4th week of August 2008
The dry weather continues but finally some heat is helping the heirloom tomatoes to ripen. One new variety our daughter tried this year was Pink Accordian and pictured are some of the unique fruits from those plants. My husband is glad to now get his daily dose of his favorite Persimmon tomatoes that are flavorful orange/yellow variety. And others like Green Zebras, Cherokee Purples, Rose and Garden Peach are brightening up veggie baskets these days. The dry weather is bringing some of the bean production to a faster halt than normal but the yard long beans and red noodle beans are still hanging in there with another crop of Provider bush beans starting to flower. We were excited to finally pick the first muskmelon and are watching carefully for when the watermelons start showing some signs of browning stems. Meanwhile, the fall salad crops are getting underway in flats and by the look of the generous amount of Winter Density lettuce that germinated, I may need to fill several cold frames with the makings for Thanksgiving salads. It feels a waste to discard beautiful seedlings so we'll just make more room.
A unique flower that I'm having fun making bouquets with right now is the Teddy Bear sunflower. They are blooming beautifully and fortunately the Japanese beetles don't find them tasty like they do my zinnias, purple coneflowers and others. Bouquets with sunflowers just seem to have a way of making everyone smile. I even included the Teddy Bears in bouquets that a friend requested for the altar at her Lutheran church in Massillon. When she picked them up I was honored to find out she was giving them in memory of her parents since I knew her mother was a great lover of flowers and gardening. I am trying to keep good notes on flower varieties, colors and succession plantings so next year's bouquets can be even more colorful.
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