In which not all gardens are tidy, and a Tomato Curse Update

Jim and Henry and I spent the weekend at the annual Powellswood Storytelling Festival.

Storyteller Donald Davis onstage.
Donald Davis has a Ted-X talk!  Watch it HERE.

Every year when we attend the festival, my camera is busy taking pictures of the beautiful gardens.

Event photographer shares his flower pix with the performers

Back home at Haiku Farm, the gardens don't feature quite as many spectacular colors.

Red bean blossoms, yellow tomato flowers...everything else is green!

But we are just starting the time of year when the yard explodes.

The apple trees are so heavily laden with fruit
that the branches touch the ground

At least 4 varieties of apples trees in the orchard.
We have so many apples that I think we'll have
to make cider this year to use up all the fruit.

Under the Yellow Transparent tree, a wide shady spot perfect for Foxie to lurk.

Pears!

The Amazing Plum Tree tipped over with the weight of all the unripe fruit.
We will try to harvest plums before we chainsaw the tree out.
We planted a dwarf plum tree over the grave of Pickles Marie, and
that tree is bearing fruit for the first time this year.

The beginnings of Giant Pumpkins

We've been eating blueberries for weeks, and the harvest isn't slowing down yet!

"Mystery Squash" plants that sprouted in the bean patch.
Each year I have to decide if the volunteer squashes have some redeeming virtue
to allow the plants to continue their quest for world domination.
The 2015 Mystery Squashes were pretty but only the dogs would eat them.

One of the 2016 Mystery Squashes--a yellow zucchini hybrid, probably.
Some of the mystery squashes have ribs like a delicata, but no stripes.
Mild and sweet, delicious raw or steamed.

This photo shows one (1) floofy dog and three (3) tomato plants!

In keeping with the tradition of the Tomato Curse, it has rained a lot this summer,
and we are just now starting to get green fruit on the tomato plants.
Bright side:  no forest fires so far this year!

L-to-R:  beans, butternut squash, tomatoes, with photobomb by Roo.
Somehow, the walking paths between beds have gotten overrun already.