Sweet alyssum

Just when I thought these were dead, it has rained and they all burst into bloom again.

They are so pretty and delicate in this bed around the lamp post.

I almost like them better than the crocuses in the spring.

Front Flowerbed Work

Before: Front-right bed

I moved this hosta to the middle of this bed in the spring, to alleviate the crowding right there. Little did I know there were still a few shoots left and they grew into their own little plant.

So today I moved it (again!) to fill in a bare patch around the tree out front.

There's another hosta behind the euonymous bush that I also moved next to the tree.

Front-right bed

The hosta in the middle on the left is the parent plant of the one above.

Hydrangea in back looking lush.

Front bed, driveway side

I would like to move that hosta on the front right and add something else for a little variety in textures.

Between the hydrangea and the back-right hosta is a dwarf astilbe. You can't see it very well, and it is probably too small to be in the back. My only hestitation at moving it is the one in the other front bed tripled in size this year, and I'm hoping maybe this one will too if I give it more time.

Hostas around the tree.

I've just had annuals planted here in the past and they've never done very well, leaving lots of room for weeds after the spring bulbs die back. I'm hoping the hostas will be maintenance-free and content to fill in the space.

Still need to work on the other half of this bed--it's full of weeds (surprise, surprise!) and needs maybe a groundcover or something for summer/fall coverage.

Front bed with hostas gone.

I put the little mum there that was next to the tree. It was finally perking up and I hated to just compost it before its time. It will be easy enough to pull out come winter.

Yes! It's Raining!

I didn't have the energy or willpower to water yesterday, so I was banking on that slim 30% chance of rain this afternoon. And I hear raindrops outside now! Wihoo!

Powdery Mildew

Just cut off a whole bunch of the zucchini leaves this week--all infected with powdery mildew. We'll see if it survives the shearing. One bonus: it's letting extra sunlight in for the tomatoes to ripen.

Tomatoes are coming on!

The big ones are "Better Boy" variety. The slicers all have cracks in the top--I'm wondering if it's from all the rain we've gotten in the past couple of weeks.

Plus, check out those zucchini! Jason wanted me to let a few get big so he could make zucchini bread. I was going to give that monster on the left just one more day, then I forgot about it for a week! Maybe we'll get a double batch of bread out of these!

Plus, good news--the pole beans are flowering! Finally!

Jungle Garden Update

This is the first picture of my corn patch. As you can see, it's pushing 7 feet tall! The only plants taller right now are the sunflowers, which you can see behind the corn. The beans have been making a comeback since the Japanese beetle's have disappeared, but still no beans to pick yet!

The bushy plants around the base of the corn and beans are basil, oregano, and nasturtiums.

I planted the nasturtiums from seed and have seen one bloom so far. They may be one to either start indoors early, or purchase the plant.

Somewhere in there I might have some garlic and onions growing, but I'm not counting on it.

The beans and cherry tomatoes are getting friendly! They are growing together across the boxes. It makes a nice little tunnel for the likes of Jacob. I have to duck to get through.

Zucchini still going strong. We harvested 4 large ones this week! Jason made zucchini bread, and I made zucchini soup, and we still gave some away.

I did harvest our first peppers this week--no pictures. 2 little cayenne peppers the size of my pinky fingers, and 1 banana pepper. I don't think the bell peppers are getting the sunlight or space they need to produce. They have flowered several times, but I have yet to see any peppers growing on them. Admittedly, it is hard to see through the tomato jungle.

I guess the crookneck squash, above, just needed more water. Since it has rained so much this week, several little squash have started growing. We haven't harvested any for a couple of weeks now.

We harvested 2 more foot-long cucumbers this week, along with several more cherry tomatoes of both varieties, and even a couple of the slicing tomatoes. Loving this stage of the garden!

The lovely white bucket is the compost bucket for garden clippings.

New growth

The dastardly Japanese beetles haven't gotten the best of my rose bush yet! The purple leaves are all new growth put on within the last 2 weeks. Incidentally, haven't seen any beetles around since the temperature dipped into the 80's last week. Hooray!