Despite my aforementioned laziness, this summer's container garden has been quite successful so far. I started harvesting a few weeks ago, and we've had a pretty steady supply of tomatoes ever since. I bought one of those mixed seed packs of different cherry tomato varieties, and ended up with only one red variety. The rest are yellow pear or golden cherries. Luckily, my son loves yellow tomatoes most of all.

I ended up with two containers of cucumbers--two plants per container--and both containers have been producing fruit fairly regularly. These are the Spacemaster variety, so they are supposed to grow well in smaller spaces. The fruit is pretty tasty, although the skin is very bitter so they are best eaten peeled.

And, best news of all, I grew some okra from seed! I actually have two okra plants growing and producing spears at the moment. I'm still only getting one okra at a time, but that's progress, right? Sort of.

I did notice some spindly-looking okra plants in the demonstration vegetable garden at the Natural History Museum recently. So, maybe okra plants never get that busy, at least in home gardens. I am keeping both plants in full sun and fertilizing every couple of weeks, so I am hopeful that they'll continue to produce. I might even beat my previous record of four okra in a season.

She's going to be so mad at me for posting this but... my favorite cactus just got her first pimple! They grow up so fast, don't they?

Here's a close-up of the blemish, which is positioned a few inches up on the cactus' back side.

Of course, I think it's really a bud for a side growth. So, my special cactus may have a new "arm" very soon.

This is especially exciting because this is probably my fanciest and most treasured cactus. I can't remember what it's called, but this cactus is originally from Mexico and is now sadly extinct in the wild. It grows in a pillar and has this very cool, wavy-looking exterior--almost as if it's melting in the heat. My parents bought it for me a California Cactus Center many years ago to celebrate a promotion at work. It now sits in a place of honor in one of the cactus planters Dakota built into our patio.

I am delighted that my "Celebration Cactus" is doing well enough to grow another limb. Perhaps, if it gets big enough, I can take a cutting and grow a new fancy melting cactus to keep this one company. Or, even better, I can grow another one to give as a gift.

For now, I will have to be patient. The pimple is quite small, and I don't want to make the cactus too self-conscious.