July Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

Bloom Day is brought to you by our wonderful friend Carol of May Dreams Gardens. Thank you Carol. This post will include my veggie garden update as well since I haven't given you one lately. Busy, busy!

This is a coconut lined basket that I'm growing a tomato out of the bottom of. It combines my flower gardens with my veggie garden, so I thought it would make a great lead off picture! The growths on the top part of the stem I told you about have turned brown so it looks like the tomato is trying to put out more roots. Note to self: please stop over watering tomato plants.

I'd like to add before I continue, that I have decided to use the camcorder I bought about 5 years ago for my pictures for now. I almost forgot I had it! I love the zoom on this thing and got some great pictures at the zoo last week. Now, on with the garden tour!

Many of my flowers from last month are still in bloom, but I won't bore you with those again. So many other pictures to post anyway.

First, the food.

We've already eaten most of the peas. Only enough for one meal. Maybe if I hadn't eaten so many right off the bush.

The peppers have flowered and appear to have been pollinated.
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No flowers on the beans yet, but boy are they huge. Don't they look like they're holding hands? Broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, watermelon, radish, and zuchinini are still growing but not near being ready for consumption. Lots of hopeful signs in the garden though!

My cucumbers have just begun to put out flowers, the blooms aren't much to look at, but you can see the mulch. I am glad I finally got them mulched with the long grass from across the road. Our yard isn't big enough to supply me with large quantities of mulch. The kids were even kind enough to rake up the grass AND help place the clippings on my gardens. Will wonders never cease?
The wild blueberries are still small, but I love the pinkish huge they're picking up. Does that mean they'll be ready to pick before the other ones?

Look at all the flowers on the potatoes. I wonder when I'll be able to start picking potatoes.

The other blueberries are getting ready too. There won't be enough this year to make much of anything, but I'm hoping we'll have lots for next year. If I'm not careful the kids will eat them all right off the bush like they've done with the strawberries.

My paintbrush pollinated apples are falling off the tree right and left. It's been a dry summer so I won't have a bountiful harvest as I had anticipated.

We're down to two apples left on the tree now. It's a shame, we had so many apples too. So much potential just dried up and withered away.

The tomatoes are bursting with blooms. This one out front has a three small tomatoes growing on it now.

Gay feathers are beautiful. My BIL thought they were really pretty until he heard the name. He wouldn't change his mind either when I told him the other name was Liatris. I picked up a few different plants on sale a couple of weeks ago and planted them around the garden shed.

I forget what particular kind of potentilla this is, but I adore the yellow with orange streaks, I'd never seen anything like it before.

Angelina sedum produce some interesting blooms too. I like them for their ease of care and how easy it is to start new plants from them. This is the third area I've placed cuttings and they are performing wonderfully there.

The yarrow attracts butterflies to our garden. The flowers are so small and delicate. I love the fern like foliage of these plants too.

I have four kinds of Astilbe in my shade garden that I will move to the area behind our garage once it's all ready for the plants. It takes a lot of work to prepare new beds for flowers and plants.

The bumble bees were loving the lavendar. I tried not to get too close. Can you believe I was around ten feet away from this guy?

Past it's prime, but still a few blooms on this plant. I think it's some kind of dianthus though I'm not completely positive. I seem to remember something about fire being in it's name. I wonder if I still have the tag? This is a plant that came with me from my Big Lake garden.

The baskets and containers are really filling out too. I had a Martha Washington Geranium last year too, but I think the stones in the pot really help it to flourish more profusely than the plant I had last year.

My Beards tongue managed to bloom and pass it's prime since my last post. How could I have been too busy to get a picture of them? Geez, I guess I'm slipping this year!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Tomato Trouble! Calling All Tomato Growers!

I don't remember if I told you or not, but I ran an experiment on two of my tomato plants this year. I planted two of them in two different coconut lined baskets. Many people were at Cheesehead's work were skeptical about my efforts and thought they would dry out too fast. They're gardening experts and really seem to know what they're talking about most of the time but I wondered why I wouldn't be able to grow them in there if I kept them watered enough.

Being determined to do my own thing, I simply lined my large coconut lined baskets with cardboard before I filled it with my wonderful dirt recipe that I came up with last year. Containers tend to dry out rather fast, so I have religiously been watering them every day so I could prove it wasn't a crazy idea after all. I mean, if they can grow in a bag, they should certainly be able to grow in a basket, right???

Things progressed beautifully and one of the two plants put out so many flowers I didn't know what I was going to do with all of the tomatoes. Remember I planted a total of 16 plants this year?

Imagine my displeasure when I went about checking my plants on my daily rounds and saw that some of the leaves were wilting!

Upon closer inspection I saw all kinds of crazy bumps on the stem of the plant. I was sure it had become infected with some horrid pests and started to panic. I checked my other plants too, but none of the rest seemed to be affected yet.

What in the world would affect one plant and not the others? Was this just the first of the great tomato blight of 2009? Should I pull the plant out and dispose of it in hopes that the other plants would thrive despite the pest infection?

Thoughts like these swirled through my head as I attempted to scrape these "eggs" off the lower stem of my plant with my thumbnail. They weren't coming off too well and I didn't want to severely damage this plant if there was anything I could do to save my experiment so I can complete it. All I could think of was running inside to ask my tomato growing buddies what was wrong with them. This is my first attempt at growing tomatoes after all. What did I do but headed for my favorite resource, the internet!

