VISITOR IN THE RAIN.....

Just happened to see this hungry visitor from my kitchen window. He was just above my platform bird feeder---no doubt looking for lunch! There was a baby squirrel inside the feeder despite the POURING
rain. If I went out to chase the hawk the squirrel would run and end up as a meal. I watched for quite
a while hoping that the squirrel would stay put and the hawk would only get a shower. It just kept on
pouring and the hawk kept on waiting. Finally he gave up--flew away and the baby squirrel just kept
on stuffing his face.

WHAT ARE THEY?!.....

Been searching for the answer online.....NO LUCK! What the heck are these guys?! I am pretty sure that they are beetles, but I have never seen these before. They completely took over my arugula plant. As you can see from the leaves in the background they sucked the life out of each leaf in a short time. Not the kind of critter you want in your garden!! They have very distinctive markings.....any guesses?

LET IT BEE.....LET US "PRAY".....

I am enjoying the abundance of "critters" in my gardens this year. I can't remember seeing more butterflies, bees, birds of all kinds. Haven't been able to get his photo yet, but we have a hummingbird
moth making an appearance for the first time in our yard. I've only seen one hummingbird at a time. Kathy gave me a beautiful hummer feeder, but I think he likes the "natural" food better. Glad to see my favorite
bug, the praying mantis. They are so animated! Even though I shared my watermelon with this guy he still
insisted on jumping on me and crawling up to the top of my head. Bob managed to gently get him off and put him on the geranium just before I snapped this photo.

HOT HOT HOT!!!......

Festus has about had it with this years weather extremes. He had to go through the record breaking Winter
without his "winter outfit" and standing in the garden this summer has been just BRUTAL! He handles it well though. I haven't heard him complain......yet!

AUGUST BOUNTY.....

Despite this being the "year of weather extremes" my gardens are doing good. My "Supersonic" slicing tomato has lived up to it's name. The plant just keeps growing! Since I planted nearly a month early this year, I thought they would "poop out" by now! Even with the little beastie that gets into the base of the zuchinni plant, it has produced more fruit than any squash plant I have ever grown. To celebrate Ariel's
birthday I made a decadent cream of tomato-basil soup----MM-MM-GOOD!! Can't beat the roma tomatoes for cooking! Bob and I picked a large bowl of grape tomatoes this morning. The green beans are flowering so we should have some beans before long. The peppers are growing well and are starting to turn yellow orange and red.

IMPORTED FROM TEXAS....

One day this Spring I got a little package from Ted & Joyce, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who live
in Dallas Texas. Inside I found a sandwich size baggie. Inside of that was a wet paper towel. Inside of that was 5 volunteer seedlings from "Farmer Ted's" pepper plant from last year. I was amazed that they survived
the trip, still moist and healthy. I have two plants and gave Ole and Kathy each a plant too. I love the black
leaves and the peppers look more like berries. A very interesting plant! Ted says the peppers are VERY
HOT so I won't be eating any, but it is one of the prettiest plants I have ever grown!

MUST BE JULY!!!!

Everything is growing--growing--growing! I knew there had to be SOMETHING good about all this HEAT!!!!

The goldfinches are going to town on the sunflowers and the black-eyed-susans that have opened. I always look forward to seeing them!

DAYLILLYS REALLY BLOOMIN'!

Back in the 70's we used to take our "herd of dogs"---four retrievers---Kitch (the Mom) and her boys, Harry Chuck and Pete out to
the Gunpowder River for a run and a swim. While there I would take home a couple daylilly plants which now number in the multi
hundreds!! This is just one of their spots in the yard. The blooms were not just early this year but VERY ABUNDANT!!

WE HAVE 'MATERS HON!!!!

With the crazy weather we have had this Spring I thought I made a mistake by planting the vegetables on Earth Day, April 22nd.
We had such up and down weather---chilly--hot--cold--warm--chilly--hot--cold. Somehow they have not only survived but they
are REALLY growing! As you can see some of the grape tomatoes have already formed and the zuchinni plant has several squash
about 4" long. One of the pepper plants was eaten by "something" down to the ground----hope they enjoyed it!. The rest of the
peppers have blossoms and are growing well too. I still need to get a few herbs to finish the vegetable garden.

HOW COULD I FORGET?!

Last year Kathy gave me a beautiful forget-me-not plant. I bought one more. Now I have DOZENS!!!! I have never seen a more
prolific perennial! Last year when they were finished blooming they died back but created a circle of new plants that grew as the
main plant turned black---weird! I am going to try to cut them back when they start to fade and see if I can get the plants to
bloom again.

