sunflowers meet birds

the extra bud/heads i kept having to pull off the sunflowers


close up bud


mini sunflower!


the birds started in on the sunflowers


the heads are so heavy they face downward.


i had to tie some of them up


the birds made my sunflowers ugly


the monster sunflower, most of its heads facing down too


more downward facing heads


one last pretty one


and so the end begins

squash bugs and the sudden death of my squash vines

within a week of beginning to turn yellow, the squash vines died completely. the squash on them did not ripen fully, only half a side ripened. stupid squash bugs and squash vine borers killed them.


they got the zucchini too, and the bottom leaves of the sunflower that was between the squash and zucchini.


squash bugs


they're everywhere!


they gave me the heebie jeebies! there were so darn many of them!


eggs. after i calmed down from the heebie jeebies, i filled a bucked with soapy water, brought out a butter knife, and started scraping off eggs.


usually the eggs are on the underside of the leaves, but there were SO many eggs laid they were on the tops too.


squash was ripe on top, still dark green on bottom

garlic cheddar zucchini biscuits

back on august 13 i baked garlic zucchini biscuits. there were pretty good after i brushed herbed butter on top of them. cant taste the zucchini at all, but they were very moist. i'd make them again for sure! recipe here: http://yesididit.livejournal.com/1546361.html

from the monster zucchini, this is what 12 cups of shredded zucchini looks like


divided into bags for zucchini bread muffins this winter. the recipe i have for zucchini bread/muffins calls for 2 cups, but after being frozen and thawed, 2 1/2 cups drained equals 2 cups.


the rest of the zucchini went into cheddar zucchini biscuits




they were kinda bland so i melted a little butter and added herbs and garlic powder and salt. much better! cant taste the zucchini at all.

i grew a monster zucchini this year!

my biggest most monster zucchini ever. from my armpit to fingers. i got 12 cups of shredded zucchini out of this after peeling and seeding. TWELVE CUPS!

this was a challenging picture to take by myself!

my mom said i should enter my veggies or my pears at the state fair.

spaghetti squash

i roasted up a spaghetti squash from my garden. this is the only one i got before the squash bugs destroyed everything.



maybe it was not ripe enough? it turned out to be rather bitter tasting. i didnt like it.




i didnt like it, but sweetpea did


munch munch


good stuff


the dogs got a couple forkfuls too and they certainly didnt think anything was wrong with it.

raised bed garden photos

sugar beets


sugar beet getting pretty big


raised bed garden, sugar beets down in front, most of the rest is ground cherries. they volunteered themselves and then took over.


bellflower got shaded by the zucchini. just not a good spot for it. i need to find a better home for it.


zucchini in the raised bed, upon being crowded by the ground cherries it decided to just hang out over the edge.


even the carrots got invaded by the ground cherries


ground cherry


with husks pulled back


you pick ground cherries up off the ground. you dont pluck them off the bush, they're not ripe. but they're bushy! you have to kinda shove your head and arms in to reach them.


my garden and raised bed

last of the pretty sunflowers

sunflowers in front, sunflowers in back, i had them all over the garden this year


so pretty


the birds already started pecking at this one


sun not cooperating


a little manhandling gets a better photo