Pickles - July 31, 2022

After a 5 a.m "nature call" this morning, I went back to bed but could not go back to sleep for thinking about the cucumbers that had been soaking overnight in the refrigerator.  I lay there trying to do math to figure out what time I'd need to start in order to be done before suppertime.  I'd need to wash (and wash and wash) off the lime water, then there were two more soaks - a 3-hour ice water bath, plus a 5-hour soak in brine - plus a 35-minute boil, plus time to get the pickles in the jars, plus time for the water bath . . . .

I said, "Screw this cipherin'," and got up and went to the sink in my nightgown and started washing cucumbers.

They came out of their last soak (the brine stage) about 2 p.m.  

The brine recipe on the lime bag called for 8 cups of white vinegar, 8 cups of sugar, and some spices.  I had 6.5 cups of white vinegar, and just enough apple cider vinegar to reach the mark.  And I thought, "HAH!  Saved a trip to the store!"  Then I emptied the sugar canister and had only 4 cups of sugar.  Had to go to the store, anyway.

I added some kosher dill spices to the brine and some sliced jalapenos that had soaked with the cucumbers.  The spices came in a plastic jar, already mixed.  I bought it last year (I think?), and it was all gummed-up in one chuck.  I hacked it up and dig out about 1/4 cup to start with, then added a little more later.  I should've just dumped the whole thing in, since the spices have probably lost some of their "oomph."  

But the pickles turned out pretty good.  Got 7 pints, plus another pint in the refrigerator that wouldn't fit in the canner.  They are sweet, but they have a little bit of a dill/garlic zing, and a little bit of heat.  I like them.

And I'm trying to lay off sugar and can't eat 'em.  

Such is life.

While the pickles were brining, I tried out a couple of new low-carb recipes.  One was a chicken roll-up, using baked pepper jack cheese for the skin.  It was meh.  I'm not much of a cheese fan.

The next thing I tried - chicken/bacon/ranch poppers - was good.  I found two recipes and sort of took the best parts of each.  I pulsed 6 chicken tenderloins in the food processor until they were about ground beef consistency.  Added 3 carrots, some green onions, an egg, and a cup of shredded cheese, and pulsed it some more.  It came out the consistency of bulk pork sausage.  A small ice cream scoup made quick work of making balls.  I flattened them a little before baking them on parchment at 375 for 30 minutes (flipping them halfway through).  They were not seriously brown and crispy after 30 minutes, but they were done enough.  That recipe made about 40 chicken balls; we'll crisp them up in the air fryer as we need them. 

The cup of carrots had about 12g of carbs, so I figure those chicken balls had about .5 carbs apiece, plus the ranch dressing we dipped them in.  

Kids will eat these.  

Mud! - July 30, 2022

I got antsy and restless about noon today, so I grabbed a pickin' bag and said to The Husband, "I'm going to get some cucumbers to make pickles."  The recipe said I needed 7 pounds.

The garden was M-U-D-D-Y, and soft and squishy.  But I waded in and started picking cucumbers.  Got bitten by a horse fly (on that soft, tender under-arm).  It stung so bad the pain shot up one side of my face!  I also acquired about a million new chiggers.

The cucumbers are next to the purple hull peas, and they needed picking, too.  When I thought I had more that 7 pounds of cucumbers in my bag, I started working on the peas.  Man, those pea rows and middles are grassy, so I spent about half my time pulling up weeds and grass.  Got almost a 5-gallon bucket of peas and gave them to Nanny to shell and put up.  By the time I got to the end of the peas, my gardening clogs were carrying twice their weight in mud.  Had to hose them off in Nanny's yard before I could get in my car.

Dumped the cucumbers in the kitchen sink to deal with later, showered, and went to the grocery store.

After putting the groceries away, I started on the cucumbers.  Sliced them on a mandolin and put them in water with pickling lime to soak overnight.  A few years ago, I read that pickling lime was frowned upon, but I use it, anyway.  (I think the danger is in soaking the cucumbers for too long, letting botulism grow.)  It makes a big difference in the crispness of the pickles.   

These pickles are going to be sweet/hot/dill.  One time when I was canning both dill pickles and sweet pickles and had some of each brine left over, I mixed them together and made a batch of sweet dill pickles.  Boy, were they good!  This time, I'm adding jalapeno pepper slices to the jars.  The peppers are soaking in lime with the pickles.

