The First "Take" from the Garden

Last night I was able to harvest our first vegetable from our garden - a sweet banana pepper. While it may not seem like much, from what I can tell, it is just the first of many, many veggies to come from that garden. Our Early Girl tomato plants have fruit growing and almost all of our other tomato plants (37 total) have buds. Yes, I said 37 tomato plants. And no, I don't can. Yet. And no, I don't have a stand-alone freezer. Yet.

Most of our other plants are doing well, also. Most, if not all, of the pepper plants (15 total) have buds on them and there is at least one super chili pepper growing already. The zucchini plants have doubled in size since Monday and there are many little zucchinis growing! The yellow squash and cucumbers do not yet have any blossoms, but continue to grow. The peas and green beans are putting out squiggly feelers, so this weekend we will run string back and forth for the vines to attach. I estimate we have 120+ stalks of corn and that is after Chris thinned them out to every 12". The melons (musk and honeydew) are both looking good, as are the broccoli, cauliflower, and celery.

I am sad to report that the cabbage and cauliflower that I planted outside of the fenced-in vegetable garden have fallen victim to the neighborhood Eastern Cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus). However, the black-eyed Susans have taken to their new garden quite well and the mixed variety of sunflower seeds that I planted there are growing like crazy. So far, nothing has disturbed the sunflowers and I am hopeful that remains the case as they develop their heads. I think the garden is too far out in the open (and well within our dog's patrol range) that squirrels will not be a problem...but then again I thought that too about the rabbits and the cabbage and look how that turned out!

Bird activity remains constant with added visitors to the new finch feeder - a male and female Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus). As usual, the male is much more colorful and attractive compared to the female; however, they have both been fascinating to watch. They both seem content to sit on the edge of the feeder and eat the seeds that have collected in the bottom tray rather than pick at the feeder the way the Goldfinches do. I have witnessed them picking at the feeder, but they appear to prefer "the lazy way" to eat.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!