Garden Update July 2011: Tomatillo, Diva Cucumber, Zephyr Squash, & 8-Ball Squash

Another great year in the garden.  I truly do not know why more people do not grow their own food.  The quality and variety available is so much better than what you can get in the stores.  Also, if you have the room and a sunny spot, it is not hard to grow if you pick plant varieties that grow well in your area and plant at the appropriate time.

My Tomatoes are doing great.  I will make a separate post about them.  The fruit trees are also doing really well (I will also do separate posts).

This year I grew some different varieties of squash and cucumber.  I also got my tomatillos to survive (last year something ate them).

Here is the Zephyr Squash.  It is a squash that has fruit that is yellow AND green.  Sort of changes color halfway through the squash.  The blossoms are big and would be perfect to stuff.  We have harvested a couple squash and they have a nutty flavor and firm texture.  Very yummy.

This is my 8-Ball Squash.  I just picked this up at the last minute because I had room for 1 more squash.  There are some babies on the plant right now but I have not tried any yet from this variety.

This is a Diva Cucumber.  I LOVE growing cucumber because they are such a staple to our meals.  The go great in salads or with just a little rice vinegar.  I dream of making pickles but never grow enough to do so.   I thought I would take a picture of the blossom with a baby cucumber so you can see how the fruit start to form.

I am most excited about my Tomatillo. They took a longer time to get going but once our weather warmed up, they grew pretty quickly.  I love salsa verde so I am VERY excited to get some tomatillo.  This year I am growing a purple variety of tomatillo.

Here are some tomatillo blossoms and some baby tomatillos.