inagaddadavida

July is here and the garden is doing wonderful.  The yellow crookneck squash have yielded what they could now that the hot weather is rolling in and the rampicante, kamo kamo and even a volunteer mexican squash are all bursting with blossoms and young vegetables.

Elsewhere in the garden, tomatoes are all coming along nicely as well.  We have even had a few off the vine already, and the cherry tomatoes on the patio are almost there!

Pumpkins are all getting orange and big




















And the escondido gold, banana and tigger melons are all getting big and juicy too

The Anaheim and lipstick peppers are all fruiting and the corn is almost up to my shoulders.  Still, the eggplant are slow and putting out beautiful blossoms.

And the beans and carrots are all still yielding tons.

In the meantime, our neighborhood is an expanded garden in itself.  Everything from grapes to kumquats, peaches to grapefruit, loquat to bananas, lemons, artichoke, blackberries, apples and figs. Up the street, we even have a neighbor who grows papaya!  Going on a walk this time of year convinces me that for kindness to your neighbor and perhaps a friendly trade of produce, none of us would go hungry in San Diego.

more growth, and recycled veggies...

Well, squash and zucchini season is officially here!  If you have a garden, you know this time of year well... the one where you start leaving baskets on neighbors patios, baking zucchini bread, slipping extras into parked cars with windows down.  Who can resist such a high yield veggie for the garden though.  We have one plant this year, and have collected at least a dozen crooknecks so far.  No zucchini yet, but we planted in a more sunshine conservative part of the yard this year, so as to tone down a bit on the great zucchini explosion of last year.  We also opted for a kamo kamo this year which will be a late summer to early fall kabocha type squash that is quite versatile.  For now though, yellow crookneck galore.  Here are a few recipe ideas for you for the bounty.  We tried a curried squash with garbanzos, cauliflower and potatoes that was delicious.  http://allrecipes.com/recipes/fruits-and-vegetables/vegetables/squash/summer-squash

on the vine with blossoms still coming

ready for stir fry

Other than the squash, everything else is getting bigger and bigger.  We'll soon be opening our own farmers market out of the back gate I think.

sugar snap peas

blackberries, yum

blue lake beans

watermelon

stupice tomatoes

small sugar pumpkins

corn and kamo kamo squash

tomatillos

eggplant

lipstick sweet peppers

And then there was this little visitor who came as we were watering all of the groceries.

hummingbird taking a sprinkler bath

Finally, a few words on carrot recycling.  Did you know that after topping your carrots you can place them back in the soil and they will grow for you?  In fact, many vegetables will, including potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, celery, chives, lettuces and more.  For information how, http://wakeup-world.com/2012/10/15/16-foods-thatll-re-grow-from-kitchen-scraps.  We have successfully made this happen with onions and carrots so far, but are giving it a shot with all of the root veggies this year along with re-seeding as we pull.  Here's some instructions on the carrots by way of photos.  We already have one carrot that successfully re-rooted, and two very happy aussie brown onions, not to mention all of our potatoes.  Keep you posted on how it goes!  Recycle your kitchen scraps and make them grow!

amarillo and nantes scarlet carrots

carrot tops ready for the garden again

re-planted and ready to grow