Not much to report today. @greendinigardenguru #smallgardens

 Tomato isn't ready quite yet, not sure if the zucchini took, seems to be the same size as yesterday.

No sign of the grey grasshopper but they are very good at hiding despite the fact that I spied it very easily. The ants seem to love walking all over the male flowers but since the female was all curled up and closed today didn't want to disturb it. Still haven't eaten the first one, unless you have lots of zucchini about all you can do with one or two is cook them however you want and eat them in one shot. It's disappointing I'm not having the bumper crops my parents had when I was little, or even other people in my same area. Live and learn with gardening. More nutrients for sure! Stronger cage and maybe a different spot next time for the tomato. Can't even plant bush beans at this stage because I need A LOT more nutrients to make those succeed. 

I'm not much on leafy greens but will try some lettuces in the winter as well as cilantro. I've always suggested theme gardens for people when they don't know what to plant. 'Spaghetti' garden can be bell peppers, tomatoes, oregano, parsley and garlic. Those mostly all grow in the same season, garlic may be pushing it in the summer. A 'salsa garden' unfortunately is off in the timing as well. Peppers and tomatoes for sure in the summer but cilantro, garlic and onion are mostly cool season. Recipe for failure there. (aha. aha... see what I did there?).

So many things I want to try and grow but not without a lot more work and waiting for winter or next summer. Not going to grow pumpkins.. nope. Watermelons.....still not enough room, corn... HA! Now lima beans might be something but again need trellising. I have a wonderful recipe for zucchini,yellow squash, corn and lima beans. Sallume Succotash, just salt, pepper, garlic and butter. It was delicious first time I made it! Haven't had it in fifteen years.

So that's another consideration that people don't think about, what are you going to cook with your vegetables? I still have my mom's recipes for zucchini in various forms, several spaghetti sauce versions and some chili recipes. Dating back to the 60's and 70's for the most part. I always ask people, 'What do you want to eat?' if they hem and haw, then maybe growing vegetables isn't what you should do. Sometimes they'll answer something like 'can I grow corn in a pot?' uhhh no. 'how about a watermelon? uhhh not that either. If you're stuck with growing in containers only you don't have many choices for a garden. Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, maybe peas or beans depending on the container. That's about it. Okra anyone? uhhh no.

Back on point:

No need for watering today, still overcast but will be in the 90's  next week again, bleh! So just when you think it's good to go in the garden and do some work. Keep track of the weather folks! Both on the news for what it's going ot be like and in your own notes. Going to look at a widget I can put on this blog to show what the weather is like when I post. Day to day changes and all that.

Keep on gardening!