I asked Monkey Boy to mow the yard. When I went outside a few hours later I was greeted with a bunch of flamingos in one of the garden boxes. I guess the birds were in his way. 😉
Despite the heat, our garden is going bonkers. The tomatoes are growing like mad and the squash patch is getting bigger every day. Which is AWESOME. I’m not sure how many winter squash we’ll get this year, but I’ll take what I can get. 
And the patio garden? Holy cats people. I should have added a trellis or two to the stock tanks. I could have had tomatoes growing up the side of the house. I bet the neighbors would have LOVED that. 😉
Maybe next year. 
Green beans and tomatoes growing together. 
More tomato plants. 
Enough with the green. I want to see some red tomatoes. Are your tomatoes red yet? 
The pole beans aren’t doing as well I as I had hoped. I think they need a little more sun. 
Did I tell you the HH built me a planter box last weekend? Isn’t it cute? Now I have a place to grow a few flowers. 
I planted 3 rows of beet seeds this week. With a little luck we should have a HUGE Thanksgiving harvest. Once the weather cools down a bit I’ll plant a few more rows of carrots and a row of turnips.
And last but least, the laurel hedge I planted a few months ago is doing great and the plants are bushing out nicely. My hope is to have a full blown hedge by the time we bust out of this place.
I’ll plant more vinca {to the right of the laurel hedge} in October when the rain starts up so I don’t have to water it at all. {I’m lazy like that}.
How is YOUR garden doing? What have you been harvesting lately?
~Mavis
This years garden is being sponsored by the awesome folks at Botanical Interests Seed Company. You can check out their website HERE, order their new 2015 Garden Seed Catalog, or see the seeds I’ll be growing in my garden this year HERE.
Up for a tour? Read about our behind the scenes tour of Botanical Interests Seed Company.
Deborah says
I wish I had a garden to harvest. It was too wet to plant in the spring and too hot now.
Tamara says
I like Monkey Boy’s sense of humor! 🙂
Janice says
I’m still amazed at how great your garden looks – especially considering you got a later start than normal. Well done!!! I got my tomatoes in a few weeks earlier than normal due to our warm weather on Vancouver Island. In the last week or 10 days they’ve really started ripening and I picked a large mixing bowl full this week with lots more waiting to be picked.
Mavis says
I’m still amazed it’s done this good, too! And so glad. I might fall into a depression if I didn’t have fresh produce from my garden!
Deborah says
I think those flamingos were simply having a meeting to discuss forming their own HOA. 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
Ha! I think you might be right.
Linda says
I actually have been getting red tomatoes off a plant I bought that was supposed to be cherry tomatoes but obviously (now) aren’t….they are a nice size, lovely and round…growing in a pot on my sunny deck.
On the back porch I’ve about finished the pea pod harvest; the green beans are doing well; in the lower garden zucchini, yellow squash (one so far), beans and no cukes or butternut yet….but they are flowering! That’s step one. I hung Irish Spring soap around and have lost nothing to deer this year which is a real change! But we had a hard winter in NW Ct and many deer didn’t survive the predators of which we have too many – I’ve chased a momma bear off the front porch 2 x this year.
Mavis says
Bears? I’d freak out! You must be braver than me!
Mavis says
Ha! I like your way of thinking!
Julie says
Here on Whidbey Island, I have green tomatoes like there’s no tomorrow but not a hint of red. I’m patient though. Lots of time still. I had planted cucumber plants and they never got a chance to do anything as they were eaten to the ground, I imagine by rabbits. So this year, the tomatoes are all I’ve got. Thankfully I have a farm just down the road that has a little “honesty stand”. A little shack with 2 big refrigerators full of fresh produce and a little slot that you put your money in. It’s pretty sweet.
