Redundant

Yup, it seems I'm posting about the same things constantly, but I really need to start keeping track of what's going on in the yard like I'd promised myself way back in this post. But, after this, unless it's something exceptional, I'll start keeping the posts to every other week or so.

What with the horrible weather we've had all growing season in the New England states, it seems a little mean to be posting about everything doing so well now that the heat has turned itself up here and the rain has dwindled to every other day instead of daily. Sorry.

The flowerbeds aren't looking half bad now that the plants are getting some sun. I had to prune out a lot of the flopping gloriosa daisies, but it looks a little neater now.



The Hosta have exploded into bloom.



The area around the lower pond isn't as full and lush as last year, but considering the weather it doesn't look half bad.



I've never had cucumber plants this loaded with blooms. The cucumbers are delicious!



Even though we haven't had a ripe tom yet, I'm considering the 'hay bale' experiment a smashing success.



Finally, a couple shots of the veg garden (so I'll remember what was where).





Happy growing!

Mid July Update

Wow, what a difference two whole days of heat, sun and no rain can make. The ground actually looks dry - I'd forgotten what dry soil looks like!

For those of you in the upper eastern states - hang in there, it's on its way. I'm outside blowing the good weather in your direction. Man, my lips are tired! :(

An update on how well the tomato bale experiment is doing: Fantastic!



Thank God I haven't seen hide nor hair of the blight. ~fingers crossed~ Pays a bit to start your own seed in this instance. I think I only have one close neighbor that gardens and he grows his own also.
:)
Bonnie Plants first said they accepted that they were to blame, now this:

Dennis Thomas, Bonnie Plants general manager, insists there never was any evidence of blight at any of the company's 61 growing stations nationwide and that his company did not ship out any infected plants. "None whatsoever," he said. "The last inspections we've had in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and in West Virginia today, showed negative."

One of those things that makes you go, hmmmm...

On to happier stuff.

I only got one plant from the strawberry petunia seed (stupid weather!) but what a bloom it is!


Things that are finally taking off:

Popcorn


Potato (don't mind the weeds. potato is a DH thing, not a me thing, so unless he weeds them...)


Peppers (looking better!)


Onions are looking good.


Carrots have gone bonkers!


Yellow and green bush beans are finally flowering. Interesting how you can easily tell which row are which.


We had the first cabbage salad of the year yesterday. Yum! Was fabulous. I honestly should have let it go a few more days, but well, you know...
The cauliflower is almost ready and huge.
Half a gallon of peas in the freezer so far.

I guess that's it for the veg, so on to what few flowers I have that the freaking slugs didn't eat.

The view from my living room last week.


The honey bees are swarming the borage now that the sun has returned.


The bee balm is finally open for the hummers. They've been cleaning out the feeders in a day!





I lurve gloriosa daisies.


The lavender is looking beautiful.


Lilies are so fab they almost glow.


and last but not least, the coolest visitors of all to my flower beds-


Hope everyone's gardens are growing like gangbusters!
Happy gardening.
:)

(wow, I actually titled the post as June instead of July - talk about a Freudian slip - I'm still subconsciously waiting on some nice june weather! lol)

So Much Going On

Wow - long time no post.
Been very, very busy.

And my daughter found me a camera! I have a freaking camera!
Wooooohoooo! This is such a big deal for me. A really big deal.
I haven't figured out how to take the best pics with it yet, but I'm learning. Slow, but learning.
Why do they have to put a thousand bells and whistles on the damn things? I just want to point and shoot for pete sake.
Now I'll be posting tons of pics, the one thing I dislike about most blogs. Ack! lol.
:)

There is so much to update that I don't know where to start.

We had a freeze/frost last night. A frost on June 1. Urg!
We ran around covering and dragging pots inside last night. (Yes, I've completely, purposely forgotten about the post where I gave advice about not planting anything around here before June1. Shhh!) Hopefully, we are now home free as far as the weather goes. The record last freeze/frost date was June 7, 1889, so I think we're good.

Toms and peppers don't look so hot, but that's what I get for trying to push the growing season. Serves me right. They'll catch up and be fine, they always are.

We're a month or so into the hay bale planting. Here are a couple not-so-great pics. (hey, I said I was still learning.) Sorry about the monster size - I wish I could figure out how to resize and make them smaller. Something to mess with when I have more time.





I know you can't see the toms, but they're in there. I'll try to get some better pics later.

And here are some of my WS jugs. Yes, I know they should be in the ground already, but we've had really crappy cold and rainy weather so I haven't gotten all the flower beds where they need to be weeded yet. ~sigh~



I'll get there when the weather starts cooperating.

Our hummers are here feeding/chasing like crazy. I had a black swallow tail butterfly on my Lupines. Poor thing, it's so cold! And of course I took pics. This could turn into a real problem.

Hope everyone's gardens are sprouting like gangbusters!