more goodies from the garden

My sunflowers are blooming splendidly, and the honeybees love them. And I love them. And the whole world loves them. I no longer work evenings; the summer restaurant job is behind me and a new school year with a full-time, permanent position faces me. So I am sleepily enjoying my garden in the evenings now, which may mean more photos, more naps, reading, eating delicious home-cooked dinners in the dome, and more out-door movie nights (Mr. B built a huge movie screen in the back yard out of plywood).

In addition to the long-awaited blooming of the sunflowers, I am finally about to start harvesting stuff beyond greens. I have squash, mysterious mysterious squash growing, including an almost-ripe zucchini. I have tiny little green beans (at last! at last!). Tomatoes are getting some color, and the peppers are popping. I have my salsa recipe and white vinegar on standby. Plus, I cleared a bunch of bramble to make the harvesting of blackberries easier with hopes for blackberry wine and sorbet and cobbler. We're also getting our second crop of salmon berries, and the berries are plump and sweet. I continue to harvest chamomile every day, and I'm also harvesting nasturtium and marigold seeds.

Here's an orange-fleshed purple smudge tomato starting to show some of its purple smudge.

Here's a ripe tomato that I've lost the name of, but that's okay because I work with the woman who gave me the seedling last spring. But yay, a ripe tomato!

Speaking of tomatoes, I'll soon be harvesting currants as well. Little tiny currant tomatoes have been quite the journey. The plants are quite lovely, the tomatoes are tiny, and everything about this plant took patience. The seeds took so long to germinate that I'd rather given up hope on them, and now I have two lovely currant plants fruiting like crazy. Harvest season is almost upon me!