This batch of pickles will be something of an experiment.  I'll let you know how they turn out.

First Ripe Tomato - July 29, 2022

It rained again this morning.  

I was worried that it would rain all day and rain out Granddaughter #1's "band blowout," scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight.  But the skies cleared around noon, and the performance happened as scheduled.

The high school band has been practicing for three weeks in 100-degree weather.  The annual "band blowout" happens at the end of band camp, both to give the parents a sneak preview of the show and to give the kids a chance to perform in front of an audience.  The show is not yet perfect, but it's coming along well.  I am so proud of those kids.  

We took Nanny with us to the band blowout.  When we took her home, I looked toward the garden and thought about the tomatoes ripening on the vine.  For the past few days, I've inspected the almost-ripe tomatoes and said, "One more day . . . ," risking being beaten to them by a raccoon or a squirrel.  But tonight was the night.  Even though the garden was a muddy mess, I kicked off my sandals, waded in, and picked two of the ripest tomatoes.  When I gave one of them to Nanny, she said, "Oh, I don't want to take your first ripe tomato!"  I said, "The one I handed you is the second one I picked, so we're good."  

I kept the ripest one.  

I'd cooked supper before we went to the blowout, but we decided to wait to eat afterward.  While the supper warmed, I sliced that ripe tomato and laid the thick slices on our plates.  Salted and peppered them.

MMMmmmmm.  It was worth the wait.

Watered - July 28, 2022

I am so frightfully out of shape, it's pitiful.

Today at work, I had a throwing-away party, getting rid of things in the office that neither The Boss nor I won't want to keep when we close the office next month.  I filled up several lawn bags of junk we've accumulated over the years - coffee cups, flower vases, canned soup that expired five years ago.  The bags were so heavy that I could barely drag them to the door, much less carry them up the hill to the dumpster.  I dragged them to my car, which was parked right outside the door.  Of course, the bags tore and strewed debris from the door to the car.  I drove up to the dumpster and wrestled the bags into it.  

About 5 this afternoon, I decided to work in the garden for an hour or so.  Over the weekend, I'd noticed that it was getting mighty grassy, and some of the tomato plants were flopping over.   I put on my gloves and got the hoe out of the shed.  About 10 minutes of chopping convinced me to swap the hoe for the tiller.  

The tiller kicked up an awful cloud of dust, the ground was so dry.  And when I tied up the tomatoes, the leaves were almost rattle-y.  The garden needed water.  As I weeded the tomato and pepper rows, I tilled moats around the plants to hold the water, and then I dragged the hose cart out of the shed, hooked the hose to the hydrant, and stretched it across Nanny's back yard.  The moats did a good job of holding the water where it needed to stay.  Watered the tomatoes, the peppers, and the squash.  Rolled the hose back onto the cart, returned it and the tiller to the shed.

Picked squash, peppers, and cucumbers to give away.

Came home, took a shower, put a load of laundry in the washing machine, started dinner.  We ate our taco salads in our recliners in front of the TV.

When I tried to stand up to take my plate to the kitchen, every muscle in my body screamed, "WE DON'T THINK SO, HEIFER."  I could barely straighten up.

Looks like this will be a two Tylenol night.

Crickets - July 27, 2022

Yesterday morning as I was sitting on the back porch, drinking coffee and reading the news, I heard a car horn blow - a short toot, followed by a fairly long blast.  It sounded close, so I got up and peeped around the corner of the house.  Nanny's car was parked at the end of her driveway, and she was out of the car.  She raised the lid on the water meter, stuck a long T-bar in the hole, and began twisting.  I hurried across the road and asked if there was trouble.

Nanny was frantic.  "Water just exploded all over my bathroom!" she said.  Her voice cracked, as if she was about to cry.  I asked if she wanted me to call the plumber who lives about 2 miles up the road.  She said she would call him.

I came back to the house and told The Husband about it.  He was in the kitchen, about to leave for work.  With 15 minutes to spare before I had to leave for work, I grabbed my mop and mop bucket, said I was going to help her clean up the water, and took off down the driveway in my car.  The Husband was right behind me.

