A Girl, A Guy, and A Garden: It's beginning to feel a lot like SUMMER!!!

After a hideously hot couple of weeks, I'm so glad to be able to report that the temps are going to stay in the 80's for the next week. It's much more like June in Southern California, and less like hell. Yeah, I said it, hell.

The garden likes it too. This is my little haul today.

So, what we have here is:
1 7oz Mortgage Lifter Tomato (we'll come back to that because I want to talk about it some more)
4 oz Green Beans
2 oz combined Sungold and Super Sweet 100 tomatoes
3 oz blackberries and strawberries
1 2.5 oz pickling cuke
1 Jalapeno
1 10 oz Caserta Squash

All in all, not a shabby day in my little garden! Of course, in another month, I'll be picking triple that and thinking - "What was I excited about, back in June?! HA!" But still... I just love being able to pick stuff...

So let's talk about this baby, shall we? Last year, my first Mortgage Lifter was 14 oz. It was a monster. Here's the link if you want to see it - it took The Pipsqueak both hands to hold it! This one is not too shabby though. (I just realized that's the second time I've said "shabby" in this post - now that's 3...) Interestingly enough, our first Mortgage Lifter of the season last year came on June 13th.

Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter is my favorite variety of tomato. It's a sturdy heirloom, which is certainly a plus. It's also just delicious. It's really fleshy, and doesn't have a lot of seeds. It's got a really sweet flavor, and because they are so big, they are perfect for slicing and putting on sandwiches and salads.

If you're wondering where it got it's name, just scroll down on that pic of The Pipsqueak holding the tomato. The history is there too. It's a good story, and I'm a sucker for a good story.

So here's the weigh in today - - I like to document the biggies, and whenever I pick something that's the biggest of the season, I post it. Of course, these being the first, are the biggest so far, but it's a good starting point!!!

Here we go: