The Garden, 2015 verson

Don't worry, we haven't been neglecting the garden (well, no more than usual), just neglecting writing about it.  It has been a bit of a traumatic early season--between raining the entire month of May, followed by a brief respite, then a few more days of pounding rain (literally drowning my first round of cucumber plants)...But I think we are in a good place now...Here is a photo tour of what's happening in the back yard at least...the front yard is making slow progress--the gnomes are out and about and most of the plants have finally started sprouting...here we go..

We moved the palm tree, affectionately known as "Salad" (by Alice The Cat) to the patio..hopefully prolonging its life.  If it doesn't get hit by hail.  But at least Alice isn't eating it.  Some of the roses finally bloomed.  Here's a sign of how wet it is..we have mosquitos! The tanish canister is actually a citronella candle.

Not real flowers.  But pretty!  You can see how crazy the shrubbery is though

This is a little worrisome--our sweet little sequoia trees seem to have brown patches on their branches.  We're hoping they are making pine cones, not dying :(

Another view of the our of control shrubbery..

I think my birdbath has a leak--earlier this summer it seemed to be holding water again, but the water was gross, so I cleaned it...and now it doesn't hold water again...d'oh.

Roses and grass.  The catnip didn't come back yet--Alice and Tigger are very sad.

Patio, with both tables and umbrellas...we moved the fire pit to the other patio, thinking this way we'll have more shade?  So far it means that every time the wind whips up I dash outside and put the umbrellas down...but it has been cooler in the kitchen and on the patio with both umbrellas.

Another out-of-control plant...we still don't know what it is...We think it could be some kind of tree...any guesses?

Before you start thinking we're too awesome...here's the side yard..still a work in progress...Can't you picture it terraced a bit, with a walking path and plants (not weeds)?  Someday...

Ladybug on my overgrown chives.

Yes, I gave in and planted potatoes in a bucket...year three was a late start and used only one sad starter potato that was rotting in the fridge.  We'll see.  I'm not hopeful on this one.

Lots of peppers and tomatoes in pots instead of in the garden.  There are a few tiny green tomatoes and we've had a couple Anaheim peppers.

The actual garden--lots of spinach, sunflowers are growing nicely, chives are out of control. Some garlic, some onions.  The peas and beans did nothing--they grew, but no veggies :(  Cucumbers are coming along nicely, we had a couple off a plant in a pot, which promptly died as soon as we had our two cucumbers picked.  Grr.  The stepping stones are new, made from kits we've had for years and rocks gathered at Hoeft State Park last summer.

The heart in the background marks where the Tiger Lily bulb from mother's day was planted.  As you can see, the mint and chrythmums came back.  The buckets are Mr. IM's project--some Japanese lettuce and Ung Choy, perhaps?  I'm sure he'll correct me :)

The apple tree has leaves, but isn't looking great (better than the cherry tree though--we're pretty sure it is dead...no leave).  We'll see what happens, but I'm not expecting apples this year.

Last fall we bought two yucca plants on clearance.  We were pretty sure we'd lost both of them, but this one seems to be growing and even has little friends joining it in the pot...so some research to see when/if we can transplant one of these little guys seems to be in order.

Another view of the veggie garden, with the dying cucumber plant front and center..

And finally, the "flower" garden--the ducks are happy that the lavender is growing--the hostas have taken off around the corner and the peach tree at least has lots of leaves (no peaches, but at least its not dead...)


There you have it....an update on our slow start garden!