Thank Garden It's Friday

From the look of what's predicted for the next 2 weeks, it appears that we'll be going through a big rainstorm atleast once every 7 days. A storm complete with small hailstones swept through the area a couple days ago, but this time the garden sustained no serious damages. I'm surprised that not even a tomato lost it's grip, seeing how some of the apricots from my neighbor's tree gave way to gravity after being tossed around in the gusts. Not much of a harvest other than almost 5 pounds of mirabelle plums that were picked too early. We figured that shaking the tree would only release the ripe ones, but we ended up with more than half that were still on the tart side and not yet a nice yellow color.

I did some work today in the garden which included tying the zucchini plants to a stake in order to keep them off the ground (and free up some space). I've seen this done in a few gardens here. The plants look awkward at first but in a day they are spreading their leaves up toward the sun. The image above shows one that has adjusted to its new vertical pattern while the other was just staked upright today. So far no more root damage from mice but I keep seeing new holes so they are still hanging around. It's incredible that they haven't touched the beets. I picked these this morning for part of tonight's roasted veggie dinner.

The plant for this immature Omar's Lebanese tomato was the last to fill out and grow. It now stands at about 7 feet tall and already hitting the hail netting above it. I may just have to lop off the tops, then all energy can go to the developing fruit. A reviewer on Baker Creek Heirloom says that these pink tomatoes resemble small pumpkins???

I also came upon these two amorous ladybugs this morning. Who needs senseless tv when you can appreciate nature doing its thang.