Gargantuan Veg

Last night I went outside to collect tomatoes for my all time favorite summertime recipe, Pasta With Fresh Tomato, Roasted Garlic and Brie. Yum. We will eat this a million times before the summer is over.

Anyway, so I'm out collecting ripe tomatoes when I start poking at my zucchini plants to see if anything has grown, you know, since I've put zero effort into them since planting. And OH. MY. GOD.

To give some perspective on the size of this sucker...

Using some highly scientific standards, I weighed myself on the Wii (yes, it has in fact turned into a glorified scale), and then weighed again with the zucchini. Officially it said 1.8 pounds, but I think it is over 2.

Now, what the heck do I do with it? Maybe this...

Apparently, My Thumb is Green

I planted my garden right around the beginning of May.

I didn't think it was going to do very well. Slugs swept in and started chewing my tender new cucumbers. They feasted on carrots sprouting through the ground. They tried eating my zucchini. Then I got mad and brought out the old pickle jar full of beer. Death to the slugs!

It is only the end of June and look at how well my pretties are doing!
(And please ignore the weeds)

Zucchini, so thick with flowers I can tell where one starts and another begins.

Tomatoes, already up to an elephant's eye.

Yes I know that is the marker for corn, but these plants are massive.

The only surviving cucumber and my jalapeno and bell pepper plants

Yes, yes I am proud and yes, yes I am bragging.

Everyday a few more ripe cherry tomatoes pop up, which Gracie demands and quickly devours. I don't think there will be bags full of spare tomatoes this year to deliver to the daycare teachers despite the addition of 2 more plants.

Zucchini will be a whole other story though. I counted over 40 blossoms tonight and know I must have missed some. If you want dibs on any please let me know before I start walking up and down the street passing them out to neighbors and strangers alike this summer.

Thank you rainy spring!