Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato

I only planted one heirloom tomato plant this year: Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato
 
Visually, they are so beautiful. 

Extending the Summer Garden at 32 Degrees

Skin removed, diced and ready to simmer for 30 minutes.

Ready to cool and freeze.  During the winter, this effort pays off by adding a taste of summer to cooking long after the season's end.

Lima Bean: Part Deux

Dainty now...these pods will become thick and tough.

The lima bean flowers cluster on the vine.

Pod of the lima bean.

Cosmos Is A Star Plant

This bee found a great place to hang out.

Cosmos are so dainty and colorful.

The white cosmos looks so delicate in the sun.

Seedlings sprouting from flowers which went to seed...already!

I had cosmos in my garden years ago.  They volunteer so readily.  I don't know why I stopped growing...but added them back this year.  Good decision.

Let's See What Is In The Seed Drawer

The seed drawer hold purchased seed as well as seeds harvested from the garden.

At the end of last season, I found some of the beans had dried on the vine.

Wow!  An impressive number of bean seeds.

Last year I had some beans which dried on the vine.  As I was cleaning up the garden, I broke away the dried pod and harvested the seeds.  When I decided to grow three sisters (beans, zucchini and corn) in my garden this year, I found the container with the yellow bean seeds and planted them about two weeks ago.

Stop back to this post tomorrow to see what happens when you mix dirt, water, seeds and sun!

Pollinators at Work

The garden was buzzing this morning with three open zucchini flowers.  Two were female and one male. 

Time for Thyme

Delicate flowers of the thyme plant

Spreading thyme in the garden

My drip irrigation is really making a difference in the garden this year.  This thyme plant has a circular soaker drip at the center of the plant.  It really is giving it vigor to spread beautifully.