You say tomato, I say ripen up already

Seeing red? Not quite yet. 

Yes, it is true. It is the middle of August and I have yet to harvest a ripe tomato. Oh, I have plenty of big beautiful green ones that have just been sitting on the vine. But none that have ripened to that big, robust red we all know and love. It makes me a sad panda. Last year at this time, my tomatoes had been going strong for a few weeks and I was still waiting on my cayenne peppers to ripen. Actually, I had to pull my cayennes at the end of the season before a frost and let them ripen hanging up in my basement (they did, rather nicely too). But as of today? Cayennes are turning red left and right. And my tomatoes are as green as the day they appeared on the vine. Oh sure, logically I can tell myself it is due to the weather being so cool. But screw logic! I want some 'Maters!

Cayennes ripening in the background. 4 have already been picked up to this point

More tomatoes

Black Cherry tomatoes with some Serrano peppers.  

Small tomatoes, big tomatoes. 

Well, in the meantime, at least I can focus on some of my other crops that are ripening up. Remember those Ghost Peppers I was telling you about? 

Boo

If the plant looks bad, it's because it is. The tomatoes have smothered out the sunlight and are slowly killing off the plant. BUT the peppers seem to be making it through at this point. I have recently made the mistake of looking up videos of people eating ghost peppers. Yeah... here's the thing. I like hot and spicy things. But I'm not stupid. With that being said, who wants some ghost peppers!? Seriously, they are yours. I just clear my name of all responsibility. And I will give you a small run down on handling them before I hand them off to you, dear reader. Then I wash my hands of said responsibility. And of hot pepper oil. 

Other things are coming along nicely as well. What you have here is some nice Rainbow Swiss chard along with some Holy Squash Batman!! I can't complain at all about my squash plants. From day one they have taken to their spot in the garden and have made themselves comfortable by filling in any of the empty spaces. Whether it is summer squash, zucchini or acorn squash, they have all been bountiful. 

One small (or big, depending on how you look at it) tragedy is some of the things I have found due to the cool and wet weather we've been having. WARNING: What you are about to see is foul and grotesque. 

F'ing gross

That right there is one of at least 4 slugs I found after a rainy day. That thing in the top left corner? That is one of the other 3 or 4 slugs I found and consequently crushed. Little known fact: Slugs are really really hard to kill under shoe. They just squish and slide and rebound back to form. Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Hey lets get back to something pretty! I mentioned earlier in the season that I had planted some wildflowers in my front yard and I would show you what they looked like when fully grown. Well, the time has come! 

I know, I know. The lighting is horrid here. 

Just to give some perspective on how tall these things are getting, I'm about 6'2... minus 4 inches...

So really, they have turned out quite beautiful. Even more then these pictures can show. I'm pretty happy with all of it. I'm excited to start to plan next year as flowers are a fairly new adventure for me but I'm starting to appreciate them more and more. 

I will leave you with a glimpse of some things that are currently growing but not quite yet ready for harvest.

Bush Beans

Moon and Stars Watermelon

Brussels Sprouts

Thanks for hanging in there and reading, especially after that slug picture.