Garden Friends

Bubba Jr

Eddie

Eddie & Tongo

Kiki (well, not exactly a garden "friend")

ACORN SQUASH FLOWER AND BLOSSOM

Thought you might enjoy these pics of flowers from the garden! Who knew that vegetables could be so pretty???

CUCUMBER FLOWERS

Check out the little bug inside this squash blossom!

I'm not sure what these are...but aren't they beautiful??? I thought they were a weed originally!

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope that today finds everyone happy, healthy, and appreciative of all that we have in life! The garden is starting to thrive (FINALLY!) after a really nice rain last weekend, and for that I am VERY thankful :) I think some of the blooms are just as beautiful as the fruit/veggies that come after them. I've been taking a lot of pictures today...here are a few that I hope you enjoy!

Full Garden View - Here's a look at the whole thing from a distance. Yesterday was the day of weeding...I had neglected it for over a week and I'm amazed at how fast the weeds multiply when I have to sit and wait patiently for everything else to grow.

Dad's canteloupe are just starting to flower!

The cucumbers are flowering nicely, although they are not really excited about growing up their trellis like the ad implied they would be! I'm learning that I still obviously have a lot to learn about gardening. Here's a pic of my first little cucumber.

The watermelons, spaghetti squash, and acorn squash are going to town! Their vines are growing so quick and so long, pretty soon they're going to cross over into the horse pasture next door! Next year I need to do a better job of placement for the melons and squash.

Watermelon

Acorn Squash

Peppers - Well, the bell peppers have not started growing yet, but the banana peppers are really coming along nicely. I picked one the other day and tried to eat it (looked ready to me!) but it really didn't have a flavor yet. Pam said to wait until they get nice and yellow first, so I've been restraining myself from picking the others ;)

And last but not least, the tomatoes finally are all growing! In fact, they're kind of out of control! I had to prune a few of them down because they were sprouting shoots all over the place and I couldn't walk between the rows. I wouldn't get the little red tomato ladders again. I don't think the red color was all that helpful (Pam's didn't have red ladders and are doing better than mine!). Also, I think I will adopt Pam's "fence them in" method and surround them with a circle of fence and a stake to grow on so they don't get so out of control.

Adventures in Gardening Continued...

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks of gardening. Let's just say, I was very tempted to take pictures of my neighbor Pam's garden and post them in place of mine :) Hers is beautiful and thriving, mine is struggling a bit...Francis says I'm trying too hard and he may be right. So, I've backed off of all my "fussing" for the last week, and low and behold...my tomato plants have little baby tomatoes coming in, I have a banana pepper growing...go figure! Here are some updated pics from last night:

The radishes are growing nicely. Jim said that they don't taste any different than the ones from Kroger's...but Francis and Pam thought they tasted great!

Here are some pics of the tomatoes. I'm so excited to see how they develop. The big question has been: to prune or not to prune? I keep reading that pruning the suckers off helps them grow stronger better tomatoes, but Pam doesn't do anything to hers. And, well...if you look at hers and then look at mine so far, let's just say I'm going with her method this year :)

The pole beans are doing well (I think!). One of the sprouts (??) has taken off so much I had to add the second tier to the pole bean cage.

Apparently, either watermelon's are really easy to grow....or that's going to be my specialty and next year I'll just have a melon garden!

And last but not least, one of my banana peppers is growing. My peppers and eggplants are a very sad story so far. They were doing beautifully in May (remember the pic with the little flowers blooming after the rain?). Well, then my eggplants were attacked by flea beetles (weevils??). I decided to go the "natural" route, despite advice from my savvy neighbors to the contrary (suggested sprinkling Sevin on them). But oh no...I knew better. So I went out and bought some spray called VeggiePharm (all natural insecticidal soap made from garlic, peppermint and something else). Well, I sprayed the heck out of those poor eggplants and peppers. 2 days later, everything was shriveling, dying, AND I still had the damn weevils on there punching holes in the leaves. So Pam was kind enough to come over and take a look and once again, gently suggested sprinking Sevin. She thinks I probably burned the plants with the stupid all natural stuff, but was sweet enough to say she thought they would recover. Well, it's been a long recovery process and they still look rather pathetic. A few days after I sprinkled the Sevin (which, OF COURSE killed the stupid bugs!), I stopped by a little garden store and was telling the lady about my poor plants. She told me that peppers like to "hold hands" and that mine were probably planted too far apart and that's why they weren't recovering well. She must have spotted the SUCKER sign on my forehead...because I bought 5 more pepper plants and six eggplants and gave my poor bedraggled peppers and eggplants they're new friends that night. I can't say they're looking any better though :)

And last but certainly not least...my favorite garden companion....Tonga (white face) and her buddy Princess. Cody wasn't feeling photogenic :)

Country Dogs Gone Wild!

So, the country pups (Bubba Jr, Eddie, and Annie) cornered a raccoon on Sunday afternoon. I was watering the flowers in the front and heard what sounded like one of the dogs trying to cough up a hairball. Well, all of a sudden i looked over and saw that all 3 dogs were surrounding something on the ground and then as I ran that way I heard a "YELP". Turns out it was a little raccoon...thankfully not the full size or they would have had more to bargain for. So, here I am trying to chase the dogs away from the raccoon and the raccoon turns and comes after me :)- Luckily as I scooted past the tree, he decided to run up at it and just spit at me from the branches. I considered that a close call with stitches avoided (for me and the dogs)...but hey, we've all been vaccinated so what the heck right?

