Since I knew I wouldn't have time to write anything, I’ve decided to share some of my garden this year. Last year was met with minor success. I harvested just a few tomatoes, but rot claimed most of them. Basil was our biggest crop. So, I was determined this year would be different.
It began innocently enough.
And soon the tomatoes began to grow.
We started harvesting tomatoes, basil, and oregano.
The tomatoes continued to grow.
And take over the deck.
Yielding A LOT more tomatoes.
Thanks to messy birds at the birdfeeder, we even ended up with a couple stray sunflowers.
Which adds to the mums on the deck, seen here during a rainstorm. (And with a candle burning despite the rain.)
We’ve now harvested over 55 pounds of tomatoes! I’ve given them away, made several batches of spaghetti sauce for the freezer, and frozen a dozen bags of sliced tomatoes.
I’m calling this year a big success.
On the Dancing Lemur Press LLC side of things...
Purchase the audio book on:
Amazon / ITunes / Audible
We have two more in production and two more scheduled to go into production.
Needless to say, I’m one busy puppy!
75 comments:
L Diane, first off, it's wonderful that you're starting to churn out audio books. I wish Alex all the best with his, and how exciting that Lexa is in the mix, too. I'm so excited for you all.
What a wonderful post for the WEP GARDENS challenge. I can just about taste those tomatoes. If I can't grow anything else, tomatoes are a must for that full flavour. Lovely variety you have too. Tomato and basil. A marriage made in heaven.
Thanks for supporting Yolanda and I and the WEP challenge.
Denise :-)
55 pounds of tomatoes seems more than minor success.
You are so lucky Diane to have such a beautiful garden.
I do miss that feature where I reside.
Wonderful post and awesome photo's.
Thanks for sharing.
Yvonne.
Wow! Your garden is amazing. I just started one after years of not having one. It did well, but not like yours.
Your garden is amazing. I can't image dealing with over 55 pounds of tomatoes. We have one tomato plant that is producing, one cucumber vine, one parsley plant and lots of basil. Our oregano looked wonderful and before I could begin drying any of it, it almost died but is coming back. Love fresh herbs (and vegetables).
Congrats on expanding to audio formats. Audios are a wonderful way to 'read' while you work.
That's a lot of tomatoes.
Very excited my books will be in audio!
Hi Diane - amazing lot of tomatoes - and how very delicious: so glad you've frozen some and made sauce with the others.
The work you're doing to help other authors and bloggers is so good to know about ... and I enjoyed your tomato storyline! I want to put my publications into audio ... cheers Hilary
Woot for the tomatoes. It looks like our yield a couple years ago. We pulled out the dehydrator and made "sun dried" tomatoes. We packed some of them in olive oil... yummy flavor! Yay for the audio book and looking forward to Lexa's book.
Look at all of that tomatoes! I want some! Next year, I'm definitely going to get a tomato plants or two. Save me some money. ;)
Yay for DLP!
You might want to try your hand at salsa. Homemade is so much better than store bought. :-)
Anna from elements of emaginette
Denise, tomato and basil is one of my favorite flavor combos.
Natalie, mine was so sad last year.
Mason, I have at least a dozen basil plants all going wild.
Hilary, you should.
Loni, I'd like to get a dehydrator.
Anna, we made some of that, too.
I love the smell of fresh tomatoes and basil. I've grown both but not this year. . .kudos to you growing your own veggies! It's always interesting to me as a gardener to see other people's gardens. I used to enjoy that on neighborhood walks with hubs. Thanks for sharing your pix!
I didn't know you did Alex's audiobook. That's so exciting. I'm thrilled for Lexi too, and that's a great cover.
Yummy tomatoes. I especially like the light orange ones. Those look delicious.
PS, oops, Lexa ("LX"). =)
I completed a Horticultural degree years ago and we had lots of tomatoes left over after a crop-tastic bumper year. So what happened? It was decided to distribute the vegetables evenly in a tomato fight!!! We splattered ourselves from head to toe, so hilarious haha
Tomatoes are my absolute favorite, especially home grown! Hothouse tomatoes, at least to me, have no taste. But home grown, nothing better. Pick a tomato add a little salt and pepper and you have a meal.
Love your garden. The picture in the rain is my favorite!
You've got the fixin's for a many a great spaghetti / lasagna meal. Just curious, what made this year a success over last year? What's the secret to your green thumb! :)
Thanks so much for participating in the WEP Gardens Challenge!
Home grown tomatoes leave anything we can buy in a store in the ditch. How blissful. And with homegrown basil as well? Sublime.
