All you Great Pumpkin Admirers will have to look up to the latest giant vegetable on display here at Veggie Gardening Tips… it’s a monster of an okra plant grown by Terry Stout in Kiln, Mississippi. My curiosity was piqued when Terry recently left the following comment on a previous blog entry related to growing okra in the home garden:

This article is a guest entry written by Susan Warren, author of a new book about the art of competitive pumpkin growing – Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever. Today Susan shares the story of her own interesting quest to grow a gigantic pumpkin in the home garden…

Well it looks like many backyard gardeners are still busy harvesting, preserving, and enjoying the fruits of their labor in the vegetable garden. Here are some interesting gardening links to photos and articles detailing what’s growing and being discussed on other sites and gardens that I’ve visited this week:

This salad creation is being submitted as part of the Weekend Herb Blogging Group for September 9, 2007. I’ve contributed articles in the past featuring garden productions, heirloom eggplants, and even a sleazy piece on corn smut, but this is my first stab at anything that comes close to qualifying as an actual recipe. After all, I’m just a gardener with no dreams of becoming a gourmet chef.

Other gardeners grow marigolds in the hope that they will help in the battle against destructive insects and animal pests. A recent question from Sherwin inquired into the benefits of growing marigolds in the garden for companion purposes and as an organic insect control: