I worked in the garden today for about seven hours and I thought you might like to see how it is coming along.

Here is one of the pictures from July.

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Here is a similar shot from today.

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Here were our tomatillos in July.

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Here they are today.

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I have a ton of winter squash growing.

Winter Luxury  Pumpkin                                                         Red Kuri

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Galeux d Eyesines                                                      Rough Vif d’ Etampes

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Sweet Meat                                                               Delicata

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Queenlands Blue

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It is quite a challenge to maneuver around everything that is growing when I need to check on something.

I didn’t take any new pictures of the cucumbers but boy are they growing. I finally got to the point that I had enough ready at the same time that I was able to can nine pints of sweet pickles. I have on-going refrigerator dill pickles that I keep adding to as well.

Today my goal for my time in the garden was to “trim” the tomatoes. What I did was carefully cut off the stems that only have leaves. Why do that? I have a lot of green tomatoes and I need them to be red soon. Here in Oregon I’m not guaranteed nice weather even at the end of August. Instead of sending energy and nutrients to leaves I want the plant to focus on ripening the existing fruit. It also puts a little stress on the plant (making it think it is dying) which forces it to ripen the existing fruit.

Here is one plant before I trimmed it.

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Here it is after I trimmed it.

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I know a farmer in Milwaukie who stops watering his tomatoes come August 1. Again, the plant begins to die and focuses on ripening the existing fruit. I believe it is the way God designed fruit bearing plants to survive through ripening that fruit which contains the seed. I didn’t have that option this year since I can’t stop watering the tomatoes and still water the rest of the garden.

My in-laws came over early in the afternoon and had a belated birthday celebration for my father-in-law. Great times and great food. What more can you ask for. A good night sleep after a very productive day is in my near future.

Good night,

Karen

PS: I think God is smiling. He knows I trust Him but worrying is such a hard habit to break. It is nice He doesn’t mind reminding me over and over again. He is patient with me.