The garden is just bursting at the seams. I have so many tomatoes growing, I may have to open a produce stand! We decided to pick a few last night and have some fried green tomatoes (none of them are red yet). We breaded the slices with a flour, salt and pepper mixture, fried them up and ate! This was my first time ever trying fried green tomtoes. I honestly don’t see what the appeal is, but they were nice for a little side item during dinner.
Check out my monstrous pumpkin plants. They’ve decided to take a journey across the yard. I had no idea pumpkins would do this. I have had to redirect them away from my other plants several times. It’s amazing that this monstrocity comes from a tiny little seed. And look at all the blooms on it! We’re sure to have some great pumpkins for making and freezing pumpkin puree for all types of recipes! Including, of course, pumpkin pie!
Being a new gardener this year, I naively thought one plant would produce one pumpkin. If I had known each one can produce several like this, I never would have planted five pumpkin seeds! Well, I’ll definitely be able to stock our freezer with the puree for the entire year once these grow! Plus it will make for some pretty thrifty decorating once fall hits.
And here are a few more photos of happenings in the garden:
(peas)
(pinto beans)
(bell pepper)
(the surviving watermelon plants from the recent ant infestation)
I’d love to hear your garden updates, and see photos, too! If you’ve blogged about your gardening, be sure to link to your posts as I would love to read them!
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
curious as to what type of pumpkin you have planted, (mini, jack o lantern size, big max etc.) because certain pumpkins do not really make good eating. new England ,sugar or pie type pumpkins are the best for human consumption, but the bigger pumpkins do well for feeding animals (pigs, goats, cows and the like) but you can get some fantastic seeds for eating from the bigger pumpkins that you can toast up and salt, they are really good!
P.s. I thought all your garden had been assaulted by your ants, I was soooo pleased to see the pics you posted, I actually cried out YOOHOOO!!! My daughter came running in the room asking what was wrong!!! Lol Garden looks great TM!!
lol, that’s so funny!
It was just one of the beds that was attacked. It’s not doing as well as the side with the tomatoes, peas and pumpkins. But the plants are still growing on the other side.
the pumpkins are the smaller/medium sized ones. I forget what type. I cook up pumpkins every year and freeze the puree, so this is something I am used to doing.
I am so happy to hear that, cause I got concerned when I was reading your post. Most of my garden is doing really well, my tomatoes and peppers got off to a late start, but everything else seems to be doing ok, just silly little white “butterflies” they eat up a garden and I recently had a momma rabbit have 3 baby bunnies entirely too close to my garden, but all is well as of right now!! Good luck with the rest of your garden, I think about your garden every time I am in mine!! (I had also told my mother about your ant problem and the pics I saw and she was soo sad for you as well) So I guess you could take comfort in the fact that you got some gals in NC praying for a good harvest for ya TM!!!!
Pumpkins can certainly take over! Be careful where you dispose of rotting pumpkins after all is said and done — you might have an unexpected pumpkin patch next year as a result! This happened to us when I was a little a few times. That is what we get for throwing the rotting pumpkins into the brush!
Your garden looks beautiful
Your garden looks great! I live in an apartment complex and am doing container gardening.
I don’t have pest problems but PEOPLE problems. Each green pepper that was big enough to pick had been picked by neighbors. It’s unavoidable… if they keep this up though I will have to find them and Witness to them or something!
.-= Frugal Friend´s last blog ..CVS $5 Challenge =-.
Your garden looks great! You are growing pinto beans? Do they grow well? Wow, that would be great- I haven’t even thought of growing those! I really want to plant pumpkin, too…but I need to find a spot!
Just finished my garden update, come check it out:
http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/2009/06/garden-improvisation-giant-cucumbers-and-jalapeno-poppers/
.-= Melissa´s last blog ..Garden Improvisation: Giant Cucumbers and Jalapeno Poppers! =-.
Wonderful! We have bunnies that visit every day for our green grass and adding a garden would only increase our visitors.
.-= Believer´s last blog ..Figure It Out! =-.
Your garden is beautiful! One year we planted birdhouse gourds for fun, and they covered the garden – grew in between all the other plants and even climbed the corn stalks! That same year my husband spilled a pack of zuccini seeds, and they were growing all over the yard. Gardening is fun.
I love my fried green tomatoes. I eat them with salt and ketchup…lol. I am glad to see your garden is doing well. Mine is too, but I am not as organic as you. I just saw my first squash bug eggs. So I squished them, and sprayed the viney plants. I know this against the whole point of growing my own, but last year my squash, cucumber and zucchini were destroyed by those little suckers!
