A Virtuous Woman Takes A Walk in the Garden

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• With her hands she planteth a vineyard...

I wish this was my garden, but alas, although I had great plans for putting in a bigger, better garden this year, the weather and my husband's busy schedule conspired and we didn't plant a thing this spring.  Luckily for us, though, my mom and dad still garden on a grand scale, and they are generous to fault with their produce.  They grow enough for themselves as well as extra for friends and family.

Walk with me and let me show you my daddy's pride and joy.

On our way to the garden this early morning, we pass by one of two fig trees...

absolutely loaded down with baby green figs. They'll be ripe just about the time that the rest of the garden plays out, I think.

You can see--much larger than my puny little raised beds!

This end is the main pea patch.  Daddy grows purple hull peas, usually Mississippi pink eye purple hulls.  There were a couple of years that you couldn't get seed for this variety anywhere, but luckily they releases some last year and this year, they're our favorite.

You can see almost every stage of a pea on this one plant--the blooms are white on the first day, then as day wears on, they turn yellow.  Eventually the yellow blooms fall off and the little bud that remains starts of grow a pea.  On purple hulls, they start off little and green, then start to get purple as they fill out.  Once these get closer to ready, I'll show you the finished product.

Aren't the blooms pretty? Not as colorful as an ornamental sweet pea, but lovely and delicate, just the same.

These are green beans--at last count, these four(ish) rows had yielded over 71 quarts of green beans!

And they're still making blooms, which means more beans coming.

These blooms are a slight lavender in color. 

(Do you see the green bean at the bottom of the picture?)

Only one row of squash--and I can't tell you how many squash, we've eaten these mostly fresh, and mom and dad have given away tons of these.

I saw Jaimie Oliver batter and fry squash blossoms on his cooking show once, I've been tempted to try it with some of these pretty yellow blooms.

That's about a half row of zucchini back there, beside my parent's mean guard dog.

(My folks were gone for a couple of days and we were tending to her while they were away.  She was moping and pouting about being at home alone, so I decided to take her riding with me.  I ended up taking her town and buying her a happy meal.  Yes, she is wicked mean.)

This was daddy's first attempt at zucchini, and they were a roaring success.

(The empty rows are where they did have onions and potatoes, they're already gone for this year)

Cucumbers in bloom--they are just starting the yield, first one or two a day, and now by the droves.  If the heat doesn't get them, looks like there will be plenty more to come!

Tomatoes are a little late this year, no red ones just yet in these larger ones...

...or among the grape tomatoes.

These are bell pepper, they have a couple of the plants have one or two baby ones, but there were hiding among the leaves and I couldn't get a clear shot.

And sweet corn growing--do you see what I see, right in the middle?

...one lone ear, just starting to tassel.

And last but not least, a few more rows of peas, just to fill the empty rows to the end. 

I hope you enjoyed my "Garden Tour".  How is your garden growing?

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Make Your Home Sing Monday at Mom's the Word

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

June Garden Party at Elizabeth and Company

Homemaking Party at Hope in Every Season