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Tag Archive for Sunflower

The Colors from My Summer Garden

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This afternoon I have been working on getting the summer photos organized. There are just a few that I want to share with all of you from my garden. Especially since the summer gardening season is winding down for many of us “green thumbs”.

First up – the lovely jalapenos. Mild and yummy just for me, since I’m a huge “spice weenie”. I don’t like the heat, just the jalapeno flavor. I’ve harvested close to 8 dozen of these beauties. Can’t wait to share my daughter’s roasted salsa recipe with you.

Next up – the mini pumpkins. This is a Burpee variety of pumpkin, called Small Sugar. They can probably be used for pumpkin baking, but for my purposes they will most likely just be decorating the house for fall.

Then there are the sunflowers. Evan and I had planted the huge, big sunflowers, and right after they bloomed they got attacked by this ugly fungus and I ended up chopping them down. But they were gorgeous for a little while.

There were also had the small sunflowers, which made a great backdrop in the garden. I had cut some of these and brought them in the house too. But, they still had so much pollen dropping I only did that once. They were a little messy, but very sunflower pretty.

Then there was this little sunflower, and I think he was saying, “Do I have to wake up today?” Kind of funny.

Last flower of the day is the lovely zucchini blossom. I took a lot of pictures of these blooming, because the flowers are huge. This is one of my favorites. I’m still harvesting a few zucchini, and making all kinds of baked goodies from them.

Now I am in the process of planting for a winter crop of cucumbers, sweet corn, spinach and lettuce. This is the first year I have attempted plantings after the summer harvest. We are fortunate here in California to have a second growing season, and this year I will be taking advantage of it.

How did your garden grow this summer? What is your favorite fruit or veggie from your summer garden?

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Gardening

The Garden Leaves are Everywhere.

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This year in my garden I have zucchini plants, pumpkins, butternut squash, watermelon, and sunflowers. All of these plants have amazing leaves. I’ve been a little mesmerized by the different shapes and sizes of the leaves from each plant. And I don’t know that I ever realized or paid much attention to the distinctive leaves of each plant.

Zucchini leaves are huge. All of the leaves protect the blossoms in one way or another. The zucchini leaves are by far the largest of them all. And isn’t it amazing how the leaves protect the plants, and camoflauge them? I was picking some zucchini tonight, looked at the same plant twice before I realized there was a really good-sized zucchini laying right on the ground, in plain sight.

Pumpkin leaves are next. I was also trying to get pictures of the little blossoms. They spread out in long trails, so make sure you have lots of room to plant and let them grow. Pumpkins are in the foreground. The leaves in the background are a patch of sunflowers.

The watermelon leaves have a shape and size all their own. Very curvy and a little lighter green than the squash family of plants. These leaves trail out into the garden too. sometimes those trailers have to be redirected so they don’t get tangled up in a fence or a tree. And look at my little baby watermelon, so cute. This picture was taken about a month ago. The melon is about 3 or 4 pounds now. This is the first time I’ve ever grown watermelons. I’ll let you know how they turn out soon.

Then there’s the butternut leaves. Very similar to the pumpkins in shape and size. These leaves trail all over the place. I have a big area designated just for the bountiful butternuts!

The sunflowers were planted just for Evan. Actually he planted these seeds himself, and has been watching their progress over the summer. Evan’s method of planting the sunflower seeds was just pushing them into the mud in this little patch we designated for them.

It is still so amazing to me that one little garden can produce so much greenery. I’ve just been fascinated by all of the leaves and greenery. The way the squash family of plants, in particular, have a natural way of camoflauging, or become an umbrella to the vegetables underneath is a wonder all its own.

Did you have you garden this summer? Do you have a green thumb? If you only planted one thing in your garden my vote would be for a zucchini plant, For me they have the most amazing leaves of all. Happy gardening everyone.