Take Me I'm Yours

Here's the first of my summer crop. Actually, I've picked a few tomatoes but they didn't last long enough for their photo op.



The thing is, just what does one do with banana peppers and what was I thinking? I am planning to make tons of salsa so these guys can help out there. In the meantime, they'll just hang out in the freezer.

A friend of mine volunteered, actually volunteered to take a zucchini off my hands and this is hers, weighing a tad under five pounds. I hope we'll still be friends.

I was trying to find something to keep the melons off the ground and unearthed these cloches meant for protecting early plantings during frost season. Not particularly esthetic but certainly easier to spot in that jungle of leaves.



Did I mention that I love summer?

My Mini Harvest

That wasn't just rain pounding down yesteday; it would be absolutely fair to compare it to a monsoon, although I've never actually lived any place where monsoons happen. Still, I'm sure that's what we had.

My back yard reverted to its swamp beginnings and I could have held a small regatta there.

The melon is coming along nicely and I hope it has plans for more.



The zucchini is doing well also but then we know they plan to rule the world. Slice it into hot olive oil, cook it gently, add lots of mozzarella and you have a winner. A fat winner.



What is it about sunflowers? I tenderly plant the seeds and absolutely nothing happens, they simply sink without a trace. But toss some in the bird feeder and voila---the birds fling them down and they take root wherever they fall. Case in point, this sturdy one growing from between the rocks by the pond.

The water is roiled up after the monsoon and the fish are burrowed way down below, if they're smart. Either that or they took to their life jackets.

After The Rain

We were happy to see the thunder,lightning and rain last night. We are not too happy about the occasional tornadoes that touch down in weather like this but we welcome just the right amount of rain to give us a break from hand- watering the garden plants.

The ground is nice and mooshy this morning so I zipped out to have another go at widening the bed by the nasty chain link fence.Right now my widening job looks as though a million mice have been nibbling at the edges but in small increments it will eventually turn into a swooshing, oppulent bed, and you can safely bet that a zillion vines will hide the chain link.



Estherwilliams is settling in nicely but if you startle her she can disappear off that lily pad faster than you can say "plunk".



She is getting used to her photo ops though. The fish must have clued her in.

Look Who Dropped By

Julius the resident frog has been missing for a while but this little guy appeared today, acting skitterish but he just might stick around.



For all I know, Julius has a whole mansion underwater and is pretty busy running the family and this is the first of the kids to venture out.

Welcome, little guy.

Building a Bigger Berm

I'll admit the berm looked more like a pimple, a blemish when it first emerged in May. One might even be cruel enough to suggest I was too lazy to toss garden detritus into the composters and it just landed in this heap.

But no, cruel ones, I have a plan. I'm just not entirely sure yet what it is.



Every time I dig out more lawn and that happens as often as I can pry the shovel into the sun-baked ground I add more to the berm, tossing the new stuff upside down on the pile and it breaks down into good soil amazingly fast.

Here it is two months later.



Right now it's growing zucchini, watermelon, canteloupe, a pumpkin, and a whirligig, one of each. They are obviously happy growing here and I'm taking names of anyone wanting some zucchini. Please..



This will give me lots of time to figure out what I want it to become in its next incarnation.

Speaking of the esoteric, and suddenly we are, Buddha is patiently watching over the whole shebang and he's doing a fine job.

Come On Julius--I know You're Out There.

Julius my resident frog just upped and disappeared overnight, the same way he appeared in the first place.

He wasn't noted for doing special tricks and I never heard so much as a twangy croak from him but he had charm and he was loved.



It's hard to tell what's going on here since I played around with the picture, but the china frog on the right is waiting patiently for his pal to reappear. Look closely and you'll spot Julius on the left.

I like to think he left home to find a wife and will return with family in tow.

Recently I visited a garden nursery teeming with croaking frogs; lovely noisy frogs but each one was lacking that certain Julius quality.



Come back Julius. You've missed your curfew.

Behold: a Waterfall

I had a perfectly fine pond and at last count two goldfish frolicked happily at home there.



Was that enough? apparently not because I began dreaming about waterfalls, tiny tinkling little bursts of water making musical sounds while flowing into the pond.

I confided this to my pal the Empress

She sighed ever so gently, gathered up her child and they came along to my favorite stash, a vacant lot scattered with yummy rocks. We hefted all the car could manage without tilting back on its haunches.



After the unloading process that we hope will soon fade from memory, I was allowed to sit on the deck steps ready to fetch and carry, while the Empress did some masterful re-arranging.

There was one glitch and she had to dis-assemble when we discovered that the strongest pump would only attach to the hose where the smallest waterfall was to be, but finally everything was in order.



The only flaw in this beautiful Eden is that every bird in the neighborhood thinks it's the perfect place to take a bath and I'm not sure the fish are happy about this.

The Empress hopes this will keep me happy and unwilling to plan bigger and better for a while.

The Path To Somewhere

This path is making so much progress that it's no longer referred to by its former name, The Path To Nowhere.



I've been planning this microcosm of a yard bit by bit and this is where it began. That enormous dish was removed by the previous owner.



My son Steve came to visit last year and before he had a chance to cry, "Hey, I'm a guest here", he had installed the fish pond.



Then Mike and Lorrie were invited to lunch recently.I want it on record that I gave them a nice lunch and a few minutes to start the digestive process before I handed them the shovels.



A lot of digging and eighteen bags of gravel later and we have this lovely path.

Right now the path ends at the berm, another unfinished project and currently sheltering some leggy vines. I mean, where else does one plant Zucchini and watermelon?

I'm giving my hapless loved ones a rest before I tell them where the path is leading, but don't you hear it crying out, "Lead me to a Japanese Tea House?"

Oh sure you do.