home to North Carolina, and when we cut into it in the winter, it was delicious.  So we saved some seeds.  

 

This year I planted a whole bunch of squash seeds.  The tags got a little mixed up, so I just put the extra plants into my new happy garden.  This one really took off.  The vines are sprawled all over the place, and the last few days this fruit has doubled, nay, tripled in size!!!  There are two more baby squashes on the vine, so I cut this big one, to allow the plant's energy to focus on the next one.  That way we get two medium, rather than a big one and a little one.  We'll see how they do.

 

Oh!!  Did I tell you that it weighs 6 lbs, 9.5 oz.  I love it!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here is an excellent source for Heirloom seeds:  https://www.rareseeds.com  They have a fabulous catalog with pictures, descriptions, and lots of other interesting information.  There is also an online catalog for free.  

 

We order seeds from them every year.  I save as many seeds as I can, but sometimes you just have to start fresh, or maybe try something new.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Woohoo!!!  Look at that!!  That is one BIG tomato.

 

I love this heirloom variety. We planted seeds last year and saved some seeds to plant this year.  The great thing about heirloom tomatoes is that they reproduce true to the variety.  That means you can be sure to get the same characteristics every year.  Some heirlooms date back more than a hundred years, still producing the exact same plant and fruit.

 

On the other hand:

 

Hybrids are tomatoes that are cross-pollinated to capture the best characteristics of both the parent plants.  Maybe strong plants, disease resistance, flavorful fruit, etc.  Hybrids are great, but it doesn't work to save their seeds.  When you save the seeds and replant hybrids, often you get only the characteristics of one or the other parent.  Problem is, you don't know until you get fruit.  By then it is too late to replant your crop.  I don't like taking that chance.  I want to know what I'm going to harvest.  So we stick with the heirloom tomatoes we like.  

 

This is Pink Brandywine; we also save seeds and plant Pineapple tomatoes, which are yellow with red stripes throughout.  They are really good too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!