There was water on the ceiling, on the vanity - everywhere.  Nanny said she'd heard a loud "explosion," and ran into the bathroom to find water spewing everywhere.  She thought something had exploded in the air-conditioner unit, which was right outside her bathroom wall.  I mopped up water while Nanny and The Husband went outside to investigate the AC.  After a few minutes, they came inside, turned off the unit, and tried to call the AC repairman (who also lives just up the road), but only reached his answering service.  By this time, I had to leave for work.  Nanny asked me to stop at the AC guy's house and tell him to come right away.  Since it has been about 100 degrees every day for weeks, I told Nanny I'd leave our back door unlocked so she'd have a cool place to wait on the AC guy.  I stopped by the house, unlocked the door, and hit the road.  Couldn't get anybody to the door at the AC guy's house.

As it turned out, the water line that goes to the toilet had blown loose from the tank and hosed the bathroom.  The plumber came right away and fixed it.  Now, Nanny, who lives on a fixed income, is fretting about paying the plumber's bill and the extra cost of the water bill.  

It's so hard being elderly and alone.

* * * * * * * * 

Late yesterday afternoon, The Daughter-in-Law texted me to ask if I had some peroxide and a band-aid.  My heart leapt into my throat, wondering who was hurt and why it was more convenient to get first-aid supplies from me instead of going to the drug store across the highway from their house.  Since I am old, my mind envisioned all sorts of awful things; maybe they'd had a wreck, maybe . . . .  When I asked her if she needed me to bring her the stuff, she said they were nearby and would stop by our house.  It turned out that Granddaughter #3 had tripped and skinned her knee and her hand while the family was out for a walk.  The bleeding and the tears had stopped by the time they arrived to doctor the wound.

As it turned out, we had a nice visit.  The Little Rotten Baby had just awakened from a nap and was refreshed and full of her curly-headed self.  The other three Granddaughters headed straight for my sewing room to tinker with fabric and paint pens.  Before long, the other Daughter-in-Law dropped by to say hello.

I love it when the kids drop in, regardless of the reason.  :)

* * * * * * * 

I woke up for a potty break about 3 this morning.  On the way back to the bed, I heard a cricket singing.  I wandered around the room for a minute to locate him but couldn't tell if he was in the bedroom or outside near the bedroom wall.  I went back to bed but could not go back to sleep for listening to the cricket.  After about an hour, I gave up on sleeping, got up, and turned on the coffee pot.

This afternoon I will go cricket hunting.

Then I will go to the garden to see about the cucumbers.

I have not set foot in the garden since the weekend.  The cucumbers probably need to be picked.  

Cucumber City - July 23, 2022

I picked cucumbers after work yesterday.  It was about 100 degrees when I was picking, so I just got enough to make a batch of relish.  I ground them up with peppers and onions and brined the stuff overnight.  Cooked and canned them today.  Got 6.5 pints and a "sample."  

But I knew there were lots more cucumbers in the garden.

I took two pickin' bags to the garden about 3 this afternoon, and filled them both before I'd gotten halfway down the row.  The cucumbers were all BIG, just the right size to make relish.  But between the relish I've canned this year and last year, we've got enough to do us a while.  

So I came home, posted a message on Facebook, and texted some friends.  Ended up giving all that I picked in today's first go-round.  After a friend came to get them, I went back to the garden and filled up two more GIANT plastic bags full of big cucumbers.  

And the vines are still loaded with little ones.

I want some medium-sized ones to make a few jars of pickles.  Going to experiment and try to come up with some hot, sweet dills.  I'll give you the recipe if they turn out to be good.

After I make some pickles, I'm going to pull up the cucumber vines and plant something in their place.

While I was picking cucumbers the second time, The Husband picked purple hull peas.  We got 5 gallons of peas, plus another grocery bag full.  

The Husband noticed that some of the pea vines had aphids, so I mixed up some bug spray and doused them.  

Sprayed Inoculant - July 22, 2022

Yesterday, I spent an hour in the vegetable garden, spraying the tomato plants with a mixture of microbial inoculant (EM-1) and bug spray.  Our tomato plants look healthier this year than they've ever looked.  They are lush and green and showing little to no signs of tomato blight.

We have had an exceptionally hot, dry summer, and this may have helped thwart blight, but I have to think that the inoculant has had something to do with it.  

Last Sunday night's rain did a world of good in the garden.  The squash plants are loaded with squash for the first time this summer.  We're being cucumbered to death.  

Purple hull peas need to be picked.  We'll get to those this evening.  

