Yet Another Garden Update

Ooh, boy. Ooooh, boy. Can you just about taste it? My first tomato is so close to being ripe!

It’s a Cherokee Purple, and you can kind of tell how dark it is near the top, on the far side. I have to say, it felt like it would be ages before I had ripe tomatoes in the garden, and now that day is nearly here! Lots more garden photos and descriptions if you click the link.

This is the main vegetable garden, or at least a part of it, with my garage in the background. (See the carrot tops, beans, and peas here.) The cage on the left is the Cherokee Purple plant, and the one on the right is Mr Stripy. Quite a difference in plant size! The Brandywines are also slightly more petite, although the Striped Cavern in the side yard is giving Mr Stripy a run for its money. Maybe it’s the stripes that makes them so big! Here are some of the caverns:

These fruits are a bit smaller than my other tomato plants, and I’m not sure if that’s because this plant gets less water or if it’s a result of the fast growth of the plant itself. Or maybe it’s just down to the variety. The fruits are supposed to be hollow (hence the name ‘cavern’) — good for stuffing.
The cantaloupe vine is also happily growing alongside the house. It’s hard to get a sense of scale, but you can see how sprawling it is. Considering how small the plant was when I brought it home, and the fact that my cantaloupe vine just plain died last year, I’m really pleased. Here’s one of the tiny potential melons:

My spaghetti squash vine is growing equally fast, and the butternut squash is catching up, but the loofah plants are still pretty small:

They seem healthy enough, climbing up my fence, but they’re nowhere near as big and fast-growing as the other squashes. I’d nearly given up on them being productive, but I did notice lots of little buds along the vines today, so maybe they’ll start flowering soon!
I’ve got almost all my peppers in chicken-wire cages now (to keep critters from eating the fruit), although the poblano seems determined to outgrow its (second) cage. The red bell peppers aren’t red yet, but they’re looking good:

The eggplant is caged too, and I’m relieved to see several new fruits growing on it, although they’re pretty little. I wonder if I bought a small-ish variety — will have to look. The chile peppers have (unsurprisingly) not been disturbed by the local fauna, and they’re starting to turn red now!

I accidentally picked the biggest jalapeno I had, so I’ll have to see if that’s ripe… just have to decide how to use it. I wonder if a homegrown jalapeno is a lot hotter than store-bought ones. I’ll end with a picture of the zinnia that’s blooming in the flower garden:

There are a few more nearly ready to join it! It’s such a nice day here, perfect for being outside and taking pictures of plants. The cats came outside with me and absolutely loved it. They’re fierce, no? Beany practiced hunting (flies), and Booty surveyed his territory. When they came inside, they had to lie around, looking extra pleased with themselves. I do the same thing.