SWISS CHARD WAS DELICIOUS!

Was not sure if the chard would be
OK since the plants were from last
Fall. Of course they are all new
growth, but sometimes vegetables
that "winter over" are bitter.
IT WAS DELICIOUS!
I planted 4 packs of flower seeds
last Friday and we had LOTS of rain
over the weekend so I am keeping
my fingers crossed that they did
not wash away. If they did there is
still plenty of time to replant.

VEGETABLE GARDEN 2010 ON IT'S WAY!

Planting a vegetable garden is an act of faith, hope and charity. Faith that you remembered all you've learned about planting, hope that all the plants will continue to thrive, and charity when you are eagerly awaiting the first "maters and you share them with your family
and friends! Well, the vegetable garden is in for 2010! I added a couple rows of tall and small zinnia seeds and cleared the corner near
the shed to put in some herbs. I pulled up the rosemary which had gotten overgrown and woody to make room for a couple more herb
plants.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!.....

I know I am ahead of our May 15th frost free date, but I thought Earth Day was appropriate to pick as "plantin' day" for my 38th year
of organic gardening----and yes I am PROUD of being true to organic methods all these years!! Here is a photo of my swiss chard which
we will have for dinner tonight. These plants "regenerated" from my Fall planting and may be bitter----I'll find out tonight!

"GIFT FROM A SQUIRREL"?.....

I had a nice surprise in the garden this year. A squirrel must have dug this tulip bulb from someones yard and "stored" it in my garden.
He put it where the euonymous is very thick so the tulip grew an extra tall stem to get it above the shrubbery. It lasted for weeks even
through our mini "hot spell". Tomorrow I will get some shots of the multi-multiplied forget-me-nots and plant some of the flower seeds.

EVEN COVERED OVER!....

I had forgotten about the astilbe after it died back last Fall. I placed the birdbath over part of where the plant was. I was amazed that
even with the concrete slab over it the shoots of the astilbe were still coming up! In just a few days they were as big as the rest of the
plant----amazing! I have been amazed by everything growing this Spring! Here it is April 14th and we have cut the lawn 3 times
already and it needs to be cut again! I have some transplanting to do tomorrow before the perennials get any larger.

GETTING THE VEGETABLE GARDEN READY....

It took quite a while, but I finally got all the thick weeds (mostly grass?!) out of my vegetable garden. I discovered years ago that if you
painstakingly pull up all the weeds and cultivate rather than turn over all the soil it will keep the weeds at bay for a long time. I only turn
over the soil for each tomato plant etc. in a 2' circle and add peat moss and Plantone. I will plant soon even though our frost free date
isn't until May 15th. My garden is small enough that if a threat of frost comes I can protect the plants without much trouble. With the
wacky weather we have had I think I need to be prepared for ANYTHING!! In the foreground is the perrenial geranium that Ole gave
me last year which is really doing well. I FINALLY divided and transplanted the iris leaving only 1/3 in the original spot. the clemantis
in the background is really shooting up the old garden gate and the coreopsis is coming up quickly. I have been watering the daffodils
every day and hope they hang in there for a least a while longer.

"DAFFY" WEATHER!!!

Yesterday marked 2 months since the first of our back to back blizzards. Talk about EXTREMES!! The temperature got to 93 degrees by 3pm. The second day of record breaking temps going back to 1929. The daffodils won't last much longer if it doesn't cool down soon!

A VERY WELCOMED SIGHT!....

Yesterday we were rescued by a "deere"! It worked our block for about a half hour making the road wider and more passable. I think we might as well get used to this because more snow is coming today and more on the way this weekend. We have really missed our 5am walks and were able to go this morning thanks to the "deere". It is still pretty trecherous but at that time of the morning we didn't
have to dodge too many cars! I know our mailman and paper delivery guy will have MUCH better mornings now!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST....

Had to include "little mister" who LOVES to have adventures! He doesn't have a clue that he is a small dog. He thinks he is a rotweiller. It didn't matter that the snow was much taller than he was he had to see what was going on! He is facinated by machinery and LOVES
to observe anything going on that makes noise. He is fearless!

MAN & WOMANS BEST FRIENDS....

We have great neighbors who "share" their dogs with us! They weren't quite sure what we all were doing in all this white stuff but they were happy to be there with us! Some REALLY loved the snow and others were not thrilled at all!