Rain. It does a garden good!

The rain from the past week has really helped our garden grow!!

I'll tell you......this growing a garden thing.....it has been so much fun. A lot of work, at times, but so much fun.

Seriously. It's like {almost} experiencing the miracle of life.

I go outside in the morning.

See a baby okra....or a baby pickling cucumber like this.....

Then come back to look at it 2 days later.....and it's huge! I seriously smile every time I see a new vegetable!

So.....for memory's sake......this was our garden the day we planted our plants on April 20th.

Here was our garden on June 8th...(when Geoff was putting up this chicken wire to keep the rabbit out)

And these were our okra plants on June 8th

Well.....these are our okra plants today (the huge ones on the right side)....July 13th...just over a month later....


Can you believe it?? Because I cannot! Well...I do believe it because it is real. But they have just grown so much over the past month.

They have almost taken over the whole garden! They are so tall now....that they are shading our tomato plants (which, by the way, keep getting lots and lots of flowering buds.....but they fall off before they produce a tomato! If you have any suggestions at all...they would be greatly appreciated.)

The other plant that has almost taken over our garden are our pickling cucumbers....

And this makes me so excited! I hope to make enough to make my own pickles!

On a slightly funnier (more fun?) note....

This morning, as I was outside, 'inspecting' our garden....I was (or thought I was) searching so well for any new cucumbers that might be ready to pick. I happily saw several growing from their buds, but not quite ready.

After my fourth inspection.....I saw this one!!


I literally almost jumped when I saw it because, as 'they' say...."if it was a snake.....it would have bit me!!!"

I started laughing and went inside to get the scissors (what are you supposed to use to cut your vegetables off? Because, we just so happen to use regular scissors.)

I told Parker we had a "big" cucumber to cut. She was getting all excited.....telling me how she was going to hold it after I cut it off.

So I cut it off and handed it directly to her.

The very first thing she did was this.....what you see in this picture.....and said, "Hello?"


....and started having a 'phone' conversation. :)