Around the Backyard

We have been in a rainy weather pattern that just won't go away!
I've been telling Hubs for weeks now that "Gee, we could sure use some rain!  It's been pretty dry here so far since May."
Well this past weekend the rain started and this front just won't leave.
The meteorologist this morning said we are due for another 7 DAYS or longer of this on again/off again rain.
Lots of flash flooding around here, mostly to the West and South of us, and more will happen until this front leaves.  The ground is saturated now and if we get much more I may loose lots of veggies.
Eek!

The rain let up for about a half an hour so let's take a walk around the backyard today at Chez Sluggy 

I actually took these first three shots on Saturday........

The profusion of morning glories

Many vines are on the bird feeder poles and trying to climb higher.
I don't even bother to plant these anymore......they just grow back every year from the seeds that drop from the previous Fall.

You might be able to make out the pollen grains on this flower.
You'll notice that we have again been invaded by Japanese Beetles this Summer.
They LOVE morning glory foliage evidently, as well as my Japanese Eggplant plants.

Here is a shot looking over the garden from the left corner......

And here is a shot from the right hand corner......

Here's one of my basil plants.  I am trying to stay ahead of the blossoms to pinch them off so I keep getting more leaves.

One of three eggplants almost ready to pick from 2 of my plants.  The other 2 plants got swallowed up by tomato and squash plants and can't get any sun.  I figured only a few squash would survive the Spring and actually grow but I was wrong.  Now everything is so crowded together some shorter plants don't have a chance.

 A few of the yellow squash not quite ready to pick.....

A couple tomatoes looking good.  Notice the leaves of a hidden basil plant to it's left.......

I see you there Mr. Zucchini, trying to blend in and hide from me until you are a massive size. lol

Here's one of my barrels with the lettuce in it.  It's Simpson black seeded lettuce.
Usually by late July the lettuce is done because of the heat but not this year!
I can't seem to kill these three lettuce plants!
Two of them have gotten so large they look like vines!  And they need support to keep them from falling on the ground from the barrel.

My entire green beans crop.
Only ONE of my bean plants survived the chipmunk invasion.
I may get six whole green beans this year, all from this one plant.  I'll let them go to seed and maybe start then indoors next Winter/Spring and see if I can have a better outcome next season.

And in the front we have about 12 tomato plants which are doing fantastically well.  Trying to stay ahead of pinching off some blossoms there too.  The plants get the best sun of the entire yard so these plants are almost five feet tall at this point.
With all this rain these plants are toppling over a bit so we'll need to tie them up some more.

Some Amish paste variety(like a Roma)growing out there too.  I can't wait to try those.

And all this rain(and now the tomato plants falling over)isn't thrilling the Coleus and Petunias.
Once the tomato plants die back they'll get more sun and nutrients.....

And here is what got picked this weekend--
On Saturday.......

And then on Tuesday........

I also picked 2 more ounces of lettuce for the nephew to take home but didn't photograph that or add it into our harvest count yet.

So far I've picked 170.9 ounces of veggies, or 10.68 lbs. from our garden.
Go me.

I just wish the rain would stop for awhile so I can enjoy my yard a bit more.  I really do like being out there near the garden.

What's growing in your yard?

Sluggy

Garden Veggies and an Easy Recipe

Here's what we've harvested so far from our garden.........

* 4 pickings of salad greens-8.1 ounces
*  2.5 cups of basil-2 ounces
* 1 Japanese eggplant-2.4 ounces
* 1 zucchini-24.9 ounces
* 2 yellow squash-17.4 ounces

So what to do with your basil other than use it fresh or dry it?  I made tomato sauce and used some basil in it this week.
And then I made pesto for the first time!

Super easy to do.
You need basil leaves(remove the stems), EVOO, garlic, parmesan cheese and nuts(pine nuts or walnuts work best)and a food processor or blender.

Put basil, garlic and nuts in processor, whiz up a few seconds then with the power still on slowly add the olive oil until smooth.
Add the cheese afterwards and just pulse the machine to blend it in.
And that's it!

This will keep for 1 week in the fridge or throw it into the freezer.  I bought smallish containers at Dollar Tree for putting this into the freezer.  This makes enough for one large meal of pesto for 4-5 people.
I don't like pesto so I had to have Hubs taste test it for me.  It's a frozen asset now and can be warmed up some night I don't have a plan and someone wants pesto and pasta.

Garden Output so far......54.8 ounces or 3 lbs. 42.5 ounces
Not much but once the tomatoes kick in the total weight will escalate. ;-)

What's growing in your garden?
How is it doing?

Sluggy