Our first harvest day - July 26 - thank you Jane and David Massant!

Jane is a veteran harvester......she really knows what she's doing ........here she is looking at one of the unusual kinds of okra.

Here's David looking through the okra plants so he can clip off those that are ready.

On to the green peppers. 

Plants are getting so big it can be a tad difficult to maneuver.

So Harvest Day 1 is a success! 

Surveying the lower 40 before harvesting begins.......July 25

Hanson and I did a walk through the evening of the 25th to confirm that harvesting can begin.  The garden looks lush and ready for early picking.  The dear rabbits, also God's creatures we must remember, have eaten the corn and the beans, and the squirrels carefully bit off some of the sunflowers and carefully moved them to one area and stacked them up! 

 Hanson did a quick check on the potatoes - they aren't anywhere near ready.

Same with the beets - they look ready but once pulled up the actual beet is pretty small.

Some of the okra is ready to go.

Hanson is very happy with the green peppers - we have several different kinds and all sizes and shapes and they are ready to be picked!

The tomatoes and eggplant are also right on the cusp! 

So we are good to go with our first harvesters tomorrow - Jane and David Massant!

We are fast approaching harvesting.........July 11

Laura, a dedicated AFAC staffer, visited the garden and delivered some donated seeds and clips (much needed!)......Hanson gave her a tour and a bit of a pruning lesson and I have to admit she was pretty impressed!  Our garden is a bit off the beaten track but once you find it you are dazzled!

These are the clips that were donated to AFAC and AFAC generously donated some to us.....We immediately put them in use and we are all impressed!  Michael put the clips to good use on some of the peppers and zinnias that were too big to stand on their own.

Look at this gorgeous butterfly!  He was a bit unhappy that people had invaded his space but once he settled on a flower he stayed still long enough for a quick photo op.

Michael and Hanson are tying up the very last row of tomatoes!  This completes 8 rows and gets the plants up off the ground. 

Look how far the tomatoes have come!  And how tall our sign plants have gotten!  Amazing that this whole area was planted over Memorial Day and later and we're almost ready to harvest......

June 29 - some miscellaneous pics

 Cannot believe the potatoes!  Look at them reaching for the sun........a little "lean to the left" action!  They love their home in the garden.

 The eggplants(should that be eggplant plants?!) are also thriving.

 Another potato shot with Hanson showing just how healthy the plants are.

Let's just say we won't be having corn this year.  We have two rabbits that we have decided ate the seed......but we decided not good for St. Andrew's to "eliminate" a bunny rabbit!  They can have the corn - leave the rest for AFAC!

June 29 - setting up the trellis system for the tomatoes

 Have no idea why I couldn't get pictures working yesterday!  Hanson uses a totally cool trellis system for the tomatoes.  Posts are put in place at about 4 places on the row.  A thin wire is threaded through each post.  This is Hanson working with the wire on post 1.

 On each wire, there are two "stretchers" which initially are fully opened.  As the plants grow, the stretchers can be tightened to make the wire taut.

 Each tomato plant then has two strings tied to it, threaded up the strongest part of the plant and attached to the wire with three knots. 

This is a partially trellised row of tomato plants.  Have i mentioned there are 200 tomato plants?!  I was able to tie one-half of a row in 50 minutes.  I'll more than likely be here all summer tying!  Actually, I have to say I like tying and watering.  Not a real fan of planting but luckily others are good at it.