Chianti Sunflowers in Bloom

The chianti sunflowers have bloomed in the last week and they are beautiful! I love the deep red color.

Red, Ripe Tomatoes

We harvested all of these tomatoes on Tuesday evening, right before a thunderstorm hit. The big tomaotes on the left are the pink beefsteaks--NOT very pink, unfortunately. But they're huge and I can't wait to taste them. The small red peppers in the right-hand bowl are fajita bells. And on the right is just over 2 pints worth of the sweetest, most delicious grape tomatoes. I love July!

patio princess tomato plant 7/17/10

First Watermelon Fruit

There are a few blooms on the same vine but this is the first fruit to pop out.

Sunflowers progress

Published these pictures on June 28 of our first sunflower to bloom, although some of its petals were still closed. We have more buds but no other big flowers yet. This one burst out quickly!

UPDATE: After taking these pictures a few days ago, the rest of the sunflowers have opened, and our little bumble bee visitors stopped by. These little lushes get drunk off the pollen; it's funny to watch them just collapse on the flowers.

Tomato Inventory

Anxiously waiting for these big plump tomatoes to ripen so I can start making sauces and salsa.

First 3 pictures are Patio Princess variety; last picture is Pink Beefsteak variety. So curious to see if they'll really be pink!

Spotlight on Red Bell Peppers

A little red for Independence Day weekend...
We've been waiting for these bell peppers to turn red before harvesting them. They started to darken last week and in the last 2 days have made real progress. Here are pictures from June 19, July 1, and July 3 (today).

June 19 (2 weeks ago)

July 1

July 3