Tomatoes!

My garden has been overflowing with yummy tomatoes! I planted cherry, grape, roma and better girl. Tasty! Who would have thought I could cram 8 tomato plants into a 4 x 8 ft space and still have room for green beans, eggplant, peppers, carrots, onions. and peapods. I've had enough tomatoes that I've even given a few away.

It's really bugging me!

The wild grapevine, virginia creeper, and honeysuckle on my back fence is being ravaged by Japanese beetles. Other than being creepy and icky, this might not bother me so much, except they have decided to move on and munch on the trees in the front yard. I've been spraying them with poison, but this seems to be such a temporary fix. Anybody have suggestions on how to eradicate these creepy-crawlies?

Garden Goodies

It continues to be unbearably hot and muggy here. Now, the humidity is punctuated by semi-regular torrential thunderstorms.

I have mostly given up on growing anything on my desert of a deck when I found the succulent section at Lowes. Clockwise from the top, a Love plant, Rock plant, and finally, baby toes. You just have to love a plant named after such a sweet little body part. That cool daisy-like flower popped up after the latest rainshower. Bonus! The tag didn't mention a thing about baby toes blooming.

Nearly a month ago, C and I built a new flower bed to the east of the garage. Most of the perennials are starting to fill in. If I'm lucky, a few might bloom this year. The annuals around my tiny little water garden look fabulous and lush though. This whole garden should be pretty impressive next year.

My pansies finally gave up the ghost in the heat. I replanted this with sweet potato vine and some random red flower than I can no longer remember the name of. Any guesses?

Purple coneflowers came up randomly in my front garden. The bumblebees love them. Any idea on how to extract the useful echinacea from the plants?

Hot, hot, hot!

It's been a while since I've posted anything because it is just too darn hot to be outside and I've done nothing knew with the interior. The grass is slowly dying because the area is on a voluntary water restriction. The tomatoes, however, are coming in nicely. I can't wait to take my first bite of drippy, juicy yumminess.

My first harvest of peapods
in living color.

Artful and tasty peapods from the garden

Dining room redo.

Here are the latest updates. C and I put a lot of work into the dining room over Memorial Day weekend. The walls are actually a pale khaki color. I love how the new lamp gives them a golden glow. The curtains are a reddish color, but end up looking like the wood in these photos.

I'm pretty impressed with my new Mission-style dining set. I love the hutch.

Here's the dining room with the old ugly curtains and lamp.

Here's a semi-fuzzy photo of the dining room with the new lamp and curtains.

Here is the fabulous lamp I installed (with a significant amount of help) all lit up.

This is the unlit lamp so you can get a better idea of the colors in it.

This is the herb garden now. Scroll down the page to see how it looked when it was first planted.

Sold!

Plow and Hearth had their bi-annual tent sale. See the cool things I got for the yard?

A new all wicker swing to replace the nasty steel tube and rotten wood one.

The new glider on the porch.

A plethora of pansies.