Early May

While I was gone on vacation for two weeks, the corn and sunflowers continued to grow at a very fast rate. Here is a progress photo taken on April 22nd.

Five days later, John posed with the corn to show how tall it was getting. You can tell that it grew a couple more inches in that short time.

By May 6th the corn is about six feet tall and maturing nicely.

Here is a close-up of the tassels with the male flowers which produce the pollen, which is consequently carried by the wind to the corn silk.

Corn silk.

This photo shows the progress of all three corn circles as of two days ago.

The sunflowers are also doing extremely well and already taller than they were last year.

Here is a close-up of one of the sunflowers, getting ready to bloom.

And this morning, we were greeted by our very first sunflower!

Easter 2012

Earlier this year, at the end of February, John was busy designing a new garden plan. Because the corn and sunflowers did so well last year, he decided he would focus on just those two 'crops' this spring. Last year's corn circle proved to be a success, so this year he refined the design.

Then he set about working on an irrigation system.

He placed soaker hoses in a circular pattern.

Then he used elbow type joints to connect the hoses.

Unfortunately, the drip line system was not as effective as he'd hoped and leaks developed at the connector joints.

This was particularly true when he stepped the hoses up and over the short block wall to reach the raised planting bed.

He scrapped the drip lines and decided to use garden hoses with a four-way connector made specifically for this purpose.

This proved to be a success and soon the corn he'd planted began to sprout. This photo taken yesterday shows the progress.

And here you see the same corn circle with the sunflower plants growing in the planter next to the block wall.

Three weeks after planting the first corn circle, John planted a second one in order to stagger the growing process. Ultimately, there will be a total of three corn circles in the yard.

The following photos show the single soaker hose in the planter bed with sunflower plants growing on either side of it.

This year there will be more red sunflowers, as well as a section of mixed red and yellow.

End of June Update

Taz testing "his" path

Our back yard garden continues to thrive. Taz is enjoying it as much as we are. Here he is walking along the  planter wall, a path he considers his right of way regardless of what might be planted there.

All the sunflower plants are in bloom, even the largest ones. They extend 4-5 feet above the top of the block wall now.

Curious hummingbird

John was surprised by a hummingbird as he was taking photos of the sunflowers. He managed to get this shot before the hummer zoomed away.

Each green bean plant is heavy with ripe green beans ready for picking. We are now giving them to the neighbors since we can't keep up!

Bowl of corn ready to cook

As well as the corn did, we noticed that recently the ears of corn were starting to get a little chewy. Suspecting that the triple-digit temperatures we're experiencing were a contributing factor, we decided to pick all the edible ears of corn and bring them in out of the heat.

This morning John went ahead and pulled up the corn stalks. He'll plant another crop of corn this fall once it's cooled down a little.

Mid-June

The corn is doing well. We hadn't expected the stalks to stop growing, but there are plenty of ears ready to be picked and eaten, even if some of them are rather small.

Earlier this week, we decided to pick two of the largest ears and also a bowlful of green beans. We cooked them up for dinner and they were very tasty.

Here's Taz exploring the back yard near the corn stalks.

John ordered some "cages" for the cherry tomato plants and they arrived this week. I helped him put them in place Thursday evening. The great thing about these cages is that they fold flat for storage.

Here's a closeup of the cherry tomatoes that are beginning to appear.

John captured this photo of me while I was photographing the sunflowers.

June Update

John standing beside the sunflower plants

In just two weeks' time, all the plants are continuing to thrive. (Well, except for those sugar snap peas that never really got going.) As you can see from the above photo, the tallest sunflowers are well above the block fence now and still growing, although they are yet to bloom.

Fortunately, some of the smaller sunflower plants, like this one, have started blooming.

And we were very surprised to discover that we somehow got a couple of red sunflower plants mixed in with the seeds John planted. Here's one that just bloomed. It's so dark that it almost looks black in the bright Arizona sunlight.

This yellow sunflower plant has multiple blooms, with new ones opening every day. The flowers seem to be of the smaller variety.

The bush beans are also doing very well, and we have several beans that appear to be full sized, like the one above.

Last night John decided to sample one green bean and one ear of corn to test their ripeness.

He reported that the green bean tasted as though it wasn't quite ripe enough. We'll let them grow a few days longer and then pick and cook a few of them.

Here's John holding the ear of corn right before he cooked it for several minutes in the microwave with a damp paper towel wrapped around it. We both tasted it and the verdict was that it was delicious!  As you can see, these ears may end up being a little small, but we'll have plenty of corn to eat in the next few weeks... as well as (hopefully) green beans!

Garden on Memorial Day

Here is a photo of John standing in his corn circle. I can hardly believe that the corn is  now taller than he is!

This closeup shows the corn silk. Yesterday afternoon we counted 50 potential ears of corn as indicated by these patches of silk which must be pollinated by the tassels atop each stalk of corn. It's been windy lately, so we're hoping that the pollination process has been successful.

The sunflowers are doing well too. The tallest ones have reached the top of the block wall.

On close inspection, we can see that several of the sunflowers, like this one, are beginning to show signs of the flowers forming.

The cherry tomatoes (foreground) are looking good too. John is trying to decide whether to stake them as they get taller, or let them grow over the edge of the planter.

We're also watching the bush beans carefully since we noticed the small white flowers that began blooming on each plant. Hopefully, we'll soon see signs of green beans forming.

Here is Taz showing off his sleek summer coat. He had a trim at Hot Dogs and Cool Cats this past Saturday.