A Long Day - July 21, 2022

The Boss had one case - a post-divorce child custody case - on her docket yesterday.  The hearing started at 9 a.m. and ended after 9 p.m.  Except for the fact that The Boss is retiring in six weeks, she might have stopped the hearing at a reasonable time and scheduled the rest of it for another day, but her calendar is packed for the rest of her term, and she didn't have another day to give them.  So we soldiered on.  Everybody in the room was worn down to a nub by the end of the day. I got home about 10:30 p.m.  

A grocery bag full of cucumbers on the kitchen table greeted me when I got home.  We had not picked cucumbers since the weekend.  The Husband had picked three grocery bags full - gave one to Nanny, set aside some to give away at work, and brought the one bag home.  Looks like I'll be making relish again this weekend.

Rain! - July 18, 2022

It rained at my house last night!  While there has been rain north and south of us - though not a lot - it missed us altogether.  Crops were about to wither in the fields.  We've had to water our vegetable garden for the past few weeks.  Hallelujah for the rain!

Friday evening, I picked enough cucumbers to make a batch of relish.  I'd ordered a new food processor (my old one bit the dust last year), and it was supposed to arrive Saturday.  When it had not arrived by noon, I decided to go ahead and wash the cucumbers so they'd be ready to chop when/if the food processor got here.  Seeing the pile of cucumbers on the counter, it seemed to me that there weren't enough.  The recipe calls for "10 - 12 large cucumbers."  (That's a bit ambiguous, don't you think?)  I had 4 or 5 that I considered large, and a bunch of medium ones.  I decided to go back to the garden for a few more.  When I got back from the garden, the food processor was on my front doorstep.  I unpacked it, washed the new cucumbers, and went to chopping cucumbers, onions, and bell peppers.  The recipe said to soak the chopped vegetables in salt overnight.  Sunday morning, I rinsed off the salt, added the vinegar, sugar, and spices, and ended up with 7 pints of relish, exactly enough to fill the canner.

While I was picking cucumbers Friday evening, I noticed that a few of the purple hull peas were ready to pick.  There weren't many - maybe just enough for one meal for one person - but I picked them for fear that they'd dry up.  I gave them to Nanny, along with a few squash and peppers.  

We still haven't had a ripe tomato, except for one little grape tomato.  When we finally do get a big ripe tomato, the first order of business will be to make a tomato & mayonnaise sandwich.  Next will be a BLT.  I planted only 20 tomato plants this year, so I don't know if we will ever get enough at one time to can tomatoes or salsa, but I am hopeful.

I don't want to jinx the tomato crop by saying this, but so far we have not had our usual blight problem.  Maybe it's because it's been so dry, or maybe it's because of the microbial inoculant I've been using.  (I hope it's the latter.)  Now that we've had a good rain, I'll need to apply the inoculant again.  Might do that this afternoon, if the garden is not too muddy.

  

TGIF - July 15, 2022

I'm so glad this work week is almost over.  

Monday, the Boss came back to work after her vacation.  The sight in the front office nearly stopped her in her tracks.  Big garbage bags full of shredded documents lined the walls; I'd shredded only half of what we'd planned to shred.  She sat down across the desk from me, and we talked about what else needed shredding.  I said, "You'll have to bring your shredder, because mine is almost kaput."  As we continued to talk, she decided that we really didn't need to shred any more.  "All of these copies are a matter of public record," she said.  "I don't know why we can't just throw it away."  I was both relieved and irked.  We started stuffing papers in garbage bags.

That evening, The Husband and I worked in the garden.  The next morning, we were both covered in chiggers and other kinds of bug bites.  Come bedtime, I crawled into bed in one of the spare bedrooms, expecting to be scratching all night.  Sure enough, I got very little sleep because of the itching, even though I'd slathered myself with anti-itch cream.

Wednesday afternoon, I planted two big hydrangea bushes that Nanny had given me for my birthday.  The ground was so hard and dry that I wished I had a pickaxe to help loosen the dirt.  Finally, I resorted to pouring water in the holes and scooping out the mud an inch at a time.  Took me an hour and a half to plant the two bushes.  By bedtime, I was achy, and more chiggers had joined the party on my legs and butt.  I bedded down in the spare room again.  I'd ordered a new book on my Kindle, and it was a good one.  Between the scratching and the book, I didn't fall asleep until about 3:30 a.m.

It was hard to drag myself out of bed yesterday morning.  It was The Boss's first day back in court since mid-June, and the docket was long.  The official clerk had gone on vacation, so it became my job to sit by The Boss and hand her the files as the cases came up.  It was all I could do to stay awake.  And not scratch my butt.