Wow that's a lot of tomatoes! But I think it's a good problem to have. They look delicious.
Where's Jack? Sounds like there's some tomato stalks for him to climb:)
Wow! Amazing writer/speaker/publisher and a pair of green thumbs, too! That's quite the haul on the tomatos!
Your photography is always as interesting as your words!
That is awesome success, on all ventures. Nothing grows in my garden, when I plant one. Its been a long time, lol.
I've never heard of such rampant tomato growth before, clearly you have the greenest thumbs in the known universe.
Looks like a great harvest from your garden! I planted four tomato plants. One plant is just loaded with green tomatoes that I hope will ripen before winter. Another produced one tomato that ripened and I ate it (all by myself!) and another green one that doesn't seem to be growing. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why one plant is doing so much better than the rest.
55 pounds of tomatoes! I love them, but can't eat them anymore... :(
We haven't had the weather for much. Volunteer squash came up in the garden in the spring and burst into bloom with all the spring rain, but the summer heat wiped them out. One lone pepper plant as one lone pepper on it...
Tomatoes are indeed awesome. And so are your photographs - enjoyed them! In my meager experience (not by choice) with gardens, I've found I could always count on tomatoes (and zucchini). Wow, 55 pounds. That is incredible.
And so is your productions. Congratulations! Especially with the audio. I'm certain Alex's book sounds great as it was a great read in print.
You are indeed one busy lady. Enjoy the journey.
We've only gotten a handful of tomatoes this year. We also grow basil and tyme. Maybe it's the lack of rain. Homegrown tomatoes are wonderful, aren't they?
Good luck with the audiobooks, and I'm looking forward to reading Bloodwalker!
Look at those delicious tomatoes! I'm salivating just seeing them.
I love tomatoes. If I were living close to you, I would gladly asked you if I could have some of them. They are beautiful. What you missed out on last year, you receive back triple. How nice. Thanks for the lovely view of your garden.
Shalom aleichem,
Patricia
Wow - 55 pounds of tomatoes! That's quite a production for such a small garden.
And congrats on your company's first audio books.
Oh, please share. We had a disastrous season for tomatoes. It was either too hot and dry or it rained for days on end. And what few we did get, the critters got to before I did. Epic tomato fail.
Congrats on the successful garden! Love the random sunflowers.:) Congrats also to Alex and LX!
I just saw your comment on my post, Diane, where you left a link to the Little Purple Pansies song that I couldn't remember. That's it! I replied, "Oh my gosh. I must have heard it in Primary years and years ago. Thank you!" On this evening in Virginia when we just had a flash flood warning, the sky darkened, wind howled, and rain fell like a thick curtain, your comment makes me feel like the Universe is in the right place :)
Robyn, yes I did.
Spacer Guy, that sounds like fun!
Yolanda, this year I got fresh soil for the tomatoes, I spread bug killer, I used Rot Stop, and I fertilized the heck out of my plants.
Sandra, had they remained upright, my tomato plants would be 15 feet tall.
Patricia, our beefsteak tomatoes didn't do half as well as the cheery tomatoes.
Bish, I can relate to that lone pepper plant.
Pat, I would gladly give you some tomatoes.
Ann, I'm so happy I found it for you!
Hi, L. Diane,
GREAT CROP! The tomatoes must taste amazing!
Congrats on the audio work ..... it seems to be the future for many books!
The garden looks awesome. There's nothing better than fresh veggies.
Congrats on all the publishing projects.
Wonderful garden. I garden myself, but mainly flowers. I've thought about growing vegetables.
I can't wait to read Lexa's book.
Wow, 55 pounds of tomatoes is sure a success indeed. Sure beat the previous year and then some.
55 #s of tomatoes! Oh my gosh. You're set:)
Wow, that's a lot of tomatoes!
A yummy looking garden. My son's garden did well this year too. The tomatoes are still producing. Nothing tastes as good as veggies fresh from the garden.
That's a lot of tomatoes, and the look so good. I'm glad your gardening effort were so successful this year. Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures.
Wow, that's a good crop of tomatoes! Good to hear about Alex and Lexa (but seeing their two names together, I'm starting to wonder if they're the same person...)
I'm more into flowering gardening, but this year groundhogs just wiped out my petunias and marigolds and huge swaths of the garden are pretty bare now. Sigh. I wish they'd gone after my wife's tomatoes instead. ;)
Your tomatoes and basil are extraordinary. Good for you, Diane. You should be proud. My tomatoes are sparse to say the least. Too much rain this summer. Congratulations to Alex. I'm ordering my copy and can't wait until it gets here.
