Our Garden Runneth Over!

Gardening in Phoenix is a unique experience. We planted our tomato plants in February...that's right, February! Our growing season is unique here, but with some work, tender care, and some shading, we have been able to get a lot of tomatoes. I love to go out in the morning and pick the cherry tomatoes...one for the bowl, and one for Suzzy! Nothing better than a cherry tomato fresh off the vine! Normally, the blossoms will not set if it is over 100 degrees, but we shaded our plants and have gotten tomatoes way past 100. However, today, it is forecast to be 113, and that qualifies as baking weather, so we went out yesterday morning and picked all we could, watered very well, and hope to get one more small harvest before we say bye bye to our tomatoes. We also picked all our watermelon, and we have 4 sitting on the kitchen counter...they ate 2 yesterday! I made zucchini muffins this morning (this time, I remembered to add the sugar! Hopefully, the troops will approve!)I still have basil...it likes the heat, but everything else looks weak. Hey, if I were outside instead of in this wonderful air conditioned house (again, I love Alaskan Home Services!!)I would look limp and weak. So, thank you, dear garden, for tomatoes, for salsa, for grilled zucchini, for watermelon, for the smallest cantaloupe you could ever imagine (we're talking golf balls!), for zucchini muffins. Take a rest, for now, and be ready for winter planting in a few weeks!!