Hopefully, today will be a short day at work.

This afternoon, I will go to the garden to pick cucumbers for a batch of relish I'll make tomorrow.  I hope whatever bugs bit me in the garden earlier in the week have vacated the premises, for there's not much room left on my butt for new-comers.

Chiggers? - July 12, 2022

After dinner last night The Husband and I went to the garden to do a little maintenance.  I'd left a water hose stretched across Nanny's back yard the previous evening and needed to go roll it onto the hose cart.  I'd also noticed that the tomato plants had grown enough that they needed to be re-tied to their supports.  The Husband went to work on the tomatoes while I rolled up the hose.  I also walked the purple hull pea rows to see if the previous evening's spraying had taken care of the lice problem.  Then we picked two more grocery bags of cucumbers.

This morning we are both covered in what appears to be bug bites - red, itchy dots.  

We did not feel the bites as they were occurring.  

We both came home and showered.

I wonder if aphids/plant lice bite people?

Could be chiggers, I guess, but chiggers usually leave big knots on me.  These bites are small.

Whatever they are, they are itchy.  On my butt.  And The Husband's butt.  We may both embarrass ourselves at work today.

Driving Lessons and Lice - July 11, 2022

What an enjoyable weekend we had!

The Grandson came over Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend with us.  I picked him up a little after noon and took him to lunch.  He is 15 and eager to learn to drive.  As we got within a few miles of my house, he asked if he could drive the rest of the way home, and I said yes.  We were in my Patriot; it is a stick-shift.  It took him a few tries to get the car rolling.  ;)  Later that evening, we went for a drive in the Wrangler, which has an automatic transmission.  That lesson went a little better.  

Saturday evening, all the rest of the kids and grandkids came over, except Son #2, who was working.  We had pizza and ice cream.  It was so good to have all the grandchildren at the house.  The curly-headed Little Rotten Baby was in rare form.  At one point, as she was pitching a fit about something, I picked a children's book from the stack, sat down in the rocking chair, and announced, "I think I'll read a book."  The fit stopped, as if a switch had been flipped, and she came running to me, climbed up in my lap, and quietly settled in.  What a faker she is!  

Because it was so hot last week, I did not go anywhere near the garden.  Yesterday afternoon, as I was reading messages in a gardening group and saw a mention of cucumbers, I suddenly remembered our cucumbers.  We'd picked a few a week ago, but there were many more little ones coming on.  Certain that those little ones had grown to the size of baseball bats, I jumped up, put on my gardening shoes, and went to the garden.  Sure enough, the cucumber vines were loaded with big cucumbers.  I picked three plastic grocery bags full.  Gave one bag to Nanny, who wants to make a batch of cucumber relish.  I, too, want to make cucumber relish, but not today, so I sent the rest of the cucumbers to work with The Husband this morning.  There should be enough cucumbers to make relish by the weekend.

The cucumbers are planted next to the purple hull peas.  As I was picking the cucumbers, I glanced over and saw lice all over the peas.  I also saw worm poop around one of the tomato plants.  This required immediate action.  Because my sprayer is so persnickety, it took nearly two hours to apply the bug killer.  

There's a lot more work to do in the garden when I come home from work today.  The tomato vines need to be tied to their supports, and after last week's watering, the grass is getting thick.  

We may have to eat a late dinner of sandwiches tonight.

Went to town - July 5, 2022

I had to take my embroidery machine to be serviced yesterday.  This required a 40-mile drive into the city, and will require another 40-mile drive to retrieve it when it's ready.  I'd sooner walk barefoot on hot coals.

But I made it to the repair shop without incident.  

While I was in town I went to visit my sister.  

She has the meanest dog in the world.  Sparky was a rescue dog.  He'd been "rescued" and returned to the shelter more than once because of his foul temper.  He is about the size of a squirrel, but he thinks he's a Doberman.  When a visitor arrives, he barks and snarls and nips at ankles.  And don't even think about coming within six feet of my sister, or he will try to eat you up.  

As we were sitting in the living room, commiserating about getting old, my sister expressed concern about what would happen to Sparky if she were to keel over unexpectedly (yeah, we had a real uplifting talk).  I said, "You'd better hope he dies before you do, because NOBODY will take his mean ass."

