The Big Boys of Summer

I haven't had as much luck with the garden this last spring summer. I am not sure why. Maybe the rather odd inconsistent weather. Nevertheless, I have had some things which have been fun and different. I grew an artichoke. See the choke coming above? I cooked it and ate it. It was fine, but seemed a little more trouble than it was worth. After Keegan and I saw the artichokes blooming at the botanical garden, we decided to let the chokes go ahead and bloom. This flower is huge and really reather cool.

 In the past I haven't had a lot of luck with zucchini. I know they are supposed to be easy and prolific, but I didn't seem to have many bees and so had little to no luck with all the cucubiticea family (squash, melons, cucumbers). When I was at the nursery this Spring though, I ran into a guy who told me to take the male flower and peel away the petals, then use the stamen to pollinate the female flowers. Success! I have been have a prolific crop of these bad boys. I am trying to pick them before they become baseball bats. I have made zucchini salsa, zucchini cassarole, zucchini pancakes, zucchini orange cake, zucchini muffins, chocolate zucchini bread, zucchini bread, coconut zucchini bread and cranberry nut zucchini bread. It's all been pretty good really. And of course, plain steamed zucchini and vegetable kabobs. I've given away about 10.

 I have also had a steady supply of bell peppers, peppers, garlic, onions, only a hadful of tomatoes this year (very sad), rosemary, cilantro, a few yellow squash and right now one casaba melon. I have an eggplant still growing and maybe a tomatillo and okra. They just look a bit wimpy.
I've fertilized and will see what happens, but meanwhile I am grateful for these fun zucchini to experiment with!