Lilys, Harvest, Wilted!, Sad Pepper & Soup

We had our July 4th picnic inside in the air conditioning!!! This is our son Mike.  We are at our daughter's house.

The lilys seem to be surviving this extreme heat.

I had to take a picture of these lilys.  The sun was shining on them and the color was so vibrant and pretty!

Echinacea is so pretty.  I wish it would bloom earlier and last longer!  I think it will need to be moved next year.

This is the Anise Hyssop.  It is kind of light to show up well against the white fence, but it is my tallest flower and I don't know where else to put it!

I really goofed this year by not cutting the thyme (or the oregano) to dry before it flowered.  I did find a little thyme in a pot today that had not flowered yet so cut that little bit and brought it in to dry.  Thyme is one herb I do like to use in my cooking.

Another cabbage was harvested and brought in.  I can't believe I am getting as much as I am from my poor shredded cabbages!

Still getting raspberrys.  Makes us happy!!!

The grapes are developing!

My wilted butternut squash.  That is what I look like after two minutes out in this hot sun and heat.  WILTED!

My pepper plants really are sad this year.  Could anyone tell me why the leaves are getting these brown spots like this???????  Boo-hoooooo!!

Made up this simple soup today for our lunches.  My husband knows that if we have anything left from one meal that he will see it in a different form in another meal!  He doesn't seem to mind tho!  My motto is waste not, want not!  Thanks for visiting!  Stay cool and hydrated!

















Carrot, Cole Slaw, Muffins, Trees & Book

This is the story of my Peach Tree Limb Tree!  Three years ago I ordered a dwarf peach tree.  We planted it, and it died!  That is not the end of the story.  A limb grew out from the bottom just above the root stock, and grew and grew.  Today it is my Peach Tree Limb Tree!  One year we had a few peaches.  This year I only saw one little peach!  It has had that peach tree leaf blight where the leaf becomes red and blistery the past couple of years so I will really have to work on that.  Not sure if that will help produce more peaches or not.  It makes a nice looking fake tree for our yard anyway!!!!!

We planted this Chojuro Pear Tree last year.

The Hosui Pear Tree.  We planted the two pear trees near each other for pollination.

We love sweet cherries so planted this Compac Stella Sweet Cherry.  It said it did not need a pollinator so I am hoping!  The beetles really ate some of the leaves but have stopped for now.

This Ornamental Chandler Pear was planted back in 2009.  It has pretty white flowers in the spring.  Probably not good for my allergys!

Pulled another carrot to add to the cole slaw.  The tops are quite large but sure wish the carrots would grow more!

Cole Slaw waiting for dressing to be made.  The cabbage was from my garden previously and added the above carrot.

Muffins made today!

Another book from the library.  Do you think it might help me become a more             organized cook??  Or better yet, a wonderful cook like Annie?  lol

Oh-oh! My Oregano flowered and I didn't get any dried!  Is it okay to dry after it flowers??

What a mess trying to pick the raspberrys!  The bushes looked so small when I trimmed them back in the spring that it is hard to imagine them filling in like this!  Love the raspberrys tho!  Where can I plant more!

Borage flowers and more borage flowers!  I will have to make sure they don't reseed all over the gardens!  Need the room for other veggies.  The cucumbers beside them look rather sad.  I had the sugar peas planted on the other side of them and so they didn't get enough sun and looked pathetic when the sugar peas were pulled out.  Maybe one or two will make it and more will need to be replanted.  I think my Wonderful Gardener will make me a cover to keep the beetles off the beans for next year, and I will plant bush beans.  Then I can use the two trellises one for cucumbers and one for sugar peas and switch back and forth every other year.  A gardener is always planning!

This was newly planted with two cucumber hills and one patty pan squash hill and a tiny bit of Prizehead lettuce.  It rained last night and today so hopefully they are off to a good start.

This butternut squash is going somewhere!  I probably don't have the room to grow butternut but I love it and can't resist!

The pole beans are climbing the trellis.  As you can see the beetles lunched on them.

This Hybiscus was planted last fall.  Hoping that it will grow more and bloom this year!

I just thought the Cleome growing where it is not suppose to be was just gorgeous after the rain!  Couldn't resist taking a picture!!

The carrots are coming but not there yet.  I pulled this one today to put in the cole slaw that I made up.  Thanks for visiting!









Raspberrys, Onion, Cabbage, Pea Pods, Bee Balm, Dish Cloth & Picnic

My Wonderful Gardener has been picking raspberrys from our little patch.  This is today's harvest.  We love our raspberrys, and I am trying to figure out where I can put another patch!

My onions need to grow a little more.  I am out of boughten onions now and will use this one from my garden that I pulled out yesterday!!

I was not successful at growing cabbage!  See how the cabbage butterflies shredded it?  I can't be bothered dusting it with powders and my natural remedys didn't work.  I put thyme around them, and it didn't help.  I put netting over them but didn't quite cover to the bottom all the way around so they were able to get underneath.  I won't grow them next year because I feel my space that I can grow things in can be put to better use.  The next picture shows what I savaged from one of them!

This is what was left after I took off the butterfly shredded leaves!!!  It will be made into cole slaw.

The pea pods were pulled out and brought into the house.  I sat on a chair and cut them up so they would decompose in my compost spot faster!!!  Does anyone else ever do that? lol

This redish colored flower is what I call Bee Balm or Monarda.  Am I correct about that?  The color does not seem to show up well where I have it.

I finished knitting another dish cloth.  I think the yellow will look really cheery and look like sunshine!

Our daughter, Sue and her husband, Craig brought us a picnic supper last night!  Sloppy Joes, Corn on the cob, Baked beans, Potato salad, Chips and dip and Watermelon.  Yum, yum, yum!!!!! After eating we played a game of Scrabble.  Our brains had not worked so hard in years!!  Girls against the guys and the guys won.  We had fun!







 





Vacation, Peas, Sunflower, Borage, Cleome, Pak Choi, Potatoes, Cherry Tomato, Mess

We are back from our vacation.  Here is the cabin we stayed in.  It was called Bird's Nest and is in Oak Beach Resort in Michigan.

This is the way one wall inside was decorated.

The water was about 10 feet from the cabin door.

My Wonderful Gardener picked these peas today.  I was surprised to get these but think this is the last of them. 

Here is my one lonely sunflower!!!!!

Too much Borage but it is flowering and the bees love it.

This is suppose to be the path through the two trellises.  Some Cleome reseeded here, and we didn't have the heart to pull it out!  It is shorter than what I had planted last year but still pretty.

My Pak Choi really went to seed while we were gone.  I noticed this afternoon that the beetles have arrived also and have started eating everything.  Ugh!

I am so happy with how big the potato plants are getting!  My mouth is watering already!

Some pretty dill along the back fence.

The first cucumbers I planted are getting too much shade from the sugar peas so I planted some in this white box.

The Butternut squash is growing well in this container now.  I did plant radishes in with them.

Yippee!!!  Can you see the little tomatoes and the blossoms on this Cherry Tomato plant?  Some of the leaves were sun scalded and I thought the sun was too bright for them.  I took a piece of cardboard and used clothespins to clip across the top to give it some shade.  It seems to be doing well now.

My expanded flower/raspberry bed looks a little like a jungle now.  Some of the plants have blocked the path through to the raspberrys but I so enjoy seeing all the pretty colors.  Hope you have enjoyed looking at it too.