June 27th 2018

I am going to start off my blog today with my beautiful Hollyhock blooms!  They are just gorgeous I think and I just love, love that color!

But I HATE battling these rust spots.  I have been using neem on them but don't think I started soon enough and I cut some of the leaves off as want good air circulations.  I need to look up my recipe for dish soap and water to spray on things!  What do you other gardeners use to battle this?  I do love Hollyhocks!

The sun is so hot on my veggies so I am battling sunscald by covering with muslin, cheese cloth or a sheet.  It has really helped!  I call it my rag garden.

I have harvested green beans a couple of times.  I steam them and they are so good.  Nothing like fresh green beans from the garden.  Yum!

I made up three batches of pesto from my basil for the freezer.  That is all I am doing for this year.  Have just a few left from last year.

We managed to get our buckets of strawberries done up for the freezer.  Just about done us in but we do love our strawberries in the winter.  For those of you that know I have been struggling with constant fatigue the endocrinologist says it is from my parathyroid but he said it was not bad enough to operate and no med for it.  Take multivitamin and Vitamin D and come back in six months!!  That was not very encouraging.  My thyroid and sugar are fine but I do have to eat gluten free and have celiac disease.

Our little great granddaughter, Nora eating a dill pickle! Gracie, Cali (granddaughters) and Nora all love dill pickles and eat them like candy when they come over!

My wonderful husband of 58 years brought me this darling planter for our anniversary!  Can anyone tell me what the three different plants are?  The tag just gave light and watering instructions!  When should I transplant them in separate pots?

Here is another picture of it showing the darling ladybug that came with it.  It also shows two of the plants a little better if anyone can tell me what they are.

I picked some lavender to dry.  I thought it looked pretty in this vase but hung it up to dry better.  Need to get out and pick more before it is too late.

My one lily is blooming.  Such a pretty color.  The other lily is doing nothing yet!

Picked my first sungold tomato today.  Hard to see but sungold tomatoes are yellow.  Yum!

My Bachelor Button seeds I planted are starting to bloom.  I think they are also called cornflower.

My zucchini plant I am growing out front so Coco doesn't eat it has lots of blossoms but they are not opened up yet.  I think I will probably hand pollinate.  So should I just be patient and wait tell they open up?  I hope they don't shrivel of and die.  Oh, the worries of a gardener!  This is it for the June 27th, 2018 blog post!   I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Before and after downsizing

Before downsizing

After downsizing

June 9th 2018

Our front porch chair this year!  This is how my friend can tell where my house is!

There are more uses for canes than just walking.  Comes in handy for pushing my tomato plants around to get more sun!

My new planter is good for flowers I think but probably not the best for veggies!  Some are doing okay.

My strawberry plants are large and green but my berries small and some are a little brown like this and not good.  I cut off all the runners and put some mulch around them to hold the berries off the soil as it was sticking to the berries.  Does anyone know why a few of them got brown like this and what to do for it?  I just planted them last year and cut the flowers off all summer.

Can you see these snow peas?  They are doing well growing up the strings in my protective raised bed.  I planted more but they have not come up yet.  Love them in my salads.

   My second planting of beans are blossoming.  My first planting is not.  I have beaten the sunscald though by covering them with muslin.  I think they will start to blossom soon!

Is this pot of basil too full?  Should I thin it out?

This is the pot of Heirloom Yellow pole beans.  They are doing well.  I have a couple more planted in the edge of the protective bed and they are growing but the leaves are a little yellow?  Wondering if too much sun or too much water or both??

Three zucchini in this pot.  Looks like four but I took the one out.  Is three too many.  Should I take another out?  Opinions please!

I like swiss chard when the leaves are small in my salads.  Better get eating this I guess!

All of my carrot seed someone gave me did not come up but some did!  What is that other plant that came up?  Could that be a nasturtium????  Or what is it????

This is the plant I chose to replace the Asiatic Lily that Coco ate one of them to the ground.  There were three together.  The lily now lives in my grandson and grand-daughter-in-law's yard!

A few of my small strawberries.  They taste really good though!!  That brings you up to date on some of my courtyard.  Thank you for visiting and double thank you if you leave a comment!  Off to nap now!