At least I'll get a lot of pickles this year

I went today to get some neem for my tomatoes as something is eating the blossoms before they can fruit.  I haven't found anything else wrong with the plants.  I mean they are about three feet tall.  There is no reason they shouldn't be bearing fruit by now.  Well, the nursery was out of neem, but the nice gentleman who helped me suggested this other stuff.  It appears to be a hormone to help the blossoms.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until I got it home that I realized that it was also a pesticide.  Now, see, I've been avoiding such things, but since I already bought it, I figured I'd try it to see if it works.  If not, there is a homemade organic spray I'm going to make and try.

I'll try to get a good pic of the tomatoes later, but here is my garden in general.

Still not dead!

You can see the tomatoes way in the back.  But, what I would like you to take notice of is the huge section of green on the right hand side near the house.

That would be the cucumbers.  Inside that jungle of leaves is part of the row of bush beans.  I mentioned in my last post that I have tried very hard to convince the cucumbers they want to grow the other direction, but they are definitely not listening.  So, yeah, I don't see a lot of beans this year.

However, I have gotten this:

Ta-da!

My first beautiful, lovely, delicious cucumber!  I was checking some of the baby cukes I've seen, and was shocked to find this guy hiding under the leaves.  I immediately wanted to slice it up and eat it with a dash of salt, but my need to show it off to my friends is holding me back.  (Hey, we are all attention whores in our own way.)

Apparently, the cucumbers are enjoying this godawful heat.  I have three more that are close to ready.  Funnily enough, one of them is round and about the size of a baseball and another looks like a gourd.  I'm not sure what would cause a cucumber to distort into another shape, but I'm hoping the oddness continues.  I want to put them out in a big bowl on the dining table when I have friends over as proof that my innate weirdness is even contagious to my plants.  There's something inherently satisfying to know that one's own weirdness actually warps the world around her.

I knew there was a reason I was put on this earth.




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A lady at the nursery suggested that it could be the fact that it's over 75 degrees at night that could be doing a number on my tomato blossoms and could be why my pumpkin isn't fruiting since they just aren't getting a chance to cool down.  I keep telling everyone the sun is evil, but do they listen?  Noooooooo...