Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all! It’s been gorgeous here in Atlanta and the summer heat is starting to creep up on us, as it always does. I hope you all are enjoying yourselves too. We have a week of family time with those baby girls and Lauren home for a week, so that’s extra fun for us.
It’s only been a couple of weeks ago that I shared my daddy’s vegetable garden, but it’s growing so swiftly that I thought another post was in order.
April 17th, the garden was newly planted and he was hand watering the baby tomato plants.
May 8th, Mother’s Day, the garden was really taking off and growing well. Everything was looking good!
May 22nd, the garden is going gang-busters with growth. Luckily, we have gotten enough rain to keep it watered and thriving. The heat is about to set in though, so we are crossing our fingers that the rain doesn’t stop as it sometimes does during summer months.
Daddy is one proud gardener and loves showing off his crop. We are happy to look and admire with him.
First row is Irish potatoes, 2nd row squash and zucchini.
The squash blossoms were going crazy too and squash is already coming in.
Parks Whopper tomatoes are looking good as well.
He’s added cages to them so when they grow bigger and produce those big juicy tomatoes, the stems will hold up.
This is an eggplant variety.
More eggplant and sweet potatoes.
Two rows of corn. You can see they love to throw out vegetable and fruit scraps in the garden. Composting at its best. They have done this my entire life. Nothing goes to waste. That’s a leaf compost bin in the distance, right side. He’s been composting leaves and then mulching them into his garden the last year.
These are green beans, maybe Blue Lake, not sure, but I can share more on these later on.
He’s got pole beans growing on the other side of this fencing and this is another variety of eggplant.
Here were the pole beans just 2 weeks ago.
And the pole beans are climbing the fence and looking good now.
My sister’s dog, Buster, was staying with them that day. He loves the backyard. He’s standing by the row of kale that is about done for the season. Greens don’t like hot weather, so they die out when it gets too hot.
Here’s a great video I did with Dad in his garden, Lauren was shooting the video. Enjoy!
Just last Wednesday, I was over there for lunch again and dad came in with the first squash of the season. He dearly loves to garden and grow things and we are glad it gives him a purpose in life, so we encourage him and he keeps on growing (enough for 2 large families, actually!). He loves that I show off his handiwork to all of you too, so he’s happy to pose for pictures.
Their oak leaf hydrangeas in the backyard are looking so lush and beautiful this year.
One of my favorite blooming hydrangeas.
Their huge oak-like leaves and beautiful white blooms are statement makers.
Mom and dad, our precious treasures in life and both 88 years old. We are so happy they are still doing well and still with us.
Thank you all for enjoying my family so much. It means the world to me that you do like to read about and keep up with what they are doing. We don’t know when life will change, but we sure are grateful that we still have them in good health and enjoying life with us.
I’ll take some new baby girl pics (both of them) this week and share with all of you too!
I love reading about your parents. I wish I lived closer because I would watch what he does in the garden so maybe I could do the same thing. I have a raised bed garden and that is killing me because I truthfully don’t know what I am doing. Please keep telling us about your parents and give your Dad a big kiss from me!
Your Daddy’s garden is a show stopper! That is so wonderful that he is still able to do what he loves. Your parents are a lovely couple! So glad they are together! Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!
Blessings,
Cindy
Love, love, love these garden posts featuring you dear parents.
I am new to veggie garden and appreciate the tips and inspiration.
Thanx for sharing ! Looking forward to updates!
Amazing!! Your parents, the garden…all of it! I look forward to posts about your dad’s crop and your mom’s cooking always. 🙂
Wow, your Dad’s veggie garden is fantastic – what an amazing guy; I’m sure there are many people a third of his age who would struggle to create that much produce! I love the photos showing the progress of all those beautiful plants and their goodies – very inspiring!
What a blessing to still have both of your parents! My Dad was a gardener too and now my husband and I have taken over the old garden plot, wishing we’d paid more attention to what Daddy did. I love seeing your Dad’s garden and hearing about your family. I usually check in on Wednesday to see what cute clothes you’re styling, but always find something interesting from the days before on your blog. I’m a fellow Georgian too.
Wow! What a lovely garden ~It’s doing so well!
Rhoda, I am both a vegetable and flower gardener, so as always, any good news about your Daddy’s garden brings a huge smile to my face and a really happy feeling in my heart. For some reason, I never realized how tall your Daddy is…your Mom such a tiny, beautiful “peanut” compared. Obviously, you got your fashion-model height from your Daddy and your good looks, a combination from both of those still good-looking parents.
In December of last year (2015), I read a Birthday congratulations in our local paper. I cut it out and pinned it to my kitchen bulletin board. It was a picture of the smiling face of the recipient of the birthday congratulations, looking bright eyed, her platinum hair attractively coiffed. It read:
Happy 110th Birthday, Bernice. Happy 110th Birthday to the oldest gal in Connecticut.
My husband is a local Estate Planning attorney so he’s in the habit of reading the obituaries. So far, smiling Bernice’s name has not appeared. “Goodonya, Bernice!” This last because I’m a native of Brisbane, Australia.
HI, Patricia, I love that! That’s a great story. And yes, my daddy was 6’5″ back in his heydey (before we all start shrinking). Mom has always been a foot shorter than him and getting shorter by the day.
~Rhoda~
Thank you for sharing your lovely parents with us all, you are so blessed !! My dad died in 1999 at age 68, my mom passed in 2007 at 76 but she was ill with Alzheimer for the last 7 years. My dad enjoyed planting a garden also!! Your dad certainly is a master at his garden, nothing better then homegrown veggies !! I can’t believe how big all the veggies are compared to us here in northern Indiana !! hehe. How does your dad control weeds?? my flower beds grow weeds pretty darn good, hehe.
My daughter and I was in Savannah and also made our way out to Tybee, and we did go to several places you had mentioned !!:) I think she could move there !! I told her to far from me !!
Paula
HI, Paula, thanks so much for reading. I think early on my dad uses his hoe to control the weeds, but after awhile, the rows start running into each other and it sort of chokes out the weeds.
This is one of the nicest things I have seen….I hope you really know what this type of positive attention to and for your dad does to greatly impact him in such a loving way. I am also a lifelong vegetable gardener and grow for the love of working the soil as well. Your dad seems like a wonderful kinda guy and it is a blessing to him to have you highlight his hard and loving work. I’m sure he is so proud of you.