Zucchini Are Rampant

It begins. You see to the left a picture of the first of many zucchini that have already been born and, within a day or two, will be ripe for eating. I counted a half dozen that I could recognize as zucchini, with many more blossoms heralding future zukes. Prepare your doorsteps, folks; "Leave a Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Doorstep Day" is coming sooner than usual this year! (Note: The official "Leave a Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Doorstep Day is--I think--August 8 each year.)

In addition to the zucchini, my Ireland Creek Annie beans are the first to sport blossoms, so it won't be long now before the soup beans will be coming on. As my loyal readers may recall, I planted several different kinds of soup beans in addition to green beans. I've never harvested soup beans before (Mexican bean beetles and neglect took last year's attempt), so it will be interesting to see how much of a pain it is. And yes, I see the bug in the picture, but I am happy to report it is merely a cricket, the soul of a deceased Chinese emperor come to visit my humble garden.

Tomorrow I will need to transfer my tomato and pepper seedlings into bigger pots. They are a bit too small for the garden yet, but need more room for rooting. Here's a look at the seedlings. The tomatoes are looking a bit spindly on the left. The pepper plants are looking quite healthy in the back, and the oregano seedlings are coming on strong!

Yesterday I planted green onions, okra, and cilantro/coriander, and mammoth sunflower seeds directly into the garden and lightly mulched with grass clippings. It's probably too late in the season to be planting these foods, but what the heck, every one of my gardens is an experiment of some sort. The whole planting season has been late due to the three-month-long April showers. If they don't take, I can always adjust next year.