Veggies

I had just been bemoaning the fact that except for the tomatoes, which are doing very well, my attempt at a vegetable garden this year has been pretty unsuccessful--but then we came back from our vacation in CT. I'd gone outside to check on the tomatoes, which had all been green before we left, but at least there were several large ones on the heirloom plant, and a tiny cluster or two on the grape and cherry plants. I wanted to see if they'd ripened or grown more--and they had. One large one was turning red, others were forming, the green ones had gotten bigger, and the cherry and grape plants had fairly exploded with clusters. So I was happy about that--apparently chickens don't find tomatoes appealing.

The herbs were also doing well, but the peas had been trampled mercilessly by those lovely birds. They had pulled up all the pepper plants and the watermelon vine that I'd had such hopes for weeks ago, and the cucumbers, eggplant and heirloom beans (a tempting combination of green, wax and purple beans!) were doing better than the peas, but not by much. Then I looked closer....

There were peas and beans all over the vines! The purple ones were so gorgeous they were nearly unbelievable. Dark, shiny and nice, with remnants on flowers at the top. The green and wax beans were just as I remembered picking from my Grandma's garden, and the peas had gotten a bit too large, but I still gleefully snapped them off into my basket. And two small cucumbers are hiding under their huge leaves, so adorable. The eggplant has flowers on it, too, but no fruit, so we'll wait and see. However--there was one pepper plant that although mostly out of the ground still has something that just may be a pepper forming on it. I almost tried to stand it up and bury the roots (again! the chickens keep yanking it up!) but then decided I should just let it be and see if it develops.

Next year I shall have to invest in garden fencing!!!

Jen