Garden in August

Here are a few of the things growing in my garden right now! The Flagg beans . . . These beans are so cool looking and they are tasty AND they are productive - how much more could you ask for in a bean?! I have already harvested enough for my seed next year and some trades. There are about a bazillion pods starting to dry on the plant - going to be some good bean meals this winter!



Grapes. I hate these grapes. Ok, hate might be fairly strong word but seriously - I want BIG grapes. Ones that you can actually eat. I have tried several different grapes and still, year after year, this is the only plant that grows well and produces any grapes at all. This year it is LOADED . . . with teeny, weeny, little grapes. Now these grapes make very tasty jelly and some decent juice but I can't exactly make raisins out of them! Even if i did take the effort to dry them they would be a giant seed covered with a little bit of raisiny skin - not very appetizing. But, every year I continue to nurture the plant as it is still the ONLY grape I have been able to grow. Maybe next year the one surviving plant that I planted this spring will grow well enough to give me hope! At least these little grapes are pretty all hanging in clumps from the vine!



OOOOhhhhhh! Just look at these lovely, BIG, round, perfectly formed and almost ready to ripen tomatoes. They are growing from lovely, TALL, and perfectly sturdy, disease free vines! I'd love to share the name of this variety that seems to like my garden so well but . . . I did the UNTHINKABLE and planted seeds from a tomato I bought from the grocery store last winter. So ha! I just proved that not only can the seeds from storebought fruit/veggies actually grow but sometimes they might surprise you. Avtually I knew perfectly well that they would grow but I was admittedly surprised to see them do so well. I saved these seeds because it was a freakishly good tasting tomato - something that rarely happens from food bought at the big box supermarket. I wanted to plant some with the hope that I could find a plant or two among the seedlings that showed good storage/keeping qualities (one would assume that it being from a grocery store means it had to have good storage qualities to be shipped the distances that it was!)I was so surprised to find that all 4 of the plants I grew showed surprisingly stable type - meaning the seeds were most likely OP and not hybrid, making my selection much, much easier! BIG, STRONG plants that are loaded with huge clumps of fruit. I can't wait to taste them and test the keeping quality.