Short Absence, Big Changes

Finally some yellow! The first of our dozens of sunflowers
have bloomed. I can't figure out the variety of this one!

Still waiting on these sunflowers to bloom,
but in my 4 day absence, they grew to be taller than me.
We planted 4 different varieties, and several came up as volunteers...
we're itching to see what all blooms.

This morning I arrived back home after a trip to upstate New York. Though I was ready for the 4 day retreat into the beautiful hills that my best friend calls home, I was also anxious about leaving my garden in order to take the mini-vacation.

It's only four days, right? As my fellow gardeners know, four days in the height of summer can mean a lot of dramatic changes.

Since I walk through my gardens daily--usually every few hours you'll find me wandering among my planted nooks and crannies--an entire four days was sure to bring bigger changes than I was accustomed to. Though there were no huge harvests ready, and there were no disasters awaiting me (I did worry), a few things did stun me just enough to put a smile on my face. Here is my welcome-home-walk through the garden:

View from neighbor's yard. The 8 year old neighbor girl is so tickled
that some stuff is growing on her side. :)

Mexican sour gherkins; dozens of them!

These got too big, I should have picked them before I left.

Dozens of little pickling cukes popping out

Pole beans are starting to climb all over their teepee and the fence

These bush beans, planted in a straw bale,
are doing terribly. Yellowed, eaten, half dead.

Despite the fact that the plants are ragged and half dead, they
keep trying to give us more green beans

Because the green beans in the straw bales were such a disappointment,
I had planted a dozen more seeds in one of the raised beds; next to the kohlrabi (you can
see a kohlrabi in the upper left corner). I was glad to see the bean plants had gained a few
inches while I was gone; hoping for at least a small harvest before fall.

A couple of handful of snow peas were begging to be picked...

and I handed one to Noah, who was swimming while I checked out the gardens.
He LOVES snow peas!

A new crop of peas--these are sugar snaps--burst through the straw bale
that I sowed them in before I left.

Lots of red appeared while I was gone

A sight for travel weary eyes; my trusty tomatoes. :)

Habaneros are getting there!
They were tiny buds when I left.

Lots of jalapenos!

The kohlrabi has been hit hard by cabbage moths this year,
but there are several that have made it and are nearing
harvest time

New planting of kohlrabi poked through while I was gone.

We still have no idea what this volunteer plant is! It has reached the
soffits and is continuing to spread, with lots of little flower buds.
Will it produce anything? We'll see!

Even though the cucumbers had grown to a hulking size, they tasted delicious!