oh fay, what wonderful rain you brought us

we had little rain over the last 3 weeks, that is until fay arrived today.  a sprinkle or two but mostly, nothing.  even so, the perilla, on the left and the lemon grass, on the right did well.  if you have ever eaten at a korean restaurant and had the barbeque cooked at the table, perilla is often served as a whole leaf used as a wrap for the meats and little dishes that come with it.  we found the seeds in one of our favorite stores, K&S World Market and planted a few in the garden.  it makes frequent appearances on our table, darry loves to make little lettuce wraps.

the last time we went down to gulf shores, alabama, we stopped in a flea market and found this little fig tree.  it hasn't grown much and we think it needed more sun.   when our beautiful rosemary bush died, we relocated the fig to it's spot since it gets much more sun here.  maybe we will get some figs next year.

when our wonderful neighbor moved out and left Lubie behind, she also left Patches.  they are staying in our yard until we can make arrangements for them.  they are the sweetest cats and they really are attached to each other, they frequently rub their heads together.

hummers in the garden

we have a small group of ruby throated hummingbirds that visit the feeders in our gardens.

if we sit very quietly on the bench near the asparagus bed, they will fly around us and stop for a quick drink.  they love to chase each other and will occasionally stop to check us out too.  

dog days of summer

it's mid august and it's hot, big surprise in the south.  the only thing in the garden that is thriving despite the heat and lack of rain is the vining okra.  we have never grown it before and were given some seeds this spring and we decided to try it and see what would happen.  
our little red pepper plant has been very successful as this photo shows.  the peppers were large and sweet and we enjoyed them!
our new favorite tomato, ananas noire.  believe it or not, this is actually a ripe tomato. they are also a bit green inside but are the sweetest tomatoes we have ever eaten.  
some of the old german tomatoes.  they are late season and we have yet to try them.
zucchini blossoms are always so pretty, and the zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables to cook on the grill.

this week in the garden

the intense heat of last week combined with a lack of rain has made this a slow week in the garden.  a lot of the plants shut down and began to die off.  we are seeing a slowdown with the tomatoes and the cucumbers.  the peppers and eggplants are enjoying the heat.  we will most likely begin to remove plants, this week we took out some of the beans.

this hummingbird feeder, located between the herb garden and the peonies, is a busy spot.  we have watched several hummingbirds come to drink from it.

the cardinal climbers in the front lasagna bed have taken off.  the heat does not seem to affect them at all.

the peonies are dropping seeds now.  some of last year's  seeds actually sprouted.

our new friend Lubie likes to guard the herb bed.  either that or she is stalking hummingbirds.  can you believe a neighbor moved out and left two cats behind?  it makes me so mad!  hopefully we can find her a permanent home before winter.

today's pick

with a quick trip through the garden this morning and i have a basket full of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.  sounds like a good salad to me, just need to make a stop in the herb garden and maybe the grocery store for some cheese and bread.  what more could any one person possibly need?  starting on the left are banana peppers and going clockwise, two ananas noire, a pile of big beef, lemon cucumbers, 4 cherokee purple, chocolate cherries and gold nugget and finally, a small mortgage lifter that needs to ripen a little more.

on this plate, a close up of mortgage lifter-the two at the top, going clock wise, a cut cherokee purple which is also in the center,

tiny bonito ojo, and finally, big beef cut and whole.  I apologize for the lousy colors in the photos, i really need to get a better camera.

in this photo, my new favorite tomato, ananas noire.  they are a little prone to cracking but that does not stop me from eating them.  they are so sweet that they can be eaten like fruit!  not a very pretty tomato color wise.  it is easy to see why they are called noire-black.  they are green inside when ripe.

next year, i will definitely plant the chocolate cherry again, they have great flavor and a good yield.  the gold nugget, on the right is also a good little tomato but the yield is not as high.  if i do those again next year, i may plant two.

these banana peppers are sweet and the little bush is producing a lot of peppers.  i would love to try stuffing some, a chile rellenos dish would be great.  next year i may plant two so that i can make that dish.  if they are left on the plant long enough, they turn red.  maybe we will plant some hot ones too!

the last two years, cucumbers have been a challenge.  during last years drought, we watched our vines shrivel up and the few cucumbers we picked were bitter.

in the fall we tried again with a third variety only to have the same results.  we assumed it was both the drought and a poor choice of seed variety.  this year  we went with store bought plants and a few seeds for the lemon cucumbers that were a free gift with our order to rareseeds.com.

those little lemon cucumbers are the best we have ever grown.  although we have had good results with store bought cuke plants in years past, this years are often more bitter than sweet and they look a lot like the asian cukes we grew from seed last fall.  from now on, it's lemon cukes for us!

points of interest

last year, i saved many of the annuals that i had in pots to overwinter them in the house.  this spring i put them outside, some went into beds and others went into pots.  these are some of the purple queen plants from last years flower box.  they did not like the conditions in the house, not enough light for them and they turned green.  after a short period on the front porch in a new pot, they were once again a nice shade of purple.

when we started our new lasagna bed out front, we transplanted

 cardinal climber  seedlings to cover the metal bed frame.  as 

you can see, they are very hardy and are doingwell.  they do not

 need much encouragement and will probably cover up the frame 

quickly. 

one of our other lasagna beds, pictured here is also filling in nicely.  the coleus plants have grown substantially and are already in need of a trim.  all over the yard, in all of the beds and pots are little pieces of garden art.  in this bed is a mushroom and in the pot is a tiny gnome.  the gnome collection is growing and we are always in search of gnomes in need of a garden home.  keep in mind, like the photo to the left says, all of our gnomes live free of garden oppression.  they are never expected to work the gardens, however, we won't stop them if they choose to do so on their own...

in the garden this week...

the melons are getting big!  this is one of the watermelons, we ran the vines outside the garden fence and are letting them takeover this section of the lawn.

we also have some green flesh melons.  these are also taking over a section of the lawn.  we are waiting very patiently for them to mature so we can eat them!

every time we have planted peppers, we have planted too many.  we find ourselves with more than we can eat.  this year we only planted 3, two bell peppers and one sweet banana pepper.  this is the red bell pepper plant and as you can see, the peppers are just beginning to show some color.  now that the weather is really hot, they will take off, peppers love hot weather.

this is one of our heirloom tomatoes, cherokee purple.  they are a dark tomato, almost a brown color.  we are eager to taste them.

one of the things we try to do in the garden is to provide beneficial plants for the various critters that may be in the garden.  a few years back, we planted bronze fennel for the swallowtails and this year the plant is huge.  all we need now are the swallowtail caterpillars.