Soybeans...??

A friend gave me some soybean seedlings this year, so I found a spot for them in the garden. I was only half interested in them (I mean, there is not much I can do with a crop of soybeans!)...but now just looking at them reminds me of the farm in Illinois. Kind of nice.

Eggplants

The eggplants started out great this season...

...but began to wither in mid-July.

This is disappointing, as I should be able to get fruit up until October. I have cut the branches back, and a few new flowers are just starting to show up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a revival.

Kabocha

I planted four kabocha plants this year, and they have taken over the garden. I was lucky to have the open space available for them to expand as they please. They have never been quite so voracious in the past. But I got (and am still getting) many nice fruit. They are one of the things I look forward to most from the summer garden.

Botchan KabochaIn addition to the regular kabocha plants, I also planted one botchan (mini) kabocha. You can see the difference in size. I got three minis, and we ate two the other day. Just wrap them in saran wrap and microwave for five minutes. Cut the tops off, throw the seeds out, and eat the rest as is (skin and all). The taste was similar to butternut...quite sweet.

Cherry Tomatoes

Too Many Tomatoes!

It's unbelievable!
I have struggled the past two years with my tomato plants. They always started out well, but withered and died before most of the fruit ripened. The tomatoes that did ripen were split and cracked and barely edible. With this in mind, I decided to buy a few extra plants last spring to try and get as many fruit as possible.

I don't know if it's the weather, the seedlings or my extra special TLC, but for some reason the tomatoes are booming and beautiful this year! I'm picking several every day, and they show no sign of stopping! I'm inclined to think that the seedlings and/or the variety were especially good this year. (This is the first year I purchased at the local Ishikawa Shoten instead of the larger and more popular JA Co-op.)

Cucumbers

Yesterday I took the cucumbers out. The five plants gave an abundance of cukes, and they kept producing a few weeks longer than they have in the past. I was glad to take them out, though, as I was running out of recipes! And it's good to open up the space in the garden to prepare for the winter veggies.