Garden Tour for Garden Friends

By the end of this summer you are going to be so sick of hearing about this garden.

If you live close enough I would bribe console reward you with fresh veggies, but the rest of you just have to persevere, you just have to listen in the name of La Vida love, and know that you are a friend of the garden.

Before we walk in the garden I did want to update on yesterdays post .

First, I did not get an iPad. They are REALLY cool, and I would love one, but they are pricey.

Just like most of you, we are in the middle of paying for orthodontics, new curriculum for next year, summer camps, and swim team (I won't mention that I am a little bitter that I bought the "new design" team-suits last year, in a slightly larger size, so as to use them two years in a row--- and they changed them again this year.) so I'm not sure if I see an iPad in my future....someday.

Second, apparently Fuddruckers declared bankruptcy , and all the corporate-owned franchises were closed. Which means we may still stumble across an independant FR franchise here and there, but the picking may be slim.

Third, and please don't unsubscribe if this offends, but I've had the Five Guys Burger and Fries. I was unimpressed. I just thought that the hamburger wasn't any different than say a Wendy's. It was maybe a step up from Burger King (although, in the interest of full disclosure I haven't eaten at either of those establishments, or any other fast food burger, for a very long time. So what do I know?)

And can I just say, that if all establishments would serve french fries like the Chick-fil-A waffle fries, or the crinkle-cut they serve at eegee's in Tucson, then I would be content.

The truth of the matter is this: I am not a burger aficionado, but I haven't met a potato I didn't like.

Ok, how in the world did we get on this topic? Let's move on....

This is my garden this morning:

It's growing well. I lost a bell pepper plant yesterday but I have several others, so I think its OK.

Tomatoes and tomato seedlings (so I always have a rotation of growing toms to keep my salads happy.)

Beefsteak tomatoes in the back, cucumbers in the middle, bell peppers in the front, Marigold along the side to attract good bugs and repel the bad.

Speaking of bugs....last weekend I was feeding my plants when I was confronted by a big bug that looked like this:

Photo Credit 

I bravely screamed in horror, and made The Boy come collect it and take it elsewhere.

The next day, there was another one. I sprayed it with Cayenne spray and it went away.

Turns out my fear overzealousness should have been glee, because apparently this monster beetle eats the bugs that eat gardens.

Unfortunately, he took his peppery self and went and told all his little Black Caterpillar Hunter friends, and they've blacklisted my garden as a safe place to dine.

Bummer.

(I'm really resisting the urge to go into a diatribe on how the worst part of gardening are the critters and creatures that crawl, so let's look at another picture.)

Those big ol'e leaves are zucchini. Here is a look at the underside:

Never in my life did I think I would be writing about the underside of zucchini. 

Early this morning I finally got my watermelon and cantaloupe bed finished, filled, and planted. That white thing in the middle is my ant killer concoction: equal parts sugar and borax.

If you are a friend to the ants, I'm sorry. Ants are not friends of the garden.

There are other pictures of my herbs, sweet peas, broccoli, lettuce and jalepenos, but this post is beginning to feel a lot like a slide show shown by an old aunt that nobody really wants to see.

So my friends, I hope you enjoyed your tour today.