Ahhh...summer

So, its summer. The days are long, the electric bill is high, and in spite of running a window unit AC in every single room in the house, I am still so sweaty that I have to eat my lunch in skivies, just to get some relief from the hot hot HOT afternoon blaze. I will surely be complaining just as much this winter, but DAMN I frigging hate the heat.

That said, summer is one of the most wonderful times of the year, too. The time when all of the fragile, needy, worrisome green vines that have overtaken much of the yard on my rented house now take hold and start to bear the fruit they have been promising since they first peeped their little heads out of the soil nearly 7 months ago.

Behold! The front of the house!

And the side!!



I somehow neglected to get a good picture of the back, where the real monsters are. We have not pruned out tomato plants at all, and the ones in the front have grown so tall that they are now cascading back over the top of the half wall onto the porch. It's pretty serious.

Here is one suprising little gem. Its called the Green Zebra. It stays green, even after it has ripened, turning just slightly yellow, with pronounced dark green stripes. It is tangy and delicious, absolutely beautiful in a tomato salad.








One of our first varietiest of large tomatoes to ripen was the crnkovic tomato, an heirloom from Yugoslavia. It tastes just about like a typical slicing tomato, nice and juicy, slightly sweet. Perfect for a sandwich, or salad.



Then, of course we have our "bumper crop of tiny little cherry and currant tomatoes. The little yellow ones are called White Currants and they are the sweetest, most delicious tomatoes that I have ever had. james has been joking that I should add them to a pie...he's not too far off. The larger red are called Tommy Toe. They taste just about like a typical roma or cherry tomato, but I like them because they are much larger than a standard cherry, but still smaller and sweeter than a roma. these will be perfect to "put up" at the end of the season. The smaller red ones are calle Isis Candy, and they certainly are sweet and delicious. The brown ones are called chocolate cherry tomatoes...these were our big find last year. they are so sweet and rich, with only a little acidity. They are absolutely delicious. It is nearly impossible to pick which ones that I like the best, they are all so good in their own way.

And beyond being delicious on their own, they are absolutely breathtaking when paired with some fresh orange segments and herbs.

And, of course we have more in our garden than just tomatoes! but, really the tomatoes have stoled the show. I have a watermelon vine that looks as if it will be producing one single fruit for me. And to make matters worse, I have no idea how to tell when it is ripe. It think it has stopped growing, but it's impossible to tell. And what if it's about to hit a growth spirt?? No way to know.

We have also had a lot of luck with the greens this year. We have Rainbow Chard and some kind of purple Kale. Both have been delicious. James makes the awesome potato and kale soup with sausage and when he made it with our kale, it was the best soup I have ever had. He has been instructed to make it again this week.

And finally, we have our peppers! We have these lovely jalapenos, some serranos that have turned out to be quite nice, and some habaneros that have just now started to fruit. I'm hoping that somewhere along the line, those tomatoes and those peppers might meet up with an avacado in a bowl next to some tortilla chips. YUM!

So, yeah, we have an awesome garden, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping! I love summer!