Friday Report

I love bee balm, I think it might be my favorite flower. This one is Raspberry Wine.

The yogurt was a success. It set up nicely and tasted very much like the Fage Greek yogurt, but a trifle less creamy, probably as I skipped straining. Yum. It was NOT difficult, and will be way less expensive and more convenient than a special trip to purchase my fav Greek yogurt.

The vegetable garden is coming along well, although we've had some setbacks, namely killer striped cucumber beetles, and the evil rodent, Hogdemort. Yes, the wretched groundhog managed to make its way into the vegetable garden through a small gap between Henbogle Coop and the fence post. Arghhh!!!!!!! The newly sprouted pole beans (Gold of Bacau), nipped right off leaving no sets of leaves to recover. Samples of the other pole beans and the bush beans, too. Mmmm, parsley, a favorite. Oooh, carrots tops, oh and broccoli! YUM! Fortunately Dan saw Hogdemort exiting so we knew where the leak was, so to speak, and have closed the gap.

Something about the Diva cucumbers seems especially attractive to the striped cucumber beetles, and of course, once the arrived, they have spread to the other squashes, too. I used floating row cover until the plants outgrew it, now I am hoping that I can harvest some fruits before the bugs spread some disease. I do have tiny little cucumbers, and I did plant a second variety of cukes just last week, which are currently protected by row cover. I harvested 2 zucchini today, Costata Romanesca, and the rest of the pumpkin/squash patch is exploding. My tum was upset, though, so I'll cook the zukes tomorrow for dinner. I do see several baby pumpkins....


The potatoes are in need of additional mulching, and one of the plants is just blossoming. New potatoes soon! Spinach and lettuce are reveling in the cooler weather. Many buds are appearing on the tomatoes, but no little green tomatoes as of yet. The herb bed, other than the parsley, looks good, and the cutting garden has lots of flowers.





Our tenants the titmice are doing well. The other day I caught one of the babies peeking out of the nest.



I really like the new veg garden design, and hope we can eventually convert this layout into raised beds.





The blueberries are turning blue....





















The flower beds are looking gorgeous. I really love how the two new beds turned out. I'll be tweaking here and there, but overall I love them both. Right now we've got shasta daisies, bee balm, flax flower, balloon flower, mountain bluet, lady's mantle, veronica, cleome, coreopsis, thyme, and the rose all blooming. Buds are appearing on the Jupiter's beard, golden glow, butterfly bush, and echinacea.






In front the astilbe is in full glorious bloom, and the lilies are really getting started. Hosta scapes are appearing and will bloom any day. One discordant note: the rose carnation poppy I started from seed last year looks suspiciously like a black eyed Susan. Sigh.