.-= Shelly´s last blog ..Harris Teeter Quick Run =-.
Wish I lived farther south, could use free veggies right now.
Mercedes
.-= Mercedes´s last blog ..Free Sample of Great Value Cereal and Granola Bars =-.
Try adding a bit of corn meal to your flour for your fried green tomatoes. The texture adds to the flavor I think.
Your garden looks great! I am doing my first garden with several items –tried just cucumbers last year that didnt work out– and they seem to be taking off. I am so excited! I have pumpkin plants too and they look just like yours creeping across the yard a little. I planted the big max pumpkins–seeing the comment above–are they not edible or tasty? I’m afraid they will be a little too early for Halloween too!
.-= Ryans Dad´s last blog ..NC Zoo =-.
Try some crushed saltines for your fried green tomatoes. Dip them very lightly in flour (you can season the flour), then eggs (try a bit of hot sauce in the eggs too), then crushed saltines. For company fried green tomatoes (lol) throw a bit of grated parmesan cheese into the crackers. One of my favorite restaurants serves them with a horseradishy sour cream sauce. You have my mouth watering for some fried green tomatoes, it’s gonna be a while for me yet.
eating a big max variety pumpkin will not kill you it’s just not tasty, the smaller “pie” pumpkins are the ones that make some really good eating. The canned and pureed pumpkin you can buy is made with the smaller pumpkins.
your garden looks great.our garden has gotten off to a pretty goood start.squash had to be replanted and slow to start.and keeping the deer away is always a challenge.
Did you fry the tomatoes whole (can’t tell from the picture)?
If so, slice them very thin before you fry – they are great!!
You have been such an encouragement as we try gardening for the first time. Thanks for the updates, it’s great to see your progress too! I posted an update on our garden today. The green beans are ready for picking and the little-bitty squash are just adorable! They’ll be ready soon. Our cantaloupe plants sound like your pumpkins. We knew they would expand, we just didn’t fully understand the extent of reaching!!
Another suggestion for your pumpkins – When I was younger we always had tons of pumpkins grow from just a few plants, so my mom would go out early in the morning and pick off the blossoms. She would soak them in a little bit of salt water, batter them in some flour, egg and milk, season a bit, and fry them. We loved them! It seems like a cross between fried green tomatoes and zucchini.
love fried green tomatoes! I’ve been thinking about picking mine to make some!
For true southern Fried Green ‘Maters mix a little corn meal in with your flour and a little white sugar. The sugar helps cut the tartness.
Hi there, this is my first time to reply and I am excited. I am doing my first garden this year and went full speed ahead. We live in Reno, NV and we made three raised beds with triple mix about 4ft wide by 12 ft long, the 3rd is only 6 ft long. We planted peas, which we have eaten and are delicious. They are about 5 ft tall presently. Zuccs and yellow squash. Our first zucc baby is about 3 inches long and no yellows yet to speak of. Radishes which we ate and did great and are gone. All sorts of peppers; hot, bell, etc. We have a few baby bells growing and a few anaheim growing but the rest are just flowered at this time. Some don’t seem to have grown much yet, still at about 4 inches. We have about 25 ears of corn in the smaller box with 2 pumkins (jack–0-laterns) and 1 cantaloupe and 2 watermelon in other areas. The melons are tiny plants yet and havn’t taken off yet. The pumkins are a bit bigger, flowering often, but havn’t taken off yet. I want to train them across the yard. We planted strawberries in the flower bed that are doing great. Our problem child really has been our onions…green onions, which everyone said would be so easy, are about the same size they have been for 6 weeks; maybe 3 inches high and stuck??? Any suggestions? The beds are on a drip system and I spray them with water once in a while too. I planted 4 fruit trees but they are very young and appear to be doing well. I am sooooo excited about our pumkins most of all. I cant wait, mostly for fall decorating but also pumkin pie.
THanks for letting me write. I have to figure out how to make a blog…I really want to do this and put my pretty pictures but don’t know how yet….
thank you all,
Laura
fun!!!
I usually plant 8 pumpkins every year, in sets of 2 to a pot – then out in the open after 15 days.
Last year I had only one sprout – so I did double my usual number this year. Guess what – 100% germination, I now have 16 very healthy plants growing, eating more of my garden than I could eat 16 giga-pumpkins.
No pumpkins next year. [shudder]