Sandra says
Reporting from Gig Harbor. My sweet 100, sungold and sungold-like tomatoes have been coloring up nicely. I have harvested enough for a few salads (for me only; no one else here likes them). My beefsteak-type has been problematic from the beginning. I have harvested only one ripe tomato. Having a blossom-end rot problem with this one. I have a few other plants that I acquired later in the season that are just starting to fruit.
In a fit of optimism, I started some pumpkin and zucchini seeds last week. They are about 2 inches tall today. We might have enough heat late enough to get some produce from them.
Mavis Butterfield says
My Sun Gold are yellow!!! Just a few more days. Wahooooo.
Teresa says
Here in Oregon, west of Portland, I’ve been picking green beans, roma toms, sun gold toms, sweet 100 toms. Lots of yellow crook neck squash and I have pumpkins the size of basketballs already! Garden peas are nearly done, basil and cilantro and parsley going strong. A friend gave me a million plums so I have those in the food dehydrator as we speak. Love those in stuffing for Thanksgiving. Good summer so far! I feel lucky to have an irrigation well so I don’t get hit with giant water bills.
Mavis Butterfield says
Plum stuffing? OH.MY.WORD. Sounds delicious.
Sherri says
Very timely. I was just trying to research why my tomatoes haven’t ripened. Two other people I know have also commented on the fact that theirs haven’t shown signs of ripening. What I have found out so far is that it has to do with the air temperature being above 85 degrees. Apparently, the tomatoes stop making lycopene and carotene when it is too warm. It sounds like patience is the order of the day, but I have to look into it further. Your garden looks fabulous, my garden just looks, well,………… shell shocked.
Cheryl @ Living Design says
I hadn’t heard that about the air temperature before, having only gardened in the SF Bay Area before where theres rarely a risk of having too many very hot days in a row. But here in CO the temperatures have been in the high 80s to low 90s for a few weeks and the only tomatoes that were showing signs of ripening were the black ones. We had two days last week that “dropped” into the high 70s and miracle of miracles all the tomato plants are starting to show signs of ripening! I may have a giant harvest on my hands soon, and I’m already out of empty canning jars so I guess getting more is a priority for the week!
Mavis says
Fingers crossed you’re up to your elbows in tomatoes soon!
Tracy L. says
Auburn WA:
Green here too. I thought with all this heat I would be knee deep in tomatoes!! But, if Sherri is right, that’d make a lot more sense in why they are taking so long. Harvesting blueberries and cukes daily, and that makes me pretty happy! . I will just be patient on the tomatoes and wait along with everyone else.
Mavis says
You can never have too many blueberries if you ask me!
Pam says
I’m in Florida and my green beans, peas, corn and tomatoes are pretty much done for the season. I’m still pulling some slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes but the sauce tomatoes are done. I’ll have my second planting of corn going in the first week of September (along with onions, garlic, leeks and shallots). Potatoes were harvested back in June. Bell peppers and jalapeno peppers have been producing for about 3 weeks now and should be finished up in the next week or two. Cantaloupe never really got started this year (the heat just started way too early and almost every melon cooked before it could be picked) but the watermelons are still going strong – not sure how that figures. The lettuce box has been producing since April and will probably go until mid October when we’ll move it into the greenhouse for the winter. I think that covers everything that got planted this year.
Crystal Conway says
What brand of seeds did you use for green beans and did you like them? I picked up a package from the store and they grew great but just did not like the texture of them.
Mavis Butterfield says
I really like Botanical Interests French filet and Roma beans.
Nancy D says
The pink flamingos reminds me of your encounters with the HOA. Have you watched that hilarious episode of Frasier where he has his own experiences with the condo board? You would love it!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gOoLd7fv1WQ
Ellen in Clackamas says
I am just south of Portland and kind of glad to see others are also waiting on their tomatoes. I’ve had a few cherry toms and a couple of Indigo Rose but everything else is hanging green. So good to know its not all me! This is the least productive garden year I had had in a long time and I am totally blaming it on all this outrageous heat we have had!!! I do have my seeds ready for a fall planting.