Updates in the garden

Things are happening in my garden! It's been a long dry stretch after all of the rain we had earlier in the summer. Luckily it's rained all day today and we're supposed to get more tomorrow. It certainly makes my job easier because I don't have to water! I took some pictures earlier this week of some interesting garden developments. 

 This is my chamomile plant in bloom! Last year, I started seeds way too late, and then the plant got downy mildew, and I never got flowers. The flower petals are actually what you harvest for tea. This picture is of the first blooms but they are popping up all over the place so I will have an actual harvest this year!

 This is the dwarf amaranth mix that I started from seed. They are taking forever to get going, but you can finally see the colors of the leaves. I don't know if I will get any harvest from these. If it gets too cold for them, I'll bring them inside and see if I can keep them going under grow lights.

 I had tried corn this year for the first time, without many expectations. But I found both tassels and ear silks on my Sacred Eagle plants! So I've hand pollinated and hoping for the best. If I get even one ear from my corn this year I will be very pleased. I knew it was risky to grow in containers but I wanted to try.

 I just wanted to show a close-up of a ground cherry here. My ground cherry plant went crazy and is loaded with these guys and is constantly flowering. You can see a flower on the right side of the photo. Once the husks start to turn yellow, I pick them because they're about to fall off and I don't want the chipmunks getting them. My plan is to make ground cherry jam!

And this is my first Cherokee Purple tomato. It looks a bit darker in person. I am really looking forward to trying this guy. I'm pleased that growing indeterminate varieties in containers seems to be working for me, because prior to this season I had only tried determinate varieties.
Well, that's the update so far! I bought a pressure canner so I am going to try canning tomatoes soon. Hopefully it goes well and I don't blow up my kitchen!