Another rainy Memorial Day

I actually like it to rain. It seems appropriate to me. I thank everyone who has given their life to keep others safe. And I thank everyone who works to keep us safe. God bless and comfort them, their families and friends.

A few things around the home.

Baby pecans.

The onion tub took a beating in the last thunderstorm we had.

If you ever consider 'planting bags', don't consider this one. I already had the dirt in it and didn't want to take it out when I realized the poor design of it, but we finagled it for this season. The tomatoes seem okay despite this.

We bought a watering tank from Tractor Supply and planted some more of the tomatoes. They are from Burpee. A Bush Steak, as I recall.

I am all about not having to bend over so much. Hubby has his 'toys', so not so much.
Something about the weather or the corn seed isn't working. It has been very poor germination this year.

We have baby apples.

This tree is a dwarf Stark's Cinnamon Spice. We also have two dwarf Double Delicious. They all have apples growing. Last year we lost the entire crop to some sort of disease. I need to get spray and try spraying them, I guess; but I would like them to grow without that, if possible.

And that is all I have today. Hope you all have a safe, blessed weekend.

Happy Mother's Day.

A little late. Went out and planted some more corn. Only one row survived the 'flooding' of March and April, so we planted more. We'll see if it was a good idea or not.

As you know, hubby didn't like the new broccoli we tried. It went into the compost pile, bush beans took their place.

A couple years ago, Linda over at Colorado Farm Life sent me some of her red canna lilys. This is the first one to bloom this year. ^_^

We are trying a new tomato this year, too. Burpee's Bush Steak tomato.

Crossing my fingers to get some good ones from them this summer.

Hope all the mothers out there are having a wonderful day. ♥

Bits and Pieces Sunday

Hot, hot, hot! Instead of trying to cook dinner this evening, we're going to see the new Star Trek Movie.

We have more Wisteria blooming. Small, but it smells just as pretty. :-)



The Cicada are hatching.



Sorry for the quality of the photo. Took the pictures with my phone and it just didn't want to focus on the shell for some reason.

Spread some grass seed and turned on the sprinklers. Then hubby came in and showed me a sort of blister on his arm. He said he thought it was an infection, so off to the VA Hospital we went. He's diabetic, so any sort of infection is particularly troublesome. Four hours, or maybe five or six hours later, we came back home. A staff infection. So he got shots for that, and the pain in his shoulder.

I went out and shut the sprinklers off. Hopefully all the grass seed didn't drown or wash away.

Anyway, I took some trash out to the burn pile. When I came back, I realized I had almost run over a snake. I turned around to see what it was. Obviously it did not like the mower I was riding. (Not mowing, just riding.) Anyway. I shut the mower off so I could take a picture or two.




At first hubby said it was a Copperhead. Joy! But after watching the video (which I am too illiterate to know how to post), he said it was a Cottonmouth. So much better! Not!

I asked him what a water snake was doing in our yard! I know we watered a bit, but not that much!

He said it was probably laying eggs. Like all the turtles that come over from the bayou. He said the baby snakes can't breathe water.
So, at some unknown point in the future, we could have poisonous baby snakes heading off to the bayou. Double joy. ;-)

Highlights of the day?
That Wisteria, and our first good regular tomato!



In hindsight I may have picked it a day or two early, but I couldn't tell that from where it was in the middle of the tomato plant.
And look! No blossom end rot!



And yes, that's my hand holding it. :-)

That's it from this little piece of heaven. Hope you are all having a wonderful, safe weekend! ♥

Bits and Pieces Sunday

Hope you're all having a quiet Memorial Day weekend.

I thought I'd show you some of my Nasturtiums. I planted them with the beans, thinking the flowers would draw bees to fertilize the beans. Little did I know the beans would flower circles around the Nasturtiums; and weeks before the flowers bloomed.






These are the colors I ended up with.

Also, a few random tomato and bell pepper plants.









That second picture is supposed to be cherry tomatoes, but they're a bit oblong for that.
I'd tell you their names, but they have WAY overgrown where I put the name tags. I do know we planted some Big Boy and some Better Boy, but other than that, I just don't remember.
I had to stake some of the bell peppers due to wind and the peppers, too. Some of them are survivors of that late frost we had.

The sunflowers are between 4 and maybe 12 feet high? I don't know. I just know they are waaaay over my head.
And full of leaf-legged bugs! Took these with my phone so they aren't very good, sorry.





I was going to dry the sunflowers for seeds, but now that I see them full of the leaf-legged bugs, I am undecided. While trying to find out what bug it was, I learned that I had unknowingly possibly protected the tomatoes from being attacked by them. The bugs, of course, like everything that we planted in this garden, but right now seem to like the broccoli and sunflowers more.
So, the broccoli I was going to pull up, and the sunflowers, are staying put for now.
Then maybe we'll get a few nice tomatoes before the bugs do.
If you remember, last year in North Carolina, our tomatoes got blossom end rot. Whether from low calcium, or those same bugs, I don't know.
I'm reluctant to use insecticide, because 1) it's poison; 2) we also have ladybugs out there (though I think the yellow ones are squash bugs?); 3) there might be other helpers I'm not aware of.

The plastic bags I used for 'mulch' around the tomatoes and pepper plants? Double edged sword. They did keep the weeds down, but fire ants love to build under them. Ugh!

Oh, I should update on the one celery plant that is still alive. We got a lot of stalks. But only about 4-6 inches tall? And it's flowering now, haha. So maybe I'll try again in the fall. I think Celery is a cool weather plant.




That's it for today. I think I'm mostly updated and talked out, so I'll see you around. Have a blessed Sunday! ♥

Questions questions

Those of you who have grown banana peppers. Do you leave them until they turn yellow? Is it the color or the shape that gives them their name? I thought this pepper was ready to pick based on its size (because yes, I am clueless), but based on the color, I'm not sure.

Also. Any idea what is going on with my cherry tomato plant?

It looks bad but it doesn't seem to have affected production.

My other banana pepper plant is going well, too.

Remember I showed you my bell pepper plant here on Wednesday? It was a little pea sized thingy. ;) Well in just 4 days it looks like this now.

It actually looks like a pepper now. :)
Oh, and while looking to see if I was ever going to get any beans, I found this. Sorry for the quality. The camera insisted on focusing on the cucumber tendril instead of what I wanted to take a picture of.

Its got an odd shape. Wider at the ends than in the middle. Is that because it wasn't getting enough water before I started using the drip hose? It's been really hot and I had been mostly watering at night. Now that I've put the drip hose out, I try to water 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the evening. the 2 in the morning has been keeping the dirt moist though, so I don't always water in the evening. I have to set a timer to remind me, lol.
Funny or not, I like my little cucumber. How do I know when it's ready to be picked? Just when I like the size of it?  I'm pretty clueless, sorry.

Oh, you should be able to click all the pictures to see them better.

Hope you all have a great week. And I hope some of us get cooler and some rain!

Updated question. Went out this morning to look at the garden and some of my little cucumbers that I took pictures of to show you, have turned brown or are turning brown. Is it the heat doing that?

July stuff and a spider - you've been warned. ;-)

I am so original on my post titles.
Anyway, I really hate going outside. No matter what time of day it is, I am always getting bit by something. Whatever it was that bit me this morning (one of those blister looking bites) is almost gone now, so I guess it wasn't too bad. I still suspect a spider or ant, but it's not looking too bad right now and it's not itching, so I guess it must have been a mosquito?

Anyway, our next trip to the farm is 12 August. Getting anxious about that.
Oldest boy and family return from England tomorrow. Getting anxious and excited about that.

In an attempt to keep the garden alive the week we are gone, I have dug out an old drip hose the oldest boy got me years ago. I have wrapped it around the raised bed, sort of, and will have one of the boys turn it on for a couple hours a day. Here is what it looks like.

Yes, I tend to bull through things. Hubby offered to cut the hose down to a smaller size, and I considered that; but then decided to not make it shorter for when we go to the farm. It might come in handy full length. I want to get some... Don't know what they are called, but they will help me change the way the center piece lays.

I am hoping this will keep the plants alive while we are gone. If the son will remember to turn it on.

I was quite surprised to find a banana pepper out there today. I've been out several times in particular since Sunday, and when I was running the hose along the buckets, but only saw the pepper today.

Do you see it there behind the leaves? It's pretty well hidden.
I've got some teeny green bells, and I think red bell pepper flowers. I know I bought a red pepper plant, but haven't had any peppers yet.

Another reason I want to use the drip hose is that I had another tomato with blossom end rot. I think I may need a fertilizer just for tomatoes or something. I've done some reading. It seems green house and garden tomatoes can get it. Sometimes it's related to moisture, sometimes not. And some tomatoes are fussy about how they get their water. So I am hoping this will help me with the water, too, by not hosing them once or twice a day.
I know the cherry tomatoes haven't had the same problem.

Still no cucumbers yet. But I have a few little ones that look like this:

Usually I have bumble bees in the cuke flowers. You know, the ones that are all black and round. Today I saw this one.

I think that's your standard honey bee?

Oh, and I saw this buggly on one of my bell pepper plants.

Eww. That's all I have to say.
I hope it's a good spider looking bug.

Happy Wednesday to you all. Stay cool!
P.S. click on the pictures to see them bigger. :)