Edit: I have imported this from my The Black Thumb of Death Gardening Blog to my regular blog...  

We are STILL eating off the same heads of Lovelock lettuce! The strawberries are now slowing down. Man... they were delicious. We are getting tiny bits of peas and using them raw in salads. Same for the poor carrots. (See below about that.) I am learning as I go. So far, I now know what I need to plant for next year and what to great expand.


I am letting one some of the plants go to seed to collect for next year. No, not any of those that may cross-pollinate. Above is a red onion when it first opened and now in full bloom. I must remember to get the radish one. Cute tiny, pinkish flowers.

Here is the banana wax peppers so far. I will refrigerate pickle them, since I only planted two plants.



The remaining strawberries.

The spaghetti squash bloomed and already forming squashes. I hope the family does not mind getting a few.

The watermelon bloomed and here is one of the first melons forming. Yum! Melons do not ripen until September in our climate.

A teeny-weeny bellpepper!

I pulled some of the potatoes that were dying off. I will wait until they are almost to completely dead on the remaining plants. Each had one or two small potatoes... and a few dime-sized ones. (laughing) We dried them in the garage and will taste them in a few days, with butter, sour cream and chives, of course.


Did you know that if your soil is rich in nitrogen your carrots will get appendages? See above. I still peel and chop them for salads. Cutting some of the appendages off seems rather wrong, if you look at the close-up. ahem.

It looks like a torso. No eyes opened when I sliced them up, at least. Did you know that carrots do not die until you cook them or eat them raw? (Some latest research I read.) The last thing they do is give off an electrical impulse that is healthy for us, and the equivalent of a death scream in plant language. So much for the vegetarian view, huh? Rip their torso off and chew them up as they scream! eeeeee.... (snicker)


I also pulled the onions. Again, I should of waited though the books said they were ready by the way the tops fell and were dying off. No problem. I braided them and they are hanging in our carport to dry. No direct sun, small breeze and the squirrels have not bothered them.

Our grandson got an apple so he could plant the seeds. He left before doing so. We got another red variety and a granny smith one. The first two reds are growing already. The green was planted yesterday, so... We figure will get apples when our grandson graduates high school. (laughing)

More photos to come. I have learned a lot so far, made notes and still flying by the seat of my pants while reading organic gardening books and asking friends who have already traveled the same path. We are already setting up the areas to expand into for next year so I have a lot more to can. I learned I like the small amount of weeding. It is meditative. Adding mulch stops not only the weeds, it cuts water consumption way down. Cool.

More in a day or three, hopefully not of more mutant vegetables.