Bye-bye tomatoes, and hello okra!

I have only three tomatoes left on my three remaining plants...and then the season is over! I kinda want to cry, as this was my most proliferative year with them. I will have three empty 5 gallon buckets, and after talking with hubby, we think it will be best to fill with more okra plants! I will put two per bucket again...it seemed to work well, and I still have about 5 plants that overwintered from last summer going strong right now! Get ready for more okra bloom shots! They are just so pretty! I will miss you pretty tomatoes...see ya in October again!

I'm dripping in eggplants, and other garden delights!

When I got home today, the lighting seemed perfect for a few garden shots!
My Kalanchoe are covered in leaflets right now! Here is a shot looking straight down onto the top of a K. tubiflora (talk about an awe inspiring design)!!!:

And K. daigremontianum. Isn't this just gorgeous colors???

The new Drift Rose is getting covered by new flowers!




I have a load of green tomatoes. Besides this plant, I have 3 more plants loaded up!!! I think I will make Emeril Lagasse's Green Tomato Pie...I found the recipe in my last Organic Gardening Magazine! Looks delicious!

How many eggplants do you see hanging in there??? I counted 8 visable ones, and a few more were hidden by leaves!!! These babies are continually producing...I have to admit we are reaching the brink with consumption though...I think I have too many plants for sure...but it has been a ton of fun!!!



This little guy ran out just in time for me to snap a pic of him...he seemed to enjoy modeling...stood there quite a while! It looks like his body is wet, and his tail is dry, doesn't it???

I ended up going to work today for my last day of laptop training...
I still have laryngitis tonight, but feel good. It has been a strange illness in that I have been able to carry on throughout. Thank God!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!
Julie

New garden goodies and some of my spring growth!

My husband and I just got home from Lowes!!!!!!!

Look at this super cute birdbath, made of resin, so lightweight, and it is the same height as three tires stacked, which makes it perfect for the area! It is a mushroom birdbath with a little bunny underneath! 34 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a sucker for inexpensive, but the mushrooms really sold it (well, OK, maybe the bunny too...)

Then, check out this new item at Lowes. It is a giant seed cake holder and seed cake! It has a bottom grill too, so the little birdies have a place for their little foots!!! :)

Here it is, as nestled in brush in just the perfect location to see out my kitchen window!!! Yeehaw!!!

Mr. Stripey tomatoes here:

They should end up sort of changing from a yellow on bottom, green on top, and red in middle with an orange stripes...very interesting...I am dying to see...should be soon for these first two...
They are about 3 inches in diameter now.
A close up reveals the stripes starting to show:

Some pretty flowers in the tires:



THREE new beefy tomatoes (large for sandwiches), to take up the three buckets that the carrots were in:

The last of the carrots pulled out:

Here are some of my prolific eggplants!!! The one plant you see here with 6 in the pic, actually has TEN currently in different stages!


OK, here are some shots of my overwintered OKRA!!! 7 plants with new growth and okra production! I am so psyched!!! Now I wonder... how many years I can keep them going...???


Here are some blooms on my Mother of Trillions (I made that up)...heeheehee...but seriously, they are on the Kalenchoe in the strawberry planter!

And a close up:

It is a beautiful, clear day here...temp around 82 at 1pm, and I was so excited about all of the beauty in the garden area, I just had to show you guys! It seems I live in a paradise! This whole, big, yet very tiny world exists in a 10 x 8 patch outside my kitchen window, and it has been the best world to have, to view wildlife, especially birds, bees, lizards, and butterflies. I guess you can say I really do have a Succulent Life. Everyone can. Seeds are cheap. It's a love thing. I hope you all have the best weekend ever...full of love, people, and plants!!! xoxo- Julie