I know I’ve dropped off with the frequency of my blog posts lately. Sorry about that. I haven’t decided whether to blame that on the dog or on Camille. It’s not that I don’t have time or the material, but when I do have a free minute, I’m too tired to be creative and end up watching something on TV that takes zero mental energy (reruns of Friends and Seinfeld usually — remember, I’m limited in what there is to watch in English). Then this past weekend I finished our annual family calendar which took tons of creative energy, but came out perfectly. Once those lucky recipients get them in the mail, I’ll share it here. It’s not as exciting or exotic as last year’s where each month was a different location from our travels, but it’s a good one.
My garden is exploding! Seeds are sprouting, veggies are budding and fruiting, and vines are flowering. This is my third planting of sunflowers that started popping up yesterday. So far they have been safe from the birds, even when other plants haven’t been as lucky. Maybe the birds know if they leave them alone they’ll end up with tons of seeds to eat?
My peppers have peppers! I think these are bell peppers, not hot peppers, but I’ll know for sure as they take shape over the next few days/weeks.
I have never grown eggplant before so I was excited to see the beginnings of this one — the flower fell off and left the tiny fruit behind. I didn’t even know what color eggplant this was when I picked up the seedling from the nursery. It looks like it’s becoming the pale purple and white variety.
Bushy tomatoes are on the right — I think I have 6 tomato plants total. I think they are mostly cherry type tomatoes, but since nursery guy and I were playing charades about the different plants (big? small? eating? flower?) it’s all a mystery until the tomatoes actually start appearing.
I thought these plants were getting big enough to withstand the birds, but it turns out the birds love my swiss chard and pecked the leaves into lace covered stems.
So I pulled out the mesh again and protected the things that the birds seem to like most.
like the carrot greens! The birds got the first wave of sprouts, but I replanted and protected them and they are doing really well now.
pepper in foreground, tomatoes in black pot on left and orange pot in center. Bushy things toward the back are squash. They are getting really big (the plants, no squash yet).
My sunflowers have flowered. I’ve seeded them in stages to attract bees and other pollinators. The newest seedlings are in the black pot on the left, the half grown ones are on the right and the ones that have flowered are in the back. If they were planted in the ground they’d be taller than I am, but being in pots stunts their growth a bit so the tallest ones comes up to my shoulder.
Just wait — someday soon this plant is going to cover this huge trellis.
eggplant flower
my garden watchdog — he helps keep the birds away
My crazy dog (literally and figuratively). I could write posts and posts about him. The other day he caught a bird and carried it into the house like a cat with a prize. Then when Josh went to take it away he half inhaled it and then wheezed for the next 30 minutes as if he had feathers stuck in his throat.
He’s quite the scarecrow for my little farm.
