Garden of Eden: Garden Tally

As of today, my garden tally is as follows:

26 Strawberries
20 peppers (green and red)
24 tomatoes (20 cherry red, 3 big boy, 1 beefsteak)
plenty of basil
plenty of chives
dead flowers

I don't think I'll be bringing the flowers back next year. They're just too fragile and I am not a delicate gardener. And it's too frustrating to see dead leaves so quickly. The only thing I might save is the lily plant to see if it comes back next year because it really was beautiful for those 3 days(!).

Dead, dead and more dead.

I have used a bunch of the basil and chives for cooking. The basil I've cut back so it doesn't flower, which apparently makes the leaves start to taste bitter. And it just keeps growing back on different shoots - deliciousness abounds. The chives also just keep growing. They're getting so long now I feel like they need a cut as bad as my hair.

Healthy herbs.

The strawberries are a delightful surprise. I wasn't sure if we'd get any strawberries this year. After cutting off the initial berries (Strawberry Whine), I was convinced that tasting a fresh strawberry would have to wait until next year. So to see 26 berries coming in is a superb development!

Bonus about strawberries - they have beautiful blooms, too!

Bunches of berries - I am starting to salivate!

My peppers have had their critter issues this summer but they're really doing quite well. Wilbur the pepper plant just keeps giving and giving. I have yet to harvest a pepper (doesn't that sound so professional gardener of me?? Harvesting!), but they look fabulous. Just a couple more weeks, I think, before I pick one.

Wilbur

The most troubled plant of the season, will likely provide the first harvested veggie.

As for my tomatoes - they are the most exciting and frustrating part of the garden. The tomatoes are doing just fine, particularly the cherry tomato plant which I have named Brer. The tomatoes just keep coming, the plant is producing like rabbits - Brer Rabbit? The beefsteak plant is much slower to develop, only 1 small tomato so far. Others are clearly coming but it will probably be well into September before I enjoy one of those. As for my Big Boy plant, it's shooting up like there's no tomorrow! In a small experiment on whether or not to prune, I have pruned the Big Boy plant the most. Now he's focused on shooting up tall! Therefore, he shall be dubbed Shaq the tomato plant. But all of my tomatoes are still stubbornly green. None show even a little bit of red. I think I'm being a bit impatient, and realize I got a late start to the season, but when I see others enjoying the fruits of their labor, I become insanely jealous! I want to taste a juicy tomato, marry it with my own basil and a little mozzarella and olive oil. Mmmmmm.