I managed to google bumps on tomato stems and all that came up was things about humidity and over watering that causes the stem to think it needs to grow more roots. Their bumps were tan though and mine are all green or white so I'm still a bit unsure. Is that all that is wrong with my plants? Did I just catch the bumps at an earlier stage causing them to be a different color than what others have observed? Can I really over water something in a coconut lined basket? If so, I'll be completely relieved. If it's something else that I need to worry about, could you please let me know?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Parades and Proper Flag Etiquette

I'm sure most of us will be going to a parade of some sort soon. If not tomorrow, sometime this summer. I am wondering what your thoughts on the following story are.

It happened last year at the forth of July parade. I arrived early at the parade route as usual to stake out a good spot for the kids to chase candy and hopefully remain in the shade so we would be less likely to get a sunburn. We didn't bring chairs, just sat on the curb.

I guess some people came along and decided we had a great spot and set up their folding chairs behind us. When the first flags of the parade passed by, everyone rose and removed their hats so there wasn't a problem with my standing in front of them.

After the next few color guards came by with their flags raised, I stood for those also. They got rather annoyed at me and complained that I was blocking their view. I explained how I was showing my love and respect for my country as well as my respect for their contribution to our country when these color guards came by.

They started sneering and jeering at me when I didn't stand for the cars that came by with their postage stamp flags on them waving from what seemed like lollipop sticks. I tried to explain to them how it wasn't the same, but I really don't think they got it. They just kept up with their rude comments.

Who was right? What is proper parade etiquette when it comes to flags and color guards anyway?

Wishing everyone a safe and happy forth whether they're driving or staying home. Try not to blow yourselves up!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Cut Flowers

Most of my flowers have just begun blooming since my last bloom day post. Many of my flowers don't bloom terribly long here since it races from cool to hot so quickly.

In most places peonies are long past bloom time, but not here! Aren't they supposed to bloom in late spring? My peony just began blooming today and I was so excited. They smell like heaven. Last year I wasn't able to enjoy my peonies in bloom since I went on vacation the day they began blooming. I decided I wasn't going to miss out this year!


Of course the poor peony would be lonely in the cup all by itself so I went to find a few more companions. The first one that entered my mind was the white delphinium my MIL was drooling over when she was here this weekend. I'd guess it's about 6 feet tall.

These blue ones aren't as monsterously huge as the white, but still extremely pretty. Now if I only had some red ones for the upcoming holiday!

My miniature rose was also blooming now, but the stems are not nearly long enough to be a companion to these long stemmed counterparts that I have chosen.

I also considered adding a few sprigs of spiderwort but thought it may not match the best with the blue delphinium. I wanted the pink peony to be the standout in my floral arrangement, so to fill the rest of the space I chose to use some of the abundant ferns we have growing here.

I ran inside and grabbed a sharp pair of scissors and a "lovely" vase. It was the only properly sized to fit the arrangement I imagined.

Well, what do you think of my first floral arrangement?

The poor thing is banished to the bathroom for it's own protection. We can't allow the plant eating cats to tear the flowers to shreds, can we? I want to enjoy them more than one day!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Where Did June Go?

The month has brought about much growth both in my life and in our yard, I am constantly amazed at the progress I'm seeing. It's also brought me much needed peace too.

I'm looking at the calendar and I see that there in only a week left of June. Where did this month disappear to? I've been working on getting our current home loan modified, getting lots of little things done I've wanted done in the last three years, finding ways to cut our expenses so we can make it on our reduced income, and just generally getting everything in order.

I seem to have suddenly sprung to life too. I feel so much happier, unencumbered. I feel like life is good again and things are only going to improve. I see hope and harmony and I'm loving it. My energy levels reflect that too, I can't believe how many things I get done in a day nowadays. Not like the days when I was happy to even get one thing done!

Looking around I can see so many blessings that God has sent us, I think that helps lift my spirits too. Everywhere I look I am reminded of these wonderful things that tell me he still loves us. Blackberry brambles seem to have overtaken the entire woods surrounding our house. There are drifts of white blackberry flowers floating all over on the fringes of our yard. Any picture you take seems to inadvertently include pictures of these blooms. If we didn't like wild fruits so much this may annoy us, but it makes me feel truly blessed. I wonder if my blackberry jelly is good enough to sell to raise money to buy my dad a headstone....

The apples I pollinated with a paintbrush continue to swell into fruits. It looks to be covered in numerous apples that are on their way to becoming food for our table. One of the new trees we just planted this year even has one apple growing on it. I'm pretty impressed!

Our first strawberry of the season was ready today. I picked it and gave it to Cheesehead as a gift. He's been kind enough to water the veggie garden even though he hates any vegetable that's not corn or potatoes. He has even talked about giving me more room from his back yard for more future veggie gardens. Will wonders never cease?

I planted two tomatoes in coconut lined baskets earlier this spring. You know... like those green bags that hang on a hook? It's a little experiment. So far it seems to be working out great. Look at all of the blooms it is forming!

Our other tomato plants are taking off too. I have all 16 plants that are in the ground caged up with those cheap little cages. Two of them aren't doing so well, but the others seem to be thriving. Would you believe I got all of these as those cheap little 6 pack plants? We have a total of 18 tomato plants. Looks like I may need to start looking for ways to prepare and can some of my garden goodies! I also planted a six pack each of green peppers and zucchini and a three pack of broccoli in the garden.

Cheesehead can't believe the difference between this year's garden and the gardens of the past. We were just talking about that earlier. I guess I might not believe it either if I weren't living in my body feeling so much better and getting so much done. Cucumbers, beans, and peas are all growing from seed. I also planted some carrots, lettuce, water melon, banana peppers, and squash seeds last week. It may be a bit late but I guess we'll see soon enough. I think I'll try planting a late summer garden of spinach and other goodies too.

This fall I will move the asparagus I planted this spring to a sunnier location with much better soil.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy