Paddle Cactus

The cactus we inherited with our house is blooming now.

Each bloom lasts only one day. What a show!

And the radish winner is...

Not that there ever was a contest. But I'm glad that this year I tried two varieties of radishes instead of usual one. Cherry Belle variety that looked so good in a picture on the seed packet grew slow, then quickly went to seed with relatively small number of edible radishes in between.

This French Breakfast radish featured below on the other hand is still going strong despite heat we've been having. It also tastes milder and grows larger. Come next spring, I'll be looking for this seed again.

Strawberries

This is this year's largest strawberry harvest. They are cute and picked right from the bed, still a bit warm from the sun.

I have about a dozen strawberry plants and they produce several handfuls of berries over a course of few weeks. It's more than other years when deer and rabbits ate strawberry leaves and fruit. This spring I put a small chicken wire fence around them and it has helped.

Still, I think this is the last spring for strawberries in my garden. As much as I like the idea of growing my own berries, none of the plants I have bear fruit that is sweet and they all are small. Perhaps I should investigate other retailers and try a new variety. But with the room for my garden being so limited, this might be one plant that I will give up in the future.