HORTICULTURAL & OTHER NEWS!!!

Nine days ago I wrote that we were anticipating major rains; however, that turned out to be only moderate amounts, and that was probably good. If you check out the garden really carefully you can see that the tomatoes are now cresting just above the first rung of the cages. Everything seems to be growing well. Look at the zucchini. Remember you can click on the picture to enlarge it.






Remember the "Where's Waldo" photo of the beans? Well, look at them now; they are in the foreground; the okra in the background. (The okra is producing new leaves, but are not visible in the pictures.) The beans have been moved because the resident gardener has ˆfinallyˆdecided that the yard is too much and has hired someone to come do everything outside the fence. The yard never looks as good as it should because I just can't do it all in a reasonable time, and it is becoming very overgrown. I will still have responsibility for the part inside the fence. Anyway the guy who is coming in a few days is going to spray Roundup outside the fence, and I had to move the beans before he sprays and before they start up the fence. After he sprays I'll move them back. One okra plant has gone belly up. C'est la vie. The wind we are currently having had better stop or there will be no spraying whatsoever.




Other horticultural stuff: I've had two bougainvilla plants, one pink and one orange, for a number of years, and they moved here from Texas with me. The orange one I bought when visiting Hill Country Marilyn about eight or nine yrs. ago, and it has been a dud in that it has grown very little and bloomed less. The pink one I've had a longer time, and it has been cut back several times and bloomed a lot. This past winter, however, instead of putting them in the greenhouse and pampering them I just stuck them in a corner of the patio and fashioned a protection for them with a tarp. This past week I repotted them and after the winter in the corner the orange one had grown tremendously, and the pink one had died back. So here's the way they look with fresh potting soil, and we'll see what a little TLC produces.





And now for the other news. Saturday after getting up at five to be at a local college to proctor an ETS exam I came home, ate lunch, and crashed for a couple of hours to catch up on sleep. Then my youngest grandchild and I went to ArtBreak where she had one of her creations on display. (Sorry, my digital camera battery was about to go out, so I have few pictures to display.) Anyway, we spent almost two hours there while she created a few more works of art. There was also a rock concert going on there (which put the Cake Walk out of commission for a good amount of time), and apparently Chillax, her dad, tried to call me six times on the cell, but there was no way in h___ I would have heard the phone. (He finally caught me when we were driving home.) Anyway, I thought you'd enjoy seeing her at work and wearing one of her creations.









Pretty nifty, huh?

So that's the news of the weekend. We're muddling along and doing our best and hope you are too.

MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY, HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

As you can see Jaz and I have now mulched the garden with pine needles, and we have planted some things in the cinder blocks---such as parsley, chives, basil, pineapple mint, a couple of jalapeno peppers, oregano, and those places that look like dirt have Swiss Chard seeds which are beginning to sprout, but just barely. When we bend down and separate leaves we can see zucchini, cucumbers, and yellow crook neck squash beginning to form. YEA!

But check this out.



This is the tomatillo plant, and if you look closely you'll see a little green globe which is the first tomatillo. How cool is that? (What do tomatillos taste like?)

Three out of four of the okra plants seem to be thriving.


Here they are in their own private rooms. This came as a four-pack, so I planted all of them. Neither Jaz nor I have a clue how many okra one plant produces, but since she and I are the only ones who like okra, it should be enough. Furthermore, we can always freeze them and send them to you for Christmas. There's something to look forward to. . . Christmas gumbo. (Actually, gumbo is the African name of this veggie where it originated.)

The beans were finally visible today as they began to sprout in their rooms too. See if you can spot them.



Does this remind you of Where's Waldo? But they are not Waldo's; they are Kentucky Wonders.

Well, the rains arrived this afternoon and are supposed to continue through tomorrow resulting in 1-5 inches of rain. That's why I ran out today before it started---actually, the thunder was already here---to record how wonderful the garden is so far. Let you know in a couple of days what effect the rain has. Keep your fingers crossed for us.