...9.6...Friday Update...the Garden Variety...

..I thought I'd give you a little backyard container garden update...

...the green beans have been quite the success...

...most days I get a harvest like this...

...and I just put them into a reused cereal bag for storage...

...and when the bag is full there is a pot of delicious home grown entirely organic green beans...

...and we're also still harvesting a handfull or so of tomatoes from our three little patio plants...they have been so prolific to be so small...

...continuing with the harvest part of the update...our basil and parsley are definitely ready to be harvested...the basil is just on the cusp of blooming as I can see the little flower buds at the top...

...so I cut away almost all of the parsley and basil...you can see the very small oregano still there...we've not harvested any of it and I need to do a little bit of research on how it grows as it's not behaving like I thought it would...

...so here's the harvest...

...and I planted the chives that our neighbor gave us...

...and another harvest of sorts...our huge marigolds were so tall and had so many blooms...I thought I'd save some seeds for next year...

...so I pulled off some dried flower heads...I'll probably do this with some of the sunflowers as well...if the birds don't eat them all...

...and then I just separated them into a bowl...I'll give some to Mom next time I see her...I think she'll like them a lot...

...the Man had rooted some Golden Pothos cuttings...

...and they really had some healthy looking roots...

...so I potted them back into the 'mother' pot...and took a few more cuttings to root...

...and just look at all the blooms on our patio tomatoes...they're still going strong...and hopefully each little flower will mean one tomato...

...and a little update on how does the garden grow...there are still a few sunflowers on the Belgian White that we planted in the 'white' garden...but you can see it's really more yellow that white...but the goldfinches loved it there and have been pecking away all of the seeds...

...and the Star Jasmine climbing on the banisters is getting out of hand...

...the real show stopper in the flower department this summer has been these volunteer Vincas...bright white and so bountiful with their blooms...

...Mom's hanging basket is still thriving...

...this is the garden area...two big pots of Okinawan sweet potatoes...we didn't get the little bugs eating the leaves here...

...and I've cleaned up and trimmed and wrapped the Star Jasmine so it's not so gangly...

...and a little upgrade for the outside spigot...I topped it's protective pvc pipe with a plastic jug and then balanced a few rocks on top to decorate it a bit...

...and then it was time to get those harvested herbs into the freezer...parsley first...

...I separated the leaves from the stems as I don't like the stems at all...in fact I'm not a huge fan of parsley at all...

...gave them a spin in my 30 year old salad spinner...

...nice and dry...they sure are pretty...

...the tall woody basil wouldn't fit into the sink...so I just broke them in half...

...and again...separated the leaves from the stems...

...and gave them a spin too...

...and laid them out on clean towels to dry a bit more...

...and into the freezer...we've got more than enough to last us all year...I'm sure...

...how does your garden grow?...

~Have a lovely day!