Since most of my weekend was spent on storm clean-up (with the exception of the small bit of stitching I showed yesterday), I don’t have any crafting to show you. I’m afraid you in for several garden posts over the next couple days.

Edible Alley is proving an exciting endeavor. I don’t have a huge amount of experience growing food. Mom and Dad had a fairly large veg patch when I was a kid – but the thing I remember most about it was being put on tomato hornworm picking duty (I got 5 cents for dead ones and 25 for live ones).

At the townhouse, the only thing I managed to grow with any success was cherry tomatoes.

So far, the sugar snap peas have been a huge success. Every few days I get a bowlful for Dave to snack on. I’m not a huge vegetable fan, but I admit, I’ve been enjoying a peapod or two (though I prefer to open them up and eat just the peas).

It’s the same with the tender beans. Ever couple of days, I get a nice bowlful. Dave eats them raw, though if I manage to get enough for two, I may cook some up, because I prefer my beans cooked.

I also planted long beans – they aren’t producing yet, but they are making me think if I plant them again, I need to get taller trellising for them. They’ve reached the top of my supports and look like they want to keep going.

The carrots have been…. interesting.

You will recall the first seeding did not go so well. I have a couple from that first seeding that are doing really well

And now the second seeding has started to sprout…

With a vengence!!! I have to get out there and do some thinning soon.

I mentioned before that Mom used to grow pickling cucumbers. I’ve done a little pickling myself (with store bought cukes), and my attempt at dills was not successful. So I decided to plant eating cucumbers instead for Dave. Sadly I don’t remember what kind I planted… but…

The first picture was taken on July 13th. The second on July 21th. The last on July 24th! I can’t believe how fast it grew.

I picked it for Dave because he needed some cucumber for his falafels.

He’s going to have to wait a while longer for the grape tomatoes though…

They’ve still got some ripening to do!

While most of the veg I planted for Dave, the pepper squash I planted for me. Pepper squash (also known as acorn squash) is one of my absolute favourite vegetables. And it can be very, very hard to decent ones in the grocery store. It just doesn’t keep as long as some other squash, and the ones brought up from Mexico are usually flavourless.

I had four plants, but two have died. The two that are remaining seem very robust. They can produce around 8 squash each, so even just two plants should give me a good harvest.

So when I discovered this neat new moth in the garden…

I was quite excited! Until I looked it up. It’s a Squash Vine Borer. As the name implies, that’s not good news for my plants. I dispatched her quickly and checked my plants….

And I found two leaves with these neat arrangement of eggs. A quick google check told me that these are NOT Squash Vine Borer eggs, but Squash Bug eggs! Another pest! I destroyed the eggs, but I’m going to have to remain vigilant.

Just like my flowers, growing edibles has proved to be a great learning experience! And it’s only July!