You must have magic soil in your yard or a very green thumb. My attempts at growing things have never been so successful. I don't have much yard to plant things anyway since we patioed over our small back yard after a failed foray into trying to grow food stuffs. My yields were meager enough to convince me that a patio was better suited to us.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
That is a bountiful harvest! Those tomato plants sure took over. I have one tomato plant in particular and a cucumber plant that have taken over most of my garden.
Hi Diane,
Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden. Brings back memories of when I had a garden and a semblance of a vegetable patch.
Awesome stuff about our good friends, Alex and LX! Penny the dog did offer to do the audiobook version of Alex's bark, um, book.
A pleasant weekend to you.
Gary
Your deck and lawn are so beautiful! All those tomatoes look wonderful, especially the cherry tomatoes -- perfect for salads! Thanks for the glorious pics and for plugging Alex's audiobooks and my upcoming one. I'm so excited! :)
You must be very proud of your yield this year. Great photos - it's amazing how those tomato plants seemed to take over!
Congrats on the tomatoes. I had to dig up my garden. We have a sink hole.
Congrats on the tomatoes. I had to dig up my garden. We have a sink hole.
Diane, besides being a good photographer, you are an excellent gardener!
Congrats on the first audio book! So exciting!
Congrats on the tomatoes. I had to dig up my garden. We have a sink hole.
Congrats on the tomatoes. I had to dig up my garden. We have a sink hole.
I'd say your garden is a great success, this year! I still have frozen tomatoes from last year. I think tomatoes are particularly satisfying to grow. I bought lots of different seeds this year, and as it's nearly spring here, I'm nearly ready to prepare the beds. Yay!! :-)
You are a busy puppy! But at least you don't have to stop and buy tomatoes!!!! :)
That's a whole lot of tomatoes! Congrats as well as on the audiobooks. Exciting times.
Good morning, Ms. Diane!
I love the candle burning in the rain.
Annalisa, the are positively not the same. LOL
Ken, I saw a groundhog in my yard this year, first time ever.
Lee, you could always grow in planters.
Lexa, I'm happy you're excited.
Jemi, no I don't! LOL
Sandra, I was surprised it burned so long in the pouring rain.
Talk about a gardening adventure. Our ackee tree has borne a lot and we do giveaway quite a bit. Also have to deal with chasing off certain individuals. Respect the wall people! Just ask or accept no.
All awesome things, Dianne! I chuckled when I saw how the tomatoes took over the deck. They're tricksy things. =)
Those tomato plants like your garden. They would not like mine. :)
Looking forward to Bloodwalker!
There's something about that candle burning in the rain that made me smile. I don't why, it just did. I love that picture. That was a very bountiful season for you! Awesome sauce. Or I guess, Awesome spaghetti sauce!
I'm impressed by your tomato harvest. I should be that persistent.
Good job on the audiobook and congrats to Lexa.
Birds are great gardeners aren't they?:)
Wow! That's a lot of tomatoes! Fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing a peek into your world. :)
Have a great weekend, Diane;)
I'm impressed with your tomato harvest! Well done!
Yes, a candle burning in the rain seems evocative of the human spirit somehow. You're getting into audiobooks now? I didn't know that. I wish Alex the highest of sales in his and you with your two others. :-)
I love home grown tomatoes - 55 pounds, that's a whole lot of tomatoes. Wow. I especially love yellow tomatoes.
Congratulations on getting your books on audio. Like I mentioned in a comment on Alex's blog, I purchase so many audio books, I've lost count. I really like when Amazon Kindle gives me the option of adding the audio purchase for a small additional fee. I love how they coordinate with audible.com. I commute a lot and I used to drive around the block for an extra half hour or longer just so I could finish a interesting chapter, but now I can drive straight home. The book picks right back up where I left off on the audio version and I can begin reading when all the kiddos have gone to bed. It's the perfect set up and I absolutely love it. I also take a lot of extended hour road trips so I listen to several audio books per month. This is the best news I've heard in a long time.
Congratulations on your tomato harvest!
Hi Diane,
I sent my daughter this link because this is the first year she's grown tomatoes. She's treating them as gently as children, to no avail. They're not producing.
She was pretty disgusted when she saw yours:)
Have a great weekend, Diane.
If you've got tomatoes and basil, what else matters? Maybe a jalapeno plant or two. Those are my three favorite things to grow.
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