Our teens are beginning to see produce in their gardens from Rural Resources over here in East Tennessee.  Hello all, it’s Debbie again!  I have some pictures to share of the produce some of the teens are beginning to see out of their gardens we put in back in June.  One family thought they were getting very big cucumbers!

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I am sure when I was younger those big green things were cucumbers too!  This family is very new to gardening and so excited to watch their plants growing and putting out useful food.  Next year, they may be expanding from a 4’X12′ bed to a larger tilled up garden.  They were excited about the onions and zucchini they have gotten.  Their bean plants look very good as well!  I look forward to more reports and am planning to stop and see their garden next week.

Another young man I visited Thursday after school.  He asked me to bring stakes for his tomatoes and the spinosad for the general pest control.  When I arrived and walked around, his garden was looking so green and big!  The tomatoes had fallen over and were loaded with green and almost ripe tomatoes.  He said he had a red one on the day before, but couldn’t find it.  We found a few other ripe ones with bites out – those pesky rabbits!  I suggested that he pull them off a bit early and finish ripening on his window sill, hopefully the rabbit won’t get all of them!  We could only stake his tomatoes a bit as they were too loaded and thick to stake all the way.  Note for next year:  take the tomato stakes with me when I set up the gardens with the teens and not try to get them out later.  He pulled two really nice zucchini out, but one plant was lost to the vine burrower.  It was fascinating to show him what they were and the damage they cause!  I don’t know how cool he thought it was as I squeeshed the little beast..

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I am in hopes to visit more gardens next week and see how things are progressing, while making preparations for a big labor day leadership/teamwork retreat for all my 40 teens, if I can convince them all to go.  It will be fun, but lots to do, and I am sure I will get very little sleep!  We will be going through many changes of clothes, getting close. and strengthening and making new bonds.  Hopefully we will have a nice blog report with lots of pictures to share.