Colorful If Not Bountiful

There is a unspoken race in our neighborhood of retirees to see who can harvest the first okra, beans, and tomatoes, and one man is quick to tell of what has just been picked.

And while Mr. Retiree got his plants in the ground before ours (it was going to rain on May 1st so he had to put them out a few days early), we are all subject to the same fate: the weather.

It's been a strange summer. Drought and heat, cool(er) weather (so they tell me), a rainy August combined to mess with the cycle of planting and harvesting.

The cucumbers that produced prolifically last year, came and went in just a few short weeks. We managed a few good sized zucchini (which was immediately turned into bread - delicious!), a few volunteer potatoes from last year, and a handful of green beans.



Bell peppers have always been difficult, but the weather must have been perfect as our two plants produced gorgeous round bells, even a purple one. A banana pepper was loaded with produce which turned red when we were patient. Our surprise, however, was the Italian Roaster, which it turns out was not so named for its beauty on the grill but for its intense heat (I think my sister-in-law is still bitter that I shared some with them).



Tomatoes were the fickle crop for us as well as our neighbors; they just wouldn't ripen. My two healthiest plants up and died, one with fruit on the vine. The stragglers fruited and sat and sat and sat before finally deciding to turn although then it was a race between me and the wildlife (with the latter generally winning). The Orange Oxheart was both beautiful and delicious and our best producer. The Cherokee Purple produced some fruit that looked like siamese softballs. The Roma is just now turning but bearing heavily.

And speaking of "bearing heavily," I found this picture taken by one of my dear children.

I sure hope it's harvest time soon.