July 26 - Mortgage Lifters

I've never planted Mortgage Lifters before. They have a little unusual color, being a little darker on top than others. But by golly, these things are huge! And there are twice this many in the garden needing to be picked. Guess I'll do some canning later on today.

My yellow tomators are doing well, too. The picture with the plants shows the yellow ones in the foreground and the morgage lifeters in the back.

My rich black dirt combined with lots of lime and the black plastic to keep moisture in the soil has surely paid off. Check out this melon - I've already picked 7. They're very sweet.

July 22 - Harvesting

I never realized how much tomatoes love lime until this year. My plants are huge and are producing an abundant amount of big, heavy fruit. My German Johnsons are the largest I've ever grown. I'll take some to my parents tomorrow.

When we planted them, Joel's dad, who is a farmer from way back, showed me how to mix a quart of lime with some dirt and fertilizer in a deep hole. With his method, there was a lot of preparation to the hole and dirt before you plant the tomato.

And my Ambrosia cantelopes are coming in. I picked five today. When one of them gets cold, I'll cut it open and see how it tastes.

This past week, I stopped at the Southeast North Carolina Farmer's Market on US 74 between I-95 and Pembroke. Got some more peaches. The Winblo are really good for canning and I hope to get some of that accomplished this week. In a day or so they'll be ready to cook.

The Contender variety is available in some places. I haven't found any yet. They're a good table peach. Rinse, split apart and take a bite. Mmm!