Crops 2011

Well, these are our first beets.  That's pizza crust in Eli's mouth;  leftover pizza from the birthday extravaganza we had today.  What better way to end it by eating pizza and picking veggies in the garden?  I tried pulling up a carrot, but it was waaaay too tiny. 
We've already been harvesting our sugar snap peas for about a month now.  We picked our first zucchini last week, but I forgot that I had picked it and left it outside for a couple of days before I realized it. 
There has been this gigantic thing growing in the garden.  At first I thought it was broccoli or cauliflower because it was growing where I had planted those crops.  Then, I realized it wasn't.  This was after it was over a foot tall.  Now it's about six and a half feet tall.  Just a thick stalk and leaves.  A delightful friend informed me today that it's a sunflower.  Interesting, since I didn't plant sunflowers!  I'm excited about this because I had started sunflowers inside, then transplanted seedlings outside on the opposite end of the garden after this mystery plant had sprouted.  All the seedlings died.  Last year, I tried planting sunflowers outside.  They were promptly eaten by either my chickens or bunnies.  We covered the gate with hardware cloth, which took care of the chickens.  We got cats, which I'm assuming took care of the bunnies.  And now we have sunflowers!  My husband eats sunflower seeds, and so do two out of three kids, so I'm thinking that maybe a seed got left behind or spit out...I'm just hoping it blooms.
I have 3 large plants growing in my compost pile.  I'm thinking they are some sort of squash or cucumber.  They have not flowered, but keep getting larger and larger.  I've read that overly rich soil can just encourage growth sans blooms.  It sure is interesting to watch, though. 
And side note...I forgot to take pictures of the finished product of the pinatas.  Or any birthday pictures at all.  Bad Momma.