* * * * * * * * 

After The Husband came home from work, we went to see The Granddaughters and to deliver them some books my sister sent them.  The Little Rotten Baby was in rare form.  She has learned to hold up four fingers and say, "Four."  Her mother has no idea where she learned this.  Her sisters deny teaching her.  Evidently, she learned it from a kid show.

She's 18 months old.  She was totally over saying and showing "four" by the time we visited and would not do it for us.

4th of July (and watering) - July 5, 2022

Cousin Gus and his family hosted the extended family for a 4th of July barbeque.  They are kind enough to do this nearly every year.  We always have a good time at these gatherings.  Back when "the old folks" The Husband's grandmother, great aunts, and uncles) were alive, the extended family got together more often, but since their passing, we're down to about twice a year - 4th of July and Thanksgiving, always at Cousin Gus' invitation.  We appreciate him for this.

Gus barbequed the pork shoulders, and the rest of the attendees provided the sides and desserts.  What a feast we had!  Unfortunately, since The Husband and I are on a low-carb diet, we could not enjoy many of the dishes.  Still, we had great fun visiting with the relatives.

* * * * * * * * 

I came straight home from the reunion, put on my gardening clothes, and went to the garden to start the sprinkler.  It ran for a little over two hours, until puddles formed.  The ground is so dry that by the time I shut off the water and reeled the hoses onto the hose cart, the puddles had already soaked into the ground.  

We'll need to do some serious weeding when the ground dries up enough for us to move around.

* * * * * * * * 

I am glad the 4th of July celebrations are over.  Our neighborhood sounded like a war zone from all the folks shooting fireworks.  They started blasting Friday evening and were still blasting Monday night at 10 p.m.

Enough, people!

 

Dosing and Watering - July 2, 2022

I went out looking for tomato plants after work yesterday - just wanted a little 6-pack to replace the Hossinators that died.  The big hardware store had big plants in gallon pots, but the price tags were faded, and I did not have my readers on; they might be on sale, but the last time I checked the price, the big ones were expensive, and I wouldn't buy them.  The next place I checked - a "real" garden center - didn't have ANY vegetable plants AT ALL (I would've bought a couple of zucchini plants if they'd had them).  There's a lady up the road that grows them in a greenhouse in her yard.  I may hit her up tomorrow.

It's been a week since I dosed the existing tomato plants with a microbial inoculent.  I was quite shocked when I saw the Hossinators earlier this week.  When I planted them two weeks ago, they were only 2" tall, and for days they just sat there, pale, and doing nothing, even though I was watering them.  And then I hit them with the Em-1, and they shot up 2" within a couple of days, and they're green.  

Now, let's not get excited.  Those Hossinator plants were like miniature bonsais when I put them in the ground.  Stunted.  They'd been growing in 6-pack trays for two months, on a concrete patio table that gets mid-day sun.  They'd been rained on, stormed on, washed out of the soil and punched back in.  The ones that survived must be tough customers.   It may be that once they got over the shock of being transplanted to the garden, they stretched out their roots and got busy growing.  The Em-1 might not have had a thing to do with their sudden growth spurt.  But it might have.

So I dosed them again this evening, along with the rest of the tomatoes, and the squash (which currently looks pitiful, btw) and the peppers.

Then I watered everything but the purple hull peas.  They need it and will get it this weekend, one way or another.    

First Harvest - July 1, 2022

After dinner last night, I said to The Husband, "Let's walk down to look at the garden."  

He gave me a skeptical look.  The last time I'd said those words to him, we'd both ended up with hoes in our hands.  But that was during last week's cool spell.  It was hotter than a firecracker yesterday.

"Just look," I reiterated.  

We put on our shoes and went to the garden.

Stuff looks surprisingly healthy.  

We picked three cucumbers and a handful of jalapeno peppers.  The cucumber vines are loaded with tiny cucumbers that will be pick-able in a few days.  We brought the three cucumbers home and put them in vinegar with sliced onions.  They'll be tasty tonight.

The squash plants are blooming well, and we saw tiny squash forming.

The tomatoes are pretty far from ripe, but the plants look good.  All but three of the Hossinator tomatoes died, but those three are looking great.  I'm going to stop at the greenhouse this afternoon to see if they have any more tomato plants to replace those that died.

The okra hasn't come up yet.  The seeds need watering to sprout.  There's a slight chance of rain this weekend, but I think we'll need to water the garden.