It seems the time that many plants in the garden are becoming ready.

I started picking cucumbers about 4 days ago; they have been sweet and juicy. They have the little spines too, which is a nice reminder that they came from our garden and not a store. So far the ones I've picked have been about 8" long, though I'm sure they would have grown bigger if I had let them.

The main field of corn is almost ready to pick. One or two days ago I noticed that there were already small ears forming, maybe between 6-8" long. The ornamental popcorn started to flower 1-2 days ago.

The gourds are also maturing and there are more and more each day. I have noticed three types so far: a round one with a yellow top and green and white stripes below, a round very light green, a long one with yellow, green and white. The first two have been developing for a while, whereas the latter I just noticed today.

There are four medium-stage pumpkins that I have noticed in the patch near the fence. I'd say they range between 5-10" in diameter. I've also noticed two other small ones.

There are bell peppers of appropriate size to pick, but I want to wait until they turn red. The mandarins have only small peppers on them so far.

The tomatoes have started to turn red as well. Already, the romas in front produced several reds a yesterday or the day before. Though we haven't had a chance to try them yet as it seems the chickens have found a taste for them. There are several sun golds turning orange today, though they are the size of cherry tomatoes. I'm thinking that they tomatoes have waited so long to mature because so much energy was going into the leaves instead of the fruit.

Really the garden is out of control. The tomatoes are in the peppers, the gourds and cucumbers are in the tomatoes and the ornamental corn, the swiss chard are being shaded out by the tomatoes. I think next year I will be able to plant the same number of plants I did this year, but in an area twice as large. In any case it hasn't been bad this year, except for the tomatoes and the peppers everything seems to be maturing on time and in abundant quantities. Though the peas should be planted much earlier next year, as the heat culled their production.

The sunflowers in the old garden patch are doing very well, with two of them at least a foot over my head. The ones near the house are smaller.

The eight baby chicks are starting to grow pretty fast, they often go off away from their mother while foraging. There are two jet black ones, and one with grey-edged feathers, but the others look like they will all resemble barred rocks - the banding is quite clear and has been for a while. One of the barred ones has a light colored head, so it will be interesting to see how he turns out. I've counted 3 with no clear sign of a crest, hopefully more will be hens. We've been getting about 7 eggs a day for the past week and a half, of several different shades and colors.