Lauren can say “pick tomato” very clearly now. It’s probably her first double-word. She is getting really good at saying individual words now, and can usually repeat what we ask her.
We set up a veggie garden in the front yard, and I planted 2 tomato bushes. They’ve completely taken over everything, effectively killing the parsely plant and making the bean plant so lame-looking. The bean plant is actually bearing fruit though, so the kids like to point at the “mame” (bean) that are hanging.
The horenso (spinach) has been completely consumed by slugs or bugs or something. The ninjin (carrots) are looking very healthy and hopefully they’ll provide us with some big carrots. We’ll probably be gone when they’re at their fullest though – I think we planted them too late. We also planted a squash/pumpkin bush, which has grown like a weed as well. There look to be some sort of gourds appearing, which is fun. They should be really big by the end of September, which is probably the latest we can leave them. The tomato bush is bearing hundreds of cherry-tomatos and the first ones have just ripened, so the kids love going out there first thing in the morning, looking to see which tomatos have ripened and picking one each. They don’t want to eat them though, which is a shame, but I really love eating the ripe tomatos. They’re really very sweet (but could probably use with a bit more time on the bush). The kids will probably miss most of the tomatos, as they’re flying home to the grandparents in a week’s time (the kids that is, not the tomatos). More for me then!