Hello garden gals and guys! Welcome back to Fat Earth Backyard Farm!
It has been too hot for words outside which has limited my outdoor time other than watering the gardens and keeping my hens hydrated with lots of water and their favorite summer snack: watermelon!
The tomatoes have begun rolling in steady now, so I wanted to share some photos with you. Come on in the garden with me and take a look around!
This was my very first harvest of the summer. The little tomatoes are a variety called Candyland and I will be sure to grow this again! The plants are bursting with these little babies and they are SO sweet it’s almost like eating tiny cherries! I also had my first mini bell pepper.
This was my very first zucchini of the summer. I actually snapped the stem off when I harvest it because I was so excited I didn’t get my garden shears to cut it from the plan. So my youngest son cooked this one up right away in a stir fry. He loves zucchini and squash!
It was so hot out that I wasn’t checking my zucchini plant. The thing is huge with leaves that are literally larger than my whole head! So I missed these two zucchinis growing…and well… they got HUGE! They are still sitting on my kitchen table. I think I will make zucchini bread with one and slice and freeze the other.
Next up is my apple tree. I bought this tree over seven years ago on sale for five bucks! It has given me lots of tasty apples. It is called a Golden Rush Dwarf apple tree. You can see netting around it.
Last years squirrels stole ALL the apples off my tree! Hubby wasn’t letting that happen this year. So he, my oldest son, and I got a ladder and put some netting around this bad boy! They are coming along quite nicely! I should be able to make at least two apple pies this fall!
Now, this was my first large harvest from the garden. That green basket you see is one of my most prized possessions! I bought it at the estate sale of the late great Maya Angelou. It was in the greenhouse at her home and I had to have it. I use it each year to harvest vegetables.
There are the Candyland tomatoes again, some mini bell peppers, two green bell peppers, and a yellow plum variety of tomatoes that are really yummy!
Last but not least are the girls. They are seven years old now! Can you believe it?? They seem to be slowing down now with egg production, but I love them just the same. Here they are enjoying their other favorite snack: dried meal worms.
So that’s all for now! I hope you are staying safe and cool. Until next time…
Happy farming!