Think the fun is over? Read on....

So, Monday morning I am running late for work. I let the dogs out and the 3 of them go tearing across the yard like bats out of hell and surround something near the neighbors fence. So out I go in my jammies, yelling at them again to "leave it". When I finally get close and drag Bubba away (yes, the other's both left it, but not the golden boy....) here sits a "dead" possum with this little itty bitty baby peeking over her back while she's laying on her side. Now, I was SURE that she was dead. her mouth was open, her gums were white, and her chest wasn't moving. So now I'm pissed at the kids for killing this little baby's momma. So I grab the golden boy and shoo him back up toward the house. At this point, I'm looking forward to waking Jim up and telling him he has to take care of the Momma (bury her) and figure out how I'm going to explain to my boss why our clinic needs to foster a baby possum until he can be released into the wild. Those of you that know Terry and Jim are aware of what an uphill battle this might be on both fronts :) The pups followed me, but then half way up to the house, Bubba Jr does a U-turn and heads full tilt toward the fence again. Well, that little Momma wasn't dead at all....she's waddling down the fence line and has just LEFT her baby to the dogs!!!! She didn't even stay to try and protect him. So I go running after the dogs again (still in my jammies)...and get them rounded up and away from the baby that is now running in circles squeaking while Annie and Eddie "herd" him and Bubba Jr tries to eat him. Sigh....

Ok, so dogs are rounded up and I go back on the porch to watch, figuring surely his mom would come back from him when she heard him crying or that he would find her scent along the fence line and follow her down to the woods. Nope...20 min later, he's still running in circles crying. So, I go out there with my gloves, pick the little fellow up, and carry him down to the woods. Little guy was so cute....fit right into the palm of my hand. He was shaking like a leaf until I started petting him, then he settled down.

Fun still isn't over. Little Paul the Possum and I are headed down to the woods. Now, for the last few days, Bubba Jr had been getting through the fencing we had up at the end of the field b/c the shock wasn't strong enough to overwhelm his desire to swim in the creek. So every time I let the little brat out, he went for a swim. Finally he did it for his father on Sunday and Jim got honked off enough that he hooked our wire up to the neighbor's hot line they have for their horses. Shocked the stinker and he's been much better about only going for a swim when invited. Of course I had by this time forgotten that the hot line was hooked up when I went to step over it with little Paul to try and take him back to his mom. Let's just say, when my leg caught the line on the way over, a few choice words were uttered! Luckily my gloves were rubber so hopefully little Paul didn't absorb much of the shock.

So, hopefully all is well and his momma found him again. I went down there last night and couldn't find either of them :) Here's a little pic to brighten your day :)

We had rain!

My garden is sooooo happy because we've had rain the last three days. Spent about 2 hours weeding and freshening up the soil. I need to buy some compost and add that around my peppers and tomato plants. Plus, I probably need to get some fertilizer for my tomato plants too. They're growing great. I have a few blooms already :) The image is a little out of focus, but you get the idea.

And just check out my pepper plants...they all have little blooms on them! Just can't wait to see what they look like after another week. Below, the broccoli is just starting to show it's little head.

The pole beans are doing fantastic! Here are two shots of them: one from a distance, and one up close and personal so you can see the blooms developing.

Then the bush beans have really started to sprout as well this week. I need to buy some more marigolds to plant amongst the beans to help keep the bugs away.

Next in line, the squash family. The spaghetti squash have started to poke their heads through the soil, and the acorn squash appears happy.

Looks like we'll have 3 cucumber plants...which I'm sure will be quite enough. The birds or some other seed predator helped themselves to the rest of the seeds. I think cucumber seeds are the prettiest seeds I planted!

Well, that's all for today's installment. I need to go get some work done on the front yard and then we have to go mow and stuff at the house in Fisher's that still hasn't sold. Sigh.... If you know of anyone looking for a house in Fisher's here's the link to ours :) -

http://fctucker.katabat.com/content/PropertyBrochure.asp?listingNumber=2661980&agentNumber=7862

Look What's Peekin' ....

What a nice surprise this morning! I spent yesterday evening adding a bunch of stuff to the garden and weeding, but the only seeds that were blooming were the leaf lettuce...then this morning, VOILA! - there are 3 little pole bean sprouts poking their little heads out of the ground! This should be an exciting week for sure. Here are his siblings:

Interestingly, something else is helping his or herself to my seeds. I found some of my pretty blue cucumber seeds out on top of their hills this morning, and I found a few sunflower seeds out of there hill as well. I was so worried about the rabbits, but it looks like I might have some birds conspiring against me. I see a scarecrow in our future...

The garden shed has a new look now too! Mom got me this awesome little "Garden Shed" sign and I added a window box with flowers. I want to plant some daylilies or peonies around the base of the shed and by the propane tank to mask some of the natural beauty of this old shed and tank :) Here's a closer look at the window box:

So, working in the garden has become great therapy. I look forward to coming home from work every night, going out and plucking some weeds, watering, and strolling through the rows to see what has sprung to life over the last 24 hours. There's something very soothing about being out there with the plants! I found some beautiful Gerber Daisies the other day and planted them at the entrance to my garden.

I was also reading that planting marigolds near the tomatoes and basil would help keep bugs away...so of course I had to try it. I like seeing the mixture of flowers in with the vegetables!

Yesterday I added a few more things to the garden: Acorn squash, Watermelon, a blueberry bush, some bush beans, spaghetti squash, and broccoli. Jim just keeps shaking his head :) Here are just a few more pictures because I can't resist....