July?....Already?....

I guess Summer is really, truly here.

Heat indexes this weekend, will be triple digits...

if not the actual temperature.

We spend a lot of time here...

on the porch.

That requires mosquito spray...

LOTS of mosquito spray.

Apparently this guy hasn't been doing his job.

Even in the heat, jobs have to be done.

I got the grass out of the Veggie Garden...AGAIN.

And, put down some gravel, in the path.

The Tatume Squash keeps blooming,

but no squash, yet. It better get moving,

or, it's outa there.

The tomatoes are getting ripe.

Probably the last for a while....too hot to set.

Okra is blooming.

(didn't notice ants, until I edited this photo.  

Need to see why they're there.)

No ants on the Burgundy.

We've gotten some pods, but not enough...yet.

The Cosmos come back in the Veggie Garden, year after year.

I love the little water drops, on the Purple Heart leaves.

No rain or watering...just pull it from the air.

Appropriately for the 4th, the Firecracker fern is putting on a show.

The Hummingbirds love them.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos.

Taken in 2010 (SIX years ago...wow!),

on our big trip to North Dakota.

Still a way to wish a very

Happy 4th of July!!

~~Linda~~

Blooms and Foliage...May, 2015...

I've been neglecting this blog for a while.  

Travel and weed pulling, have gotten in the way.

The middle of each month, though, is when we join 

Carol at May Dreams Garden

and

Pam at Digging.
for Bloomday and Foliage Follow-Up.

We've been having a lot of rain.
So, I got out between rains, for some of these photos.

Not much is blooming here.
My garden is way behind some others due to a late freeze.

But, this prickly pear has been showing off a little...one bloom at a time.

This one is in the Drive Bed.
And, it's really been growing.

The Feverfew bloomed this year, too.
The flowers are on long stems, and I'm not too crazy about that.
But, the blooms are pretty.

The Verbena Bonariensis is blooming.
Another one with pretty flowers on long stems.

I tried a Mexican Honeysuckle this year.
I really like it and so do Hummingbirds.

It seems the deer like it, too.
I'll be moving it to the Fenced Yard.

What we have most of here, is foliage.

The Japanese Aralia is finally taking off. Mr. Rooster might get covered up.

Lophantha

and Quadracolor agave are doing well.

The Inland Seaoats are finally filling in the way I planned.
They're loving all this rain.

This Japanese Holly Fern is coming back from the dead.

We got the weeds out of the front beds,
and put down new mulch.

I think some cutting back is in store for the fig tree....
which is in a very wrong spot.
It was here when we got here.

In the veggie garden, the grapes are putting on clusters of grapes.

And, even though they got a very late start, the tomatoes are putting on fruit.

There's more going on here.
But, the sun is out and there's gardening that needs doing...
before it rains again.

Be sure to check out the Blooms and Foliage this month.

Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~

Harvest....

The veggie harvest hasn't been so good here this year.

Everybody around, has been showing their great harvests.

Not here.

Hmmm.....I did something wrong.

We had one nice Celebrity tomato.

It was very good.  It even got to ripen on the vine.

The squirrels must have thought it was too much trouble to go after just one.

But, look!

There are more!

It July.  In Texas.

Maybe our unusually cool weather (no triple digits yet),

have made the difference.

So now, I'm headed out to deal with this.

The squash hasn't done well.

The okra hasn't done well.

But, the cosmos is doing VERY well.

I'll have cosmos for the rest of my life.

How's your garden doing?

I'm headed out to clean up that mess, and plant more seeds.

I'm just hard headed enough not to give up.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

And So It Begins...

Last year I told you about

The Great Ongoing Battle.

The battle between me and the squirrels, to see who gets the tomatoes.

Well....here we go again.

Earlier this year.

They're already attacking.

I looked out the window, and saw the 'decorations', on the top of the fence.

Clever, huh?

And, the little monsters darlings don't even eat it all!

So, I brought every one I thought would ripen, into the house.
There are more...but, you get the idea.

Some have started to ripen, already.

So much for VINE RIPENED.

Hula Girl is dancing for joy.  We have beaten those pesky squirrels...for now, anyway...
and, she gets to watch over the tomatoes.

Hope you're winning your Garden Battles.

Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~

Invasions....

We've had a great week of rain.

After almost nothing for two months, we racked up about 3 inches, this week.

Love it!

Along with the rain, comes the invasion of mushrooms.

Look at them!

The Island Bed has the most.

I think the spores of these come in with the mulch.

I only found one of these little beach umbrella ones.

They all disappear, as the day warms up.  Then the ones in the Island Bed are back the next morning.

Interesting....

Then, there's more of this.  See the green tomato on the fence top?

I don't know why the squirrels drag them up there, and then run off.

Ah....the joys and mysteries of gardening.

Have a Great Weekend...

~~Linda~~

The Great Ongoing Battle....

So, OK...these guys are cute.  But, we have an ongoing battle with them.

Whatever road block we throw up for them on the feeders....

They find a way to get around.

On top of the trees being stressed and losing leaves, the squirrels 'trim' off small branches.

We spend a lot of time cleaning all this up.

But this is too much. 

This is six feet up, on the fence around the veggie garden.

They drag the tomatoes off the vine, and chomp a big hole.

I think a bird did this.  It was still hanging on the vine.

Yep, that doe is expecting to have a bite, too.

Both sides of this have holes pecked.

I know...we could put netting over it all.  But, that's just too much trouble for me.

I'd rather whine.

So, this is our solution.  

As soon as there is enough color, we let them finish on the window ledge.

I know they'd be better if they ripened on the vine.  

But, we at least get to have some.

The heat is causing less and less to set.  We'll be buying them again soon.

But, for now, we'll enjoy these.

And, we'll keep fighting the battle.

Uh, yes....those are dancing flowers.  Why do you ask?

Have a Great Weekend...

~~Linda~~