Tomatoes! The garden continues to be the most prolific I’ve ever had. I am amazed at how well the new location is for them, lots of sun means lots of tomatoes.
Clusters of cherry size tomatoes are all over these vines.
The Cherokee Purple vine has three fat ones in the process of getting ripe. I threaded the vine onto the veranda railing to keep it from cascading down the backside of the planter where I can’t reach.
Heirloom variety tomatoes are growing too, these make larger ones with lots of flavor.
Last weekend I talked about how I have so many tomatoes that I have given away little containers of them to my friends. I have a lot of ways to use this bounty for the ones I keep to eat. See my post on End of the Garden Tomatoes for details on how I roast/dry the tomatoes and combine with fresh garden herbs for a fresh tomato sauce great for pizza and stuffing chicken breasts.
Make an avocado caprese salad, recipe on my post An Abundance of Tomatoes, along with a bunch more ideas for using up the garden bounty, including my Tomato Pie, one dish Italian meal and grilled bacon wrapped cherry tomatoes.
A red bellied woodpecker stopped by for a meal. He likes the seeds, and leaves the tomatoes for me.
On the newly blooming daisy, a pretty little moth was taking advantage of the pollen.
The verbena exploded with more blooms this week, maybe it likes the cooler nights.
Lovely purple variegated blooms that the hummingbird likes keep the little bird visiting regularly.
The toad lily is blooming its heart out. These little lovelies are all over the largest plant.
Spotted blooms cascade down long stems, all three plants have some.
This is the largest of the three toad lilies purchased at Bullington Gardens this past spring.
The one near the front door is full of buds and will be blooming like the one above soon.
The geranium is still going too. I trimmed these guys up about a month ago, put some cuttings in soil to root, and the main plant is blooming again.
I am hoping the cuttings do well. Three have some new leaves, so there may be more pots of geraniums next year if I can coax them through the winter again.
I am off to the fair this evening, participating in the Tomato cooking contest. The recipe is a secret until the competition is over, but I’ll share it with you soon.
What is going on in your garden?
From My Carolina Home 
Sun = Tomatoes! So true, and that’s why I have ferns & mushrooms for my garden.
good luck at the fair, your plants always look so good
Yummy and delightful post 🙂 best of luck at the fair ~ I love the sweet toad lily!
My hostas are hiding in the weeds, but I did get some of them pulled around the sedum one cool day last week. Today has abundant sunshine and cooler temps, so MAYBE I will go back out to the garden and tackle a bit of it. I’d much rather go sew some more blocks for your quilt drive. 😉 Have a wonderful time at the fair! Do you take all your ingredients with you? The avocado caprese salad looks delightful!
Good luck at the fair. I grow tomatoes for my husband and they were prolific. I finally pulled out the two plants so I could sow my fall crops – lettuce, carrots, kohlrabi, radishes and Tokyo turnips. This is the first year in this house so the crops in the new 8′ long raised planter were experiments. Everything did really well. The fall crops are growing great, too. Radishes in October anyone? 🙂 I have made lots of notes for next year’s bounty.
Your garden and plants look amazing. I hope you had fun at the fair and everyone loved your recipe.
The flowers are beautiful and your photography of them really makes them pop! The Toad Lilies are so beautiful – they look like orchids! Maybe you can give my garden a pep talk! Started a neck tie quilt last night. Just taking them apart (after washing them) is taking a while – binge watching favorite shows. Grandfather Giuseppe, father Joseph, son Joe, grandson Little Joe (age 32!) Have to make the “Joe” quilt from all their ties. Thanks
I’m still getting cherry tomatoes, so yummy! My larger tomato plant has about 5 hard green tomatoes on it – not sure whether they will ripen or not. I’ll have to check out the avocado salad recipe. Hope you’re having a fun fair week!
As a founding member of the Brown Thumb Society, I truly enjoy your photos! I think it is almost like MAGIC when I see them!
Oh to have lots of tomatoes! I have one heirloom tomato in a pot and have only a few tomatoes growing. However, we are having a complete renovation of our front courtyard and backyard, the backyard being an extraordinary renovation. I hope to have a vegetable/fruit garden in elevated planters next year.
Living at an altitude of 7200 feet in the arid steppe region of New Mexico, means glorious natural beauty, poor soil, and a very intense sun. Even though my husband and I completed the Master Gardener course when moving here, I have only had good success in pots. Roses do well here because there are few diseases in arid lands, and I have beautiful David Austin roses in pots. Today, the landscape crew is planting our new beds, back and front, with shrubs and perennials chosen by the designer, all plants that we’re familiar with, tend to do well in this area, and will be planted in enriched soil and on a drip system. So I’m crossing fingers for better luck with the plants in the ground. My favorite new features are the natural rock water features we’ve had installed in both the front and back. It’s like being next to a stream. Both our yards are fortunate to have large trees that give good shade in the seating areas. We have two seating areas in the back and ordered a comfortable bistro set for the front. We’re definitely looking forward to enjoying our new outdoor spaces for a long time.
Best of luck tonight in the competition and I’m very much looking forward to that recipe. I’ve had great good luck with your recipes so far!
Tomatoe cooking competion sounds intruiging, good luck with that! And I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see how your other entries in the fair went, so….. good luck all round!
You sure have some great tomatoes coming on and lots of pretty flowers to enjoy…..
Looking forward to your new tomato recipe! I cut a cauliflower today, found another cucumber, and picked a head of cabbage for tonight’s cole slaw. There are tomatoes and raspberries that will need picking tomorrow, and lots of tomatillos.
Wow, your tomatoes keep on giving. Best of luck at the fair!
Your toad lilies are amazing! I love their bumpy purpleness. Next year I’ll be planting tomatoes again. I didn’t get to it this year since we were basically gone most of May. Have a great weekend!
Your garden continues to look lovely. I hope you enjoyed the tomato cooking contest.
Your garden is great! I’m late to this party so by now the tomato cooking contest is over! I hope you’ll share and I hope even more you won!
Good evening Carole, I’m trying to play catch up but have fallen behind again. As you can see this is your Sept, 10th e-mail on tomatoes and there just so many recipes on it with the heirloom tomatoes that I best get some more ink or I will run out so will have to wait till I know there is enough ink to get all I want. Think I told you that the Public near to me has started selling some heirloom tomatoes so will get some of them my next trip to the store. My son grew the beef-steak tomatoes this year and we really enjoyed them. Bought the ingredients for the burette recipe you entered into the fair need to put it together tonight so It can meld together, looking forward to that tomorrow for lunch It’s on the cold side here tonight and I got all my errend’s before it set in, I will not get out in the cold at 81 yrs. Old and all the carona virus so I stay at home a lot. Do plan to go and get some blanks from the Linus group I work with so I can keep myself busy. Haven’t worked with them for awhile, going Mon to get my first austio perosis shot, hope it helps, they are expensive . Have a great evening, Phyllis