Take the Tour: A Fruit and Vegetable Garden Update

Now that it's mid-summer, I thought I would check the progress of the fruit and vegetable part of my garden. The raspberries and strawberries are spent, but there are other things.

I have a lovely terraced area at the back of my yard where my fruits and vegetables are grown. 

But before we get back there, I have to show off my pear. It's one of two. My pear tree is only a couple years old, so I wasn't expecting any fruit until next year.

Speaking of surprise fruits, a couple of my grapes are producing. Last year, my vines were just sticks wrapped up in newspaper. They shouldn't produce anything until after next year. This is a shot of my petite syrah. My merlot also has a few grapes on it as well.

This is a pretty good sized zucchini. I always leave a couple on just to see how big they'll get. I had a ten-pounder last year. This one will be sliced up, olive oiled, salted, peppered and grilled.

I'm growing a variety of bell peppers, including this purple one.  

Grape and cherry tomatoes are both in the ground and on my deck. I've been picking them off for a month now.

It'll be another week or so for the jalapeno peppers to be big enough to pick. 

Look at this cucumber! I made a mistake and bought the pickling kind, but it doesn't matter to me. A gherkin tastes just like a cucumber. 

Let me introduce you to a future pumpkin of America. I had to train the unruly plant to head over to the middle of our yard, and not over the fence to the neighbor's. 

This lovely beefsteak tomato is about two weeks from becoming the centerpiece in a BLT. I can't eat a store bought tomato in the summertime.

I also have a heirloom tomato, I can't remember the name, but so far, the fruit is orange and delicious! 

(I'm extremely allergic to tomato plants, but not the fruit. I can only stand to be close to them for a few minutes, or I'll blow up into the worst case of hives you've ever seen.)

Future updates are scheduled for next month.