Busy Garden

Now that things are growing strong, setting fruit or veggies, and some harvests are beginning to come in, the garden is getting busy!

My son got a watermelon start at Home Depot for his birthday in late June.  Now, he checks the melons every day to watch how big they get.  Here's a typical scene...

So far there are two melons to keep an eye on!

The kids can't wait to harvest the onions!

The squash has just given us our first harvest!

Peppers!  Some should turn red soon!

They taste so good!

Time to make Basil Pesto!

Lots of busy bees!

 

A couple of toads!  See all those little black dots in the water?  Must be the eggs!

I wonder if, besides keeping the water filled, do I always need to keep it in the shade?

What about mosquitoes?  This is right next to the house.

Developing Green Beans!  They look like we'll get a nice harvest.  I hope!

Here you see the Bush Beans along with Butternut Squash (trailing beautifully down off the raised bed), and a few Cucumber plants.  Living in an arid environment, when I see this much greenery growing up and together like this, I just can't help but rejoice!

Besides, compare this photo from only 8 days ago!  Amazing, isn't it?

I love it!

I also love the shape of Butternuts!

If you look carefully, you'll see a Cucumber has found a cornstalk and has climbed quite a ways up!  Wow!  Excuse my silliness, but it's the first time I've grown Cucumbers and I didn't know how much they can vine!  Oh, the lushness of it all!  A garden can really be a paradise!

Anaheim Peppers doing very well under the protection of the Sunflowers.

The planting suggestions for arid gardens was to give peppers a little shade in the hot afternoon sun.  These Sunflowers are doing their job incredibly well.  Not to mention their attractiveness to birds and bees!

Love it, love it, love it!

Speaking of sun protection, the Tomatoes benefit as well.  I tried planting Sunflowers among the Tomatoes this year, and it's working very nicely.  No need for shade cloth!

  We got three Peaches this year!  Whoohoo!

 I found out that if you want larger peaches, you space them about a fist's width apart.  That way instead of getting some small peaches that don't knock each other off the tree, you get larger peaches.

The Summer Squash and Onions.

In a day or two it will be official, the well known saying will be said around here also, "We've got squash coming out our ears!"  What blessings!

Is it difficult to believe this is a garden in the high desert of Arizona?  I feel so blessed.  Special thanks must go to Miracle Worker for installing the watering system for me.  It has made the difference between watering or weeding.  I of course would always choose watering.  Therefore I now water AND find time to weed!

I'm off now to harvest some corn and see if it has done well.  If so, we eat corn tonight!

And if anyone has advice on how to take care of the toad's eggs, please let me know!

Thank you for letting me share the beauty!

Linking up with Farmgirl Friday blog hop!  Yay!