It’s another Sunday and it’s a bit windy in Utah, which means that a lot of the photos this week are not my best. I want a new camera, and the American Express card is burning a hole in my wallet, but the truth is I can’t really afford it just yet, especially since I barely got a new laptop. I love being a teacher, but I want more money! Ok, enough ranting about that.

If you’re looking for Weekend Herb Blogging, the Recap for week #39 will be posted here later this evening. Can you believe we’ve been doing this for 39 weeks? I’m hosting this weekend, and you can still send me your link (kalynskitchen AT comcast DOT net) as long as I get it by 3:00 today, Utah time. Be sure to link to Kalyn’s Kitchen with the words Weekend Herb Blogging somewhere in your post.

By the way, next weekend I’ll be in San Francisco having a great time with my two gorgeous friends Mary and Jacque, so I won’t be able to photograph the garden. Instead, next Sunday I’m going to show you some fun plants from Rand and Bradley’s garden that I took when I was in Venice Beach. There are interesting things growing there, and I think you’ll enjoy a peek at a California garden.
Overall, the garden is doing pretty well this week, but I still see some signs of insect or snail damage, and I’m seeing quite a few earwigs. Do earwigs eat plants? I really don’t know, but I’m suspecting they might be the culprits.

A slightly fuzzy photo, but I couldn’t seem to get the Bee Balm to hold still enough in the wind to get a better one. This is one of my very favorite flowers. They come in lots of colors, and possibly I’m hallucinating, but they seem to grow different colors on the same plant. (By the way, Bee Balm is categorized as an herb, but I don’t know if it’s edible. Anyone know that?)

Since I’m letting my Brandywine tomatoes sprawl out on the ground this year (after the tomato cages kept tipping over last year) I have some Brandywine tomatoes growing upside down. If you’re interested in learning about such things, two characteristics that distinguish the Brandywine are the bumpy “shoulders” (notice on the lower tomato above) and the leaves of the plant being shaped like the leaves of a potato plant. In my humble opinion, this is the best tasting tomato there is. Sometimes the tomatoes weigh nearly a pound and are big enough to cover a whole slice of bread. I have two plants and I’m willing to share if you live nearby.
I’m excited that I’m finally getting some tiny little cherry tomatoes on my plant, because I love to make Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce for pasta, with or without the hot Italian Sausage. (A recipe that I need to update with a photo.)

I have 3 or 4 spagetti squash that are nearly big enough to pick and make Garden Spagetti Squash, another recipe that needs a photo! I don’t know why but every squash plant I’ve grown for years has one or two squash at the very first of the season that shrivel up and die. That’s what’s happening with the yellow looking squash above. If you’re a new gardener, don’t worry. There will be plenty more squash to come!
In the herb section of the garden, the oregano is going to seed and needs to have a serious trimming. I’ve been slacking off on garden chores this week. Too much time spent reading food blogs!
In Utah where it gets cold, perennial herbs sometimes don’t make it through the winter. I was worried about my thyme, but it’s starting to fill in. What’s that on the right hand side? Ack, a weed in the photo!
The new lemon thyme plant that I planted this year seems to be happy so that’ll be a new herb to experiment with.

Finally, the first zucchini of the year is going to get picked today. I actually let this get a little bigger than I might have so I could photograph it today. (The sacrifices I make for this blog!) I’m going to use it tonight when I make The Easiest Kabobs in the World, so stay tuned later for that recipe.
That’s the garden update for this week, but here are links to my other garden updates if you want to see how things have grown.
first garden update
Garden Update #2
Garden Update #3
Garden Update #4
Garden Update #5
Garden Update #6

If you’re not really into gardening, no worries, there are other weekend happenings. Visit Eatstuff for Weekend Cat Blogging, Sweetnicks for Weekend Dog Blogging, or My Life as a Reluctant Housewife for Weekend Baby Blogging. There’s also a new every-other weekend event coming that I just learned about. Send your posts by July 10th for Weekend Breakfast Blogging at Saffron Trail.

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