Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all! Â It’s been gorgeous here in Atlanta and the summer heat is starting to creep up on us, as it always does. Â I hope you all are enjoying yourselves too. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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. Â Nothing goes to waste. Â That’s a leaf compost bin in the distance, right side. Â 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. Â 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!). Â 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. Â We are so happy they are still doing well and still with us.
Thank you all for enjoying my family so much. Â It means the world to me that you do like to read about and keep up with what they are doing. Â 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!
Beautiful garden, and I’m coveting the oak leaf hydrangeas. I’ll put them up against lilacs any day for “way to make a statement”.
Always love seeing your daddy’s garden each year. He has an amazing green thumb. And, I love that he is still so very active at his age. Keeps him young I suppose.
Are you saying that your dad’s garden feeds 2 families because it sure looks like he could feed dozens of families with what he has planted. What an amazing garden. I wish I had your dad’s green thumb because all I can handle is my one patio tomato plant. He certainly is a master gardener!
Hey Chris, I just meant he can feed an army with his garden!
Now that’s more like it! I only wish I lived close by and could be someone who he would share his vegetables with.
I always look forward to posts with your wonderful parents. I especially love the garden posts, and your dad demonstrating his mad carpentry skills! It would be great to see more posts featuring your mom’s cooking, and garden tips from your dad. Thank you for sharing your family with us!
Seeing your dad in his garden and holding those squash, remind me of my dad. He is no longer with us, but he loved to garden.
I miss the days of seeing him bring in things from his garden.
Thanks for sharing pics of your dad:)
Please tell your dad his garden is admired all the way over here in England!
I feel like I know your parents from your posts. They so remind me of my grandparents many years ago. Your dad’s garden is way ahead of our’s. We only plant what we will eat as it comes in. I know your enjoy what your mother “puts up” in the winter months. I agree. The garden does give your dad purpose. I think it is wonderful your parents are in good health and active. They would probably put this 60 yr old to shame! ?
I look forward to all of your posts, but I especially love the ones about your Mom and Dad. I enjoy looking into your life and witnessing the love and devotion they have for you. Your Dad and Mom have truly been there for you. You are very blessed to have a Dad who is so handy and a Mom who is equally so talented.
Wonderful garden, wish I had the talent to grown plants like all these in picture. I do enjoy seeing your parents in any event in their life – AMAZING COUPLE to be so active for their age. You Daddy should be proud of his garden, not many people can do this. Continue to keep us updated on them. I hope you will share more of your Mom’s recipes. I cooked the coconut cake, it was delicious! Hope your parents have a good summer while enjoying all the bounty of the garden. From a middle Georgia fan of your parents and of your blog.
Rhoda this post was so full of love for your parents…such a delight to see. I have learned so much about gardening and plant varieties from you. Blessings to you and your family.
I love this precious post about your Dad and his garden. My granny always had a little garden in her backyard with collards in the fall and winter. Her summer garden always had the best tomatoes! She told me that collards taste the best after a light frost. I have such happy memories of her and her garden. So glad that you have your parents to enjoy the holidays with and that your Dad is so active! Such a blessing!
Sonia, My grandfather said the same thing about collards, they’re no good until the frost falls on them. I don’t even cook collards in the summer because they’re always bitter from the hot sun. Rhoda, I want to be adopted by your family so I can eat out of that garden and feel all the love y’all share for one another. Your parents are obviously delightful, I can feel it through the land of the internet! Keep up the great stories, can’t wait to see some baby pics.
There is nothing better than home grown veggies. He has a beautiful garden.
What an amazing garden! I love it and your parents – thank you for sharing them with us.
Beautiful .. absolutely beautiful. I love gardens. I’ve yet to plant one myself but I love to see others and I’m soooo happy your parents are still with you and doing well. It’s clear they’re beautiful people inside and out.
Such a wonderful recap of garden and family Rhoda! I LOVE hearing about your parents. They are just the sweetest!
Always love parents and garden posts! My squash are coming in here in SC, too. Cool idea about throwing scraps in like that.
Love the posts on your Dad’s garden. It is just beautiful to see. My Dad used to garden too and this reminds me so much of him. Enjoy all the posts on your family. You are truly blessed!
So wonderful that you have parents who are still active in their late eighties! I am sure all that lovely homegrown produce has kept them healthy. God bless them!
Absolutely beautiful garden. Question – do you think your dad would adopt another daughter? I am available.
HI, Jean, I think there is a line waiting for that!
Your Mom and Dad are such a cute couple! The garden is wonderful, as well. Happy Memorial Day!
I could look at his garden all day. Here’s a suggestion for a post: maybe you could do a Q & A with your dad for him to answer ‘beginning gardener’ questions. I so want to start a small garden, but am intimated by my lack of knowledge. He certainly has plenty of advice that could be invaluable to someone like me. You could even video it (because I love to hear him talk!). I just love your parents.
Good idea, Barbara, I’ll see what I can do!