July 29th Report!

We took the cover off the beans.  Oh, my, they fell all over out of the box.  I wondered how we would ever get the cover back on!  My "Wonderful Gardener" said it would be like stuffing a fat lady in a girdle!  

Here are the beans I harvested from there.  Not a very large harvest I would say.

We had to come up with a way to keep that little brown blob on the left from eating the rest of the beans!

We cobbled up a fence around the beans with lattice and some wire fence.  Not good enough!  Brown blob pulled out the beans through the wire fencing and then started crawling in through some spaces she would squeeze through.  Good thing we love brown blog a lot!

Lettuce, a couple small cabbages, dug a few potatoes , picked one cucumber and a few cherry tomatoes.

Green beans, three tomatoes, lots of cherry and sungold tomatoes and one cucumber!

Most of the tops of my onions were brown so I pulled them and hung on the trellis for the nice sunny day we had to dry.  Brought them into the garage at night to finish drying because rain was forecast.  So far we got a teeny bit of rain one time.  We need it so badly!  My onions were small this year.

Little swiss chard, potato, a few cherry and sungold tomatoes, red raspberries and a few blackberries.  Red raspberries are finished now!  Boo hoo.  Should be more in the fall if we get some rain.

I was gifted a garden journal!  Do you think there is any hope of my being organized???????

This ugly bug was on the screen over my cabbage.  Could someone please tell me what kind of bug this is and what damage he does?

My pizza dough rising in a bowl I had gotten at a garage sale years ago for 50 cents.  I love this bowl and use it whenever I make bread!

Another picking of blackberries.  I am freezing up the ones that don't get ate to have enough to make a batch of blackberry jam or jelly.

See it!!!!  I have one on my dill!  "It's a good thing"!!

My lovely new art work created by Gracie!  That is our house and the different colors in the background are spray painted lawn chairs!  I think they would look nice in our gardens, don't you!!

"Wonderful Gardener" took me for a day out!  We explored Valparaiso which is not too far from us.  I found this cup and saucer at a thrift shop.  It was not an expensive one but I thought it was pretty!  We also went to the chocolate factory, and I got some candy!  I will not post a picture of that!!!

Too Hot, Too Dry & Too Old!

Too hot, too dry and too old pretty well sums up my gardening week last week!!!  My rain barrel is empty and I have used city water but probably not enough.  Makes the bill go up and up and up!!  I am still able to harvest a bit of lettuce and the cherry and sungold tomatoes are ripening.

The raspberrys are getting smaller and fewer but the first part of the week was still okay.  They need water!!!

Sad looking pepper but I harvested it because I needed one to use!

Harvesting cabbage and carrots.

Made up a batch of regular cole slaw to go with our meals and a batch of freezer cole slaw.  We are enjoying our cabbage and carrots used this way!

My one little bush produced a few blueberries and there are just a few more ripening.  Few more raspberries picked, two cucumbers, more cherry and sungold tomatoes and a zucchini!  

This Rose Atari Scented Geranium didn't bloom from when I bought it last year.  I kept it over the winter and started new ones.  I don't know if this one is the original or not but happy to see it is going to bloom this year!  It is in a pot in the ground in the fountain area.

The two blackberry bushes are starting to produce.  I never know when I am suppose to pick them.  If they pull off easy I pick and if they don't I leave them.  Is that the way you do it?  If I pick them too soon I notice they are bitter.

This is just a random picture along one of the fences.  I transplanted the sunflowers that the birds planted and the cosmos came up from last year.  I am thankful the perennials seem to keep blooming even though the weather has been so hot and dry.  I have to admit this is not my best gardening year so far!  But I will be right back out there trying again next year!! LOL  Think positive!!!!!!

Hot & Humid, Harvest, Tea Time & Arrangement

Only one of my three blueberry bushes have a few blueberries on it so I had to buy some for our freezer!  At $14.95 for 5 pounds I am sure hoping that my bushes will grow and do better at producing berries for me!!  I bought 10 pounds but if the price goes down I want to pick up another 5 pounds!  Blueberries are not only yummy but so good for you!

