Summer's Bounty

I love summer and all that it brings.  Sunshine and BBQ's.  Water fights.  Laying in the pool on floaties.  Fresh produce and so much green!

Remember our little raised garden bed?  You can read about it's origins HERE.

Just a tiny little piece of real estate to contain a few vegetable plants and satisfy that need I felt to grow a garden.  I've been watering it faithfully and watching expectantly...

 
It has been fun watching it grow and expand.  We got a nice little crop of radishes early on and now we are waiting for some string beans, tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), zuchini, onions and carrots to mature!  I  could not keep my little lemon cucumber going unfortunately.  :(

It's really taken off lately...

The string beans could probably use another 4 or 5 feet of climbing net!  The tomatoes have filled in their little quarter section nicely, and the zuchini is ready to branch out and explore the surrounding areas...lol.  The kiddos and I munched on a couple of "baby" carrots today.  Yum.  :)

 And finally, I have caught glimpses of tiny little green tomatoes!  And I look forward to the day when I will be able to pull a big, sweet and juicy tomato from the vine and slice it for fresh-from-the-garden tomato sandwiches with fresh ground pepper.  I might even have to try some of the olive oil mayo on my fresh tomato sammy! 

I have a columnal apple flanking the door on the back deck...along with a fig on the opposite side.

Say HI to Sadie!!!

After years of babying this little lady, she has finally offered up her first apple.  Seriously.  It took years.  I was starting to worry that I would never see an apple from this sweet little tree.  Perhaps she doesn't like being confined to a pot so much...but here is my little prized beauty:

Do you think it will be sweet?

And, of course, we have plenty of baby figs!!!  What on earth will we do with figs???  Any great recipes or ideas for fresh figs that you want to share?  I would love to try them.  :)