Tomato Time And Some Strange Cucumbers - July 27th, 2013

It's been so much cooler out this week.  I think my garden is breathing a huge sigh of relieve.  It's starting to perk up again.  The tomatoes are ripening as you can see.  My huge cherry tomatoes and the Roma tomatoes are ripening so quickly now.  As you can see here I even have two very strangely shaped cucumbers.  That might be the very last zucchini of the season.  But you just never know because there are still flowers out there.  Even my flowers are starting to bloom again.

Summer is just going by way too quickly.  I wish we would have more summer and less winter.  It would be perfect.  A longer growing season would be the best.

More Giant Zucchini, Some Peas And Tomatoes - July 20th

 So when I went out this morning, the damage from yesterday's storm wasn't as extensive.  The corn has stood back up on it's own and the zucchini plant and the cage are now righted after I cut this massive zucchini off of it.

In the photo on the right you can see our first peas of the season.  Yay!  They have finally started to grow.  We also picked two more cherry tomatoes.  Everything tastes amazing.  YUM!!!

Another Round Of Nasty Storms Some Damage

So after many days of hazy, hot and humid weather the heat wave finally broke with quite a bang.  We had another nasty storm.  As a matter of fact some places had a tornado and others had straight line wind damage (which is a baby tornado....the winds are there but not the funnel cloud).  I wasn't home at the time of the storm but I suspect that the high winds knocked over some of the stuff in my garden.  One of the corn stalks fell over and a tomato plant is now leaning.  I think with some string and a stick all should be ok.  One of the massive zucchini plants has tipped over as well.  I think that the tomato cage that is holding it up may have come loose.  I will go out this morning to assess the damage.

My brother and his family came over last night between storms for a visit and couldn't believe the size of my plants.  He planted a garden but a few weeks after mine.  He doesn't believe me that it will get a lot bigger now that the heat is not so bad.  The one thing you learn as a gardener is patience.  For everything else in my life, I am not a patient person.  I have learned that I have to be patient with my garden.  I cannot control what Mother Nature does or doesn't do out there.

July 17th - Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

 So we are in the midst of a heatwave here in the city.  You know you're in trouble when you wake up at 5:30 a.m. and it's already in the 80's.  We really need some rain desperately!

So here you can see my cherry tomatoes that are just starting to ripen.  So far I've picked two.

 Here you can see just how high the corn has grown.  Yes folks it is now taller than our fence.

 Here you can see some of the cucumbers that are just starting to grow and get bigger.  I don't think that they will get very large as the plant isn't all that big.

And here is a photo of my 6 zucchini that I picked tonight, one cherry tomato, 2 patio tomatoes and some broccoli.

Here are some zucchini and broccoli that I just picked

Here is a photo of the zucchini and broccoli that I just picked from my garden.  Those were only the zucchini that I could reach.  There are many more but the plants have grown so large they are covering my walkway.  If anyone has some tasty recipes that you like to make with zucchini feel free to share them with me.  I love to bake.

The Day After The Big Storm - July 9, 2013

 July 8, 2013 will be a day that few people who live in the GTA will soon forget.  It started off as just another hot and humid day, but by 4:00 p.m., just as the rush hour was about to begin Mother Nature showed us just how powerful she is.  Within two hours we got 126 mm of rain.  That's more rain than Hurricane Hazel brought to the city back in 1954.  The rain stranded downtown commuters as the roadways quickly looked like lakes.  The DVP filled up with water until it was level with the Don River.  A GO Train filled with over 1,400 passengers got stuck in the water and threatened to topple over.  If that wasn't bad enough, snakes (I would hope they were the harmless garden variety) could be seen floating by in the murky water.  After being stranded for over 5 and 1/2 hours on that train the police marine unit came and rescued the passengers one by one.  The TTC quickly had to be shut down as the water levels rose on track level and platforms.  At one point during the storm more than 300,000 customers were without power.  It's now just over 24 hours later and 70,000 customers are still without power and there are rolling blackouts.  Another storm warning has just been issued.

But after all of the rain, heat and humidity I got out to visit my garden.  I have never seen it so lush and tropical.  Above you can see a Lily has bravely poked it's head out from under the rose bush.  The the Hostas are blooming beautifully.

 As promised in my previous post here is a better photo of the cob of corn.  The 4 plants are taller than our fence right now.

The zucchini have almost completely taken over the garden.  There are many zucchini ready to be picked just as soon as it gets dry enough to get in there.  The broccoli is also ready but the cauliflower seems to be all leaves at the moment.

I've now picked two of the patio tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes are just starting to change colour and should be ready in a day or two if we get some much needed sun.

I Actually Have A Cob Of Corn

 We've been a way for a vacation and when I came back my garden looks like it's part of a tropical rainforest.  My Hosta plants are flowering beautifully.

 The zucchini are almost as tall as my waist and there are flowers all over the place.  As you can see this is just one of many zucchini plants.

 It's hard to see from this photo but there is an actual cob of corn on this stalk.  The plant is taller than I am now and as long as no animals fall off the fence onto the plant we should have some nice corn for the BBQ.

I have picked the first tomato off the patio tomato plant.  I haven't cut into it yet but it sure smells amazing.







It appears that my cucumbers are very happy now as well.  There are also very tiny cucumbers on each of the plants.