"Wonderful Gardener" is picking our raspberries every other day now.  As Martha Stewart would say, "That is a good thing!"

My grape cherry and sun gold tomato plants are starting to produce.  Lots of green ones on them yet.  Green ones on the big tomato plants too but no ripe ones!  It has been so hot and humid here that I think I am ripening faster than my crops!!

I dug under my potato plants and came up with these to put in with our roast one day!  Yummy!!!!  Two more cherry tomatoes!

I pulled out all my beets and harvested them for pickled beets!  I don't seem to do well growing beets and am thinking about using that space to try to grow more potatoes next year.

I had enough to can up six pints of pickled beets and a couple little packages in the freezer for me.  "Wonderful Gardener" does not eat beets so all the more for me!

I harvested Basil and put in the dehydrator to dry.  I need to remember to do one more batch.

I was able to harvest only one zucchini so far!  Hopefully more to follow!

My tea drinking gardener friend came over for tea one day!  Always fun to talk about our gardens together!

Do you remember the little teacup/pot that I planted a plant in?  My plant died so Melissa made me a darling little artificial arrangement in it.  Now I don't have to worry about watering it.  Guess I must not have a green thumb after all!!  Have I said it is hot and humid here!!  I loose my enthusiasm for gardening in this kind of weather! How about you????

Yummy's, Plants, Deserts & Bushes

I will start off today with a picture of Swiss Chard.  I am trying to learn to like it!!!!!!  LOL

Radishes, Pak Choi and Lettuce!!  I was going to apologize today for always posting lettuce but after seeing the price of yucky head lettuce in the store I will post it proudly!

We are happy to finally start harvesting some raspberries!  Pulled another cabbage and three carrots to make more cole slaw.

My poor aloe plant! I dumped it over on the floor one day.  What a mess!!!!!

I made chocolate chip cookies for my "wonderful gardener"!

These are my carrot boxes on the deck.  The tops are quite tall but from the cabbage post you can see the carrots are not real big.

Some of the family came over for the 4th.  Melissa made this pretty and yummy dessert!

Our kids dug out our old rose bush.  We thought maybe it had poison ivy in it and couldn't get it out.  We just recently planted this one.  It is a Rose Blaze Improved-med red climber.  I think it will show up well on the arbor.

Here are my two elderberry bushes in the side yard.  I think they are so pretty but my two mowers, hubby and daughter, are complaining the branches are in the way so guess this fall I will have to cut it down some!

I picked a little bouquet of yarrow and set it on a yellow and white doily that my mother had crocheted.  A little sunshine in the kitchen!

These are my green beans.  I thought they only got about 12 inches tall but these are squashed by my screen cover which is taller than 12 inches!  It is about 18 inches tall.  I found out that green beans are self pollinating but will I still get beans if they are so squashed in height?  If I take the cover off the beetles and Coco will get them!  I do have a dilemma!!!!

I have three little blueberry bushes but this is the only one that has a few blueberries on it.  I am hoping they will get ripe and I will get them before the birds!  It is seeming to take forever for them to ripen!!

I plead guilty!   I thought I was planting my tomato plants farther apart this year but as you can see I can't even get between them to pick the tomatoes!  There are some blossoms though.

The cucumbers are climbing the trellis!  Hurry, hurry!!!

See all the little cherry tomatoes!  They are planted in five gallon pails.  Do veggies seem slower to ripen this year to you or is it just me?

I have a little white box so have lettuce growing in it.  Still good to harvest!

A small patch of Kale.  I have used a little but haven't learned to love Kale either yet!

These two green pepper plants in the tote look lush but haven't done much yet to produce peppers!

On the other hand, this sad small plant has one green pepper on it!  I will never figure things out!

The blackberry bushes have a lot of green berries on them even though that bad storm blew them over!

My last picture but not very nice to leave you with this yucky one in your mind!  I am doing beetle bug duty and "tonking" them into a pail with soap and water!  They are really liking my little sweet cherry tree a lot and chewing the leaves to pieces.  I don't even feel guilty doing this to them!  Happy Gardening!!