Reaping the flower garden benefits

I was relieved to find that most of my garden survived the week-long trip from which Cal and I just returned. 2/4 of my black-eyed susans seem to have kicked the bucket without the daily watering, but the two that are left are so huge that I had to stake them this morning. My tomato bush, sadly, is in dire shape. It has plenty of tomatoes on it left from when it was healthy, but it got too dry last week (even though I had a friend come by and water it a couple of times) and I'm not at all convinced that it is going to survive, much less provide any more delicious tomatoes than it already has on it. Even more sad ... the few that have already ripened did so the week I was gone, so I have only been able to taste one of the fruits of my labor and love. At least Elizabeth was able to make a fine pasta sauce with the others while I was gone. I'm glad they didn't go to waste!

Pictures below. The one of the full garden was taken after I had cut all of the flowers you see in the vases, so you can imagine how much fuller it was just a few minutes prior. And the black-eyed susans are still recovering a bit from the staking they received, so they aren't quite in top form. All those flowers coming from merely two plants! The shastas (b/w the susans and the coneflowers) are a late-blooming variety and are just barely beginning to blossom. And the sunflowers!! I'm thrilled, but can't get up the nerve to cut one or two for decoration. They keep blooming, right? Also, a photo of my sad, dying tomato bush, complete with unripened fruit. There are more tomatoes left than there are leaves, unfortunately. Any suggestions from my gardeners out there? It's too late to start a new one, isn't it?








Oh yeah! I almost forgot the most exciting news of the week. Many of you know that Cal does not eat vegetables unless they come in a can (green beans) or are fried (squash/okra). Yesterday, we took a trip to the farmers' market, where I picked up some okra to sautee (whole, with only a bit of olive oil) for myself. Unencouraged by me (as I had only cooked enough for myself), Cal helped himself when it came time to fix our plates for dinner. He loved it! I ended up cooking the rest of them so he could eat a full helping. He even wanted to buy more today at the Kroger, but he said he couldn't find them when he went. Hurray!