Green Beans & Japanese Beetles

It's official.  My green beans are over the top - of the swing set, that is!

But look at these Japanese beetles!  Yuck.  First they ate the impatiens, then they hit the tomatoes and now they're on the green beans.  I visited a green house to figure out what to do about them.  Turns out they have a life cycle of only a month - which is about how long they've been around.  One can put out some sort of disk to attract them away from your garden, but that only draws more to your yard.  I was advised to ignore them for a few more days and then they'll be gone.  I can handle that!

I also learned that I over-fertilized my green beans.  They don't like any fertilizer that has nitrogen as the first ingredient.  It should come second.  Despite my overzealous use of Miracle Grow, today I spied several buds.  So again, if I just let them be, I may still get a good harvest.  That's my kind of problem solving!  :)

Garden Report, Then & Now

What a difference between August 1 and June 2 (below)!

When you sit on the porch swing, it feels like your own private gazebo.  The tomatoes grew well beyond the towers I set up, so 5 of the 8 plants are now tied up to the A-frame structure.  The one on the right will most likely be taller than I am by the weekend.  The herbs have outgrown the back stoop and now are in full sun.  The lemon basil is fantastic.  All my pepper and tomato plants are bearing fruit.  This has surpassed my wildest dreams.  After more than a decade of shade gardening, this is a refreshing change!  I suspect I'll be sharing some tomato recipes very soon.  :)

Jack-in-the-Pulpit & Other Fun Stuff

Here is my Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  I've been coming home from work each day, wondering when the blossoms will open?  Then a friend told me that they open by day, and close at night.  So this weekend I snapped this picture.  Pretty cool, huh?

The last post of my backyard showed logs that weighed more than I do, and a huge stump.  What you can't see is that I had a second stump ground up as well.  Also had a tree on the side of the house trimmed and thinned, so the side and front lawn also took a beating.  I started dividing hostas in front, which eventually became an enormous task - I divided and gave away around 100 plants!  Rearranged the hosta bed, hauled many loads of mulch from back to front.  Then filled in all the holes in the lawn and reseeded.  Bottom line: No quilting going on lately - but I think that's about to change.

Between lawn and garden projects, I attended a wedding.  See the littlest boy?  I made him a baby quilt two years ago.  He carries it everywhere.  See the biggest boy?  Now he wants one too!  :)

Humble Beginnings

Did some gardening last weekend. 

Here are green and yellow pepper plants tucked in with my flowers.

My herb garden, confined to the back stoop to keep away rabbits.  But now the dog seems to have an interest in them....

These will eventually be pole beans.

Yellow pear tomatoes.

Wisconsin Red Tomatoes.

Given my track record with chipmunks and squirrels uprooting everything I plant, I put in extra plants, figuring I can thin later if need be. 

I hope to get carrots planted this weekend.  :) 

Before and After

Circumstances beyond my control have resulted in serious garden neglect.  I planted on Memorial Day weekend, and have been unable to tend to my plants ever since.  This weekend a friend came to visit, and offered to help me reclaim control of my yard.   Here's the BEFORE picture.  All my flowers looked like this:

A couple hours (and lots of sunscreen, insect repellant and sweat) later, all my flowers look like this:

Normally by this time, my flowers would be twice this size.  But I'm amazed and grateful they survived with no weeding, no water and no Miracle Grow. Many thanks to my good friend Christine for helping me tackle this daunting task.  :)

Clematis, At Last

Seems every year my clematis suffered one disaster or another.  It's taken a decade of effort, but I finally got a clematis vine to survive and bloom.  Victory is sweet!