A Bowl of Sweet Green Peppers

I started sweet green peppers from seed this year, indoors, and as is traditional they are slow growers. Yet, because of my rich soil and frequent watering, we are having a great harvest. The fruit looks so rich in color, and healthy in general appearance. We have been making Stuffed Green Peppers like crazy and have two batches frozen and have had two meals of stuffed peppers.

Nancy makes extra sauce to pour over the rice and hamburger filling. Nancy admonishes me not to let them grow too large as the skin gets a little tougher. We seem to have found the happy balance. The peppers in the picture are just the right size.

Nancy's Deep Blue Morning Glories

It seemed Nancy's morning glories took forever to grow up the trellis this year. I started the seedlings as usual and transplanted them to flower boxes. The soil was probably too porous as we had to water nearly twice each day to keep moisture present. It was common to see the leaves wilt and yellow throughout the summer.

In late August they finally started blooming. They are truly glorious to look at. Nancy has about five Morning Glories blooming each morning. They are best to view in the early morning when the dew is present.

Sunflowers at the Church Garden

The Sunflower in this picture was started by seed this May by children in the Gardening for God program, in lieu of Vacation Bible School. I absolutely could not believe how tall the church garden Sunflowers grew. It was our first year of the new garden, and the soil seemed heavy with clay. I worked closely with Ellen Ackerman, the sponsor of the Gardening with God program at Rejoice Lutheran Church this spring and summer. The picture you see is a close up of about a 12 foot tall Sunflower. Gorgeous. The perimiter of this bloom is at least 12 inches. The kids watered weekly and Ellen and I took turns watering as the garden needed it. Since we had a drought a good deal of the summer, we had to water frequently. We hauled containers of water up the hill from the church spigot. This was easier than dragging a hose across the parking lot regularly. What a joy to see these blooms. Soon the birds will feast on the Sunflower seeds.