Daffodils!

Ours seem to bloom about 2 weeks after everyone else's but spring is finally here!

Late Bloomer

We have a lot of buds and blooming roses on the bushes right now. More than we had in the spring or summer this year, I think!

Tomato, ToMAHto

So, tomatoes are my favorite food. As such, I only eat them in their prime. Which, here in B to the more is August. Namely nearly my birthday (August 19th. I will be 30. Am scared) week. So, why are all of my tomato plants full of GREEN tomatoes? We have some flowers and some tiny tomatoes but nothing ripe. Well. We have had 2 ripe tomatoes since June (both now in quotes "Early" Girls) and one in June (yellow pear) and nothing else. For all of June/July we pretty much had zero flowers so at least these flowers speak of potential but we are going to Belgium for a little over a week in early September and I have horrible thoughts that they are all going to ripen then. Is it in bad taste to ask the neighbors to pick my tomatoes and then hold them for me? We have like 10 heirloom varieties I am dying to eat. This summer was supposed to be the summer of tomatoes, not the summer of suck. Le sigh.

Trees

Today Matt bought two tiny fig trees. This past weekend we bought two pawpaws. I got to thinking about all of the other trees we have and realized that we have quite a lot of trees! Two dogwoods, a redbud, two crape myrtles, a Japanese cherry, the two pawpaw and two figs, one (or is it two?) mock apples, a fruiting plum (pictured above), a large oak and what I think is an ornamental plum tree, all of which are in the backyard with the exception of one of dogwoods. Today marks the end of our tree purchasing!

Blackberry Harvest

Our blackberry bush is huge. Last year it was like a foot tall, now it is over 6 and very prolific. We've gotten about 1 cup of berries so far and lots more are coming ripe. We put a net over the bush to keep the birds at bay and it seems to be working well.

Mammoth Sunflowers

Now taller than us!

Blackberries!

Sorry for the lull in posting, but not much has been happening in the garden lately. A lot of growing, but not a lot of flowering or fruiting. Oddly all of the baby plums on our tree have vanished but the blackberries are going strong.

In Bloom Today

Here's a picture of most of our yard. It's actually 90% green and in bloom now.

Mock Apple

After the storms of the last few days (we even lost power for a couple of hours!) we are losing a lot of petals from our various trees. The mock apple is holding strong though, and smells great.

Our Yard: Vortex of No Growth?

The most recent signs:

• Our daffodils are just leaves and no blooms while our next door neighbor's daffodils have been blooming for a week.
• The cherry trees in Washington DC are blooming. We have the same variety and it is no where near ready to bloom.

I understand that DC is probably a little warmer (due to being more urban and being slightly further South) than our yard but what is the difference between our flowers and the ones blooming not 3 feet away in the neighbor's yard? Even ones that get the same sun exposure are not blooming. Perplexing.

Grape Harvest

We noticed that our grapes are suddenly ripe. Last year they died before we could pick them, but now we have a ton. I can't imagine what we are going to do with them all.

Hibiscus

We planted some hibiscus in a area that used to be populated by out of control rose of sharon. It grew to about 5 feet tall is now beginning to bloom.

Tomatoes!

The cherry tomatoes are ripening and I have already harvested one full sized tomato today. Yum! It seems a little early for tomatoes, normally the cherry tomatoes come first, then a week or so later the larger varieties. I'm not complaining, though.

More Squash

We are starting to get a little over run-tons of zucchini and pattypan harvested and we are only two people!

Produce update

So far: blackberries, 1 zucchini and 2 patty pan squash. It has been in the upper '90s for a few days now-not the best weather for gardening!

Watermelon

I discovered this watermelon under our bench. I honestly think it doubled in size overnight!

Waaataaamelllooon

Okay, they are super tiny right now, but we have watermelons! I've never grown watermelon before so I am super excited. They are the Sugar Baby variety, so they will stay pretty small-only about 7-8 inches. The plant has gotten huge, it seems to double in size every night.

Take off your shoes, we have some stomping to do!

Our grapes (concord??) are getting big. So far they haven't been too tasty, but maybe this year is the year. We have tons of them and it would be great to actually make something from them rather then have them wither on the vine.

Sunbathing

Violet has taken to sunning herself in the yard.

Tomatoes!

We finally have some baby tomatoes! Heather had some on Sunday and I was worried my plants were woefully inadequate, but I think she just planted hers first. My mom was over today and she thinks they might be planted too close together, but I think they are okay. They are already doing a 1,000 times better than they did last year.

Also: please vote for my cooking blog, Coconut & Lime in the GrillMe contest. By voting for me you are also entering yourself in the same contest-a trip to Napa Valley! Click here to enter.