Sunshine on a Stalk

This is a Nyjer flower, an annual herb that originated in Ethiopia. It's grown for it's oil and seed, kinda like a sunflower is. They import it here as bird seed for Goldfinches, and they sure love it!

Only one problem, the seeds aren't supposed to sprout. They are heat sterilized before entering the country to keep it from being introduced as an invasive species. Oh really? Check out the picture below to see how well that works. Maybe they should re-think those sterilization procedures.

Baby Melon Grew Up

A little over a month ago, I blogged about the first ever melon growing in my garden. Today it came of age. Boy, when it started to ripen, it sure went fast! Sometime between Friday and today, the skin under the netting had turned from green to yellow and a bee and an ant were both trying to figure out how to get inside it.
This one is slightly smaller than it's sibling, which should be ripe in a day or two. The vine tried to take over the whole garden, but all I got was two melons. A third one died on the vine as a baby.

Too bad these pictures aren't scratch and sniff! The odor coming from it when I brought it in from the garden was very strong. And once I sliced it open, my whole kitchen smelled like melon. It's the sweetest, juiciest, most fragrant melon I've ever eaten.

Garden Fresh Salsa

The hot, sticky weather this past week has really kicked my tomatoes into gear. I'm crossing my fingers that most of the fruit will ripen on the vine this year. More than once in years past, I've had to pull them in green because they still hadn't turned red by hard freeze time.

That little guy on top is a paprika pepper. That was the first pepper on the plant and it turned red even though it is so small. All the other ones on the plant are bigger, but they are still yellow. I haven't grown paprika before, so I'm learning as I go along.

Another new veggie for me this year has been onions. I finally have all the veggies to make salsa, and I made my first bowl today. Boy, freshly picked onions sure have a lot more flavor than ones that have been sitting around in the grocery store for awhile! Needless to say, the bowl of salsa didn't last long.

Ahhhhhhhh

That's what my flowers and veggies and trees are saying after the 2 1/4 inches of rain we got last night. Add that to the additional inch we got the night before, and everybody should be happy for awhile.

Don't Follow This Car

We went to Cabelas this past Saturday, and they were having a tent sale. Almost all of it was heavily used and broken junk, but we still saw some people running around gleefully filling up their baskets.

As we were getting ready to leave, my husband pointed out this spectacle. I think these guys need a few more ropes and straps. I'm skeptical that this jerry-rigged load is going to make it all the way back to Wisconsin in one piece. But then, considering the quality of the merchandise in the tent sale, maybe a few bounces off the highway won't make much of a difference.