BLT, Anyone?

 We had our first BLTs of the season last night.  BLTs made with Butch's home growns.  My friend, Nancy in JAX, requested pics of the 'maters.  I think she wants to torture herself.  So I decided to do a garden update while I was out there with the camera.  Nancy, you can go straight to the bottom of the page if you are too impatient to wade through the preliminaries.

So here we go.  These first two shots are of some of the tomatoes on the first plants Butch put in Topsy Turvy hanging planters.  They are HUGE plants  And the tomatoes are nice sized.  He "thinks" they are Mortgage Lifters. They do have the look of an heirloom tomato and that is what the Mortgage Lifter is supposed to be.

 Next to the Topsy Turvy hanging planters is a cart with pots.  These two pictures show my avocado "trees."  Both are very healthy looking.  I pinched the tops out a couple of months ago so they wouldn't get tall an spindly.  As I hoped, the trunk thickened and strengthened and the plant bushed out as it grew taller.  Eventually, we plan to put them both in the front yard.  Avocado trees grow very tall and provide wonderful shade.  The terra cotta pot behind the second avocado holds my pineapple plant.  That has done NOTHING so far but it takes two years to produce a new pineapple so we'll see.

The next three pictures are all more tomato plants grown from "suckers" that Butch has pinched off the Topsy Turvy tomato plants and stuck in pots and then transplanted to the grown outside the screened lanai.  To say my husband has a "green thumb" is an understatement.  He loves puttering around his plants and makes sure they stay fertilized and well watered.  He also waters my avocados and pineapple while he is at it. The plants outside the screen range from 4' down to about 2' in height.  All have blooms and fruit on them.

Here are some new seedlings ready to go into the ground.  These are some that he raised from seeds inside and recently started leaving outside overnight. They are Mortgage Lifters and Brandywine Pinks.  Both heirloom varieties.

Our Plumeria trees are still bare but have new growth on the tips of their branches so we will have fun watching them leaf and bud out over the next few weeks.  Butch says they are "ugly" in the wintertime.  I love them then, too, because I love the way the branches grow from year to year.  An almost oriental look to them, don't you think?

 The next picture is a shot of one of the Topsy Turvy" planters.  Butch lets that 5 gallon paint bucket catch the water that drips down when he pours the water in from above the planter.  This planter is on its last legs, but never fear -- he bought a dozen more at BIG LOTS! when they had them on sale for a dollar a piece a couple of months ago.  Our daughter, Chele, started all this a couple of Father's Days back.

 So I guess I have Chele to thank for these:

The BLTs we had for dinner last night were DELISH!

Tonight I'll stuff a couple with shrimp salad.

The weather is getting warmer so they will start ripening more quickly as the nighttime temps get into the high 60's and 70's.

I see many more BLTs in our future.

Happy now, Nancy?