Garden Update

I said a few weeks back that I'd be complaining about the heat soon...and now I am. We were at 102 degrees today, so after an hour in the garden doing the absolute necessary, I decided to update you on what's been going on here.

The yellow squash are making up for lost time and I am now doing the frantic search for new recipes to make use of all the bounty. Today, I thought I'd be adventurous and make squash croquettes. This recipe could use some "improvements" so I'll play with a bit. My other half didn't mention calling Poison Control, so that's always a promising sign for a recipe. Of course considering that it was so hot today, I probably shouldn't have been frying ANYTHING in the kitchen, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

The tomatoes are happy and blooming away, I hope we don't have to many of these hot days, as this is something that we battle with here in Sacramento. Tomatoes tend to stop setting fruit at temperatures over 90 degrees. You have to battle to ensure consistent watering to prevent splitting and make sure the fruit have proper sun protection with their foliage to prevent sun scald (the fruit turning yellow in spots facing the sun). This year I'm trying to stay on top of all these things (almost time to begin the Horn Worm war).

The Ichiban eggplants have begun to bare beautiful glossy slim purple fruits. The Thai eggplants are still growing and have yet to flower. I can taste the green curry dishes and eggplant Parmesan now.yumm.

Once in awhile, we plant something or think we plant something and it grows to be something else. Or the plants got mixed up, or I forgot to label it. But, whatever...so what the heck are these beans? I can clearly tell these are beans and they appear to be pole. They are dark green with a purple hue on each end. Well the good thing about gardening is always the discovery of a hybrid breed or something that was dropped by the local wildlife. So...we shall wait and see and if we don't like it I'm sure the dogs will :).