fruits of our labors

The cantaloupe plant wins the prize for the best-producing member of our garden. Bunnies ate our bean leaves, we only got a couple of 3-inch corn cobs, the squash and watermelon plants just didn't make it, and our tomato crop has been sporadic. But the cantaloupes have never failed us. Several small but decent-tasting specimens have graced our table over the past month. And one character - the one in the picture - has been taking his sweet, juicy time to ripen over many weeks, swelling and swelling to perfection. Today, on Miss Bee's and my daily trip to "check on the garden", we found that fellow turned completely golden and ready to pick. A drop of water fell from the stem when I picked him; I hope this is a sign of juiciness. Anyway, now he is in the fridge, chilling until dinnertime. He's as big as the melons in the grocery store (isn't this a sign of success??). We can't wait to try him!

the corn is as high as a 4-year-old's eye

That's our Miss Bee, and that's our corn. It's only about 3 1/2 feet tall, and it already has tassels and the beginnings of small ears. I'm actually afraid the tassels and ears are coming a bit early because it seems like the stalk should be taller. But, hey - all this came from seeds we planted ourselves, however prematurely. We have also harvested 1 cherry tomato and 2 Romas. There would have been more cherries, but the birds got to a couple. A friend told me that if you hang CDs near your tomato plants, the reflective surfaces will scare the birds away. It's working! Our cantaloupe plant is also thriving and wins the prize for the most progress. It is twining all around its corner of the garden box. The parsley and basil plants have yielded one yummy batch of pesto, and a little green knob is slowly starting to look like a pepper. So far, our little garden is doing okay!

10 green thumbs (we hope)

This week we finished a monumental project - a backyard garden. I have been bugging DH for several springs to help me put one in, and this year, he gave in. No really, we decided TOGETHER that it would be a good family project.

Daddy and the kids worked hard on digging out the grass for three 4' x 4' boxes and we all helped to build the boxes with landscaping timbers. Dad, being the carpenter at heart that he is, insisted on very square corners and level sides (Mom even leveled one of the boxes!), and as you can see, they look great! The boys were good workers. They did their jobs - carrying sod, digging Texas clay out of the boxes, hammering stakes, handing Dad tools/screws/rebar/lumber, squirting Liquid Nails - without (much) complaining, and handled themselves reasonably well in Home Depot while Mom shopped for seeds and plants. Even Miss Bee helped with the digging and also filled in the space around each box with soil when the boxes were finished. I am pretty proud of those kids.

We planted (and hopefully will harvest) watermelon, cantaloupe, butternut squash, tomatoes (cherry and Roma), rosemary, Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, sweet red peppers, green beans and sweet corn. Check back periodically to see if our thumbs are still green!

(I know one of the pictures is sideways; I'm still figuring out how to rotate it.)