Finally Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Wow! It's hard to believe I haven't blogged in a month! Time has gone by too quickly...

The day we returned home from our two week vacation in VA, the LO ended up with croup (I'm still extremely happy he didn't start his barky cough on the plane!), and as soon as he started recovering, I came down with a nasty cold turned sinus and eye infections with laryngitis, and now Boy Wonder is sick. I sure hope this is all we see of the sickies this season!

The next few days my posts will be focusing on updates around the yard. Today I'll do a mostly pictorial post of the growth and changes that have occurred to the plants I blogged about on 10/8. DH was kind enough to take pictures on 10/21 while I was gone.

SFG, right side

(back to front) Lantana, Green Arrow Peas, broccoli, radishes

 10/11

10/21

10/31

Today
(the line in front of the peas will be carrots)

SFG, left side
(back) Lantana, Garlic, Texas Grano onion (front) French Red & Dutch Yellow Shallots, Lettuce mix, and Musclun mix
10/21

10/31

Today

Cantaloupe

10/11

10/21

10/31

Today

Right raised bed
Sweet potatoes, musclun/lettuce mixes, carrots
10/21

10/31

Today

Dwarf Meyer Lemons
 9/23

10/5

11/7

During my next post, I will talk about the changes I've made to my garden plans, and a few issues I've been having around the yard.

Weekend Work

This weekend my family and I worked together to get a few things done around the yard. On Saturday I mixed up the soil for my trailing lantanas, and got those in the ground. That task was a lot easier than I expected. There was excess cardboard sticking out of the bottom of the sfg, and I thought I'd have to cut that out with a box knife but the cardboard had decomposed enough for me to just lift it away... It was a little precarious working over the sfg and it's plants, but again, easier than I anticipated. I don't know how fast the lantana will spread, but I went ahead and added a few giant purple zinnia seeds between them. I figure it's a good spot to get them going since there isn't anything else there, and I can always move them next to the deck once I'm ready to plant in that spot. Doesn't the purple add a nice accent of color along the back of the bed? On Saturday I also finished removing the last two plants and bark/mulch from the right side of the 24' bed. Yesterday DH removed the stumps. The one on the far right came out with little effort. Unfortunately, while taking a hatchet to the roots of the larger stump, DH hit the sprinkler line. There was barely a mark on the PVC pipe from the hatchet, but it is so darn thin that a huge crack formed perpendicular to where the hatchet hit the pipe. Thank goodness for the internet! Five minutes of reading, a quick trip to OSH, and the pipe was easily repaired in 15 minutes. After the pipe sealant dried for a few hours, we were back outside finishing our work. DH and Boy Wonder worked on putting the ground border back in place (to prevent soil from "oozing" under the deck). The LO and I "swept" the patio. Ok, he "swept," I took pictures and kept him out of Dad's way... Now I'm ready to move on to the next steps with the 24' bed. I'll be having the boards cut for the raised beds, and construct those this week. After noticing my two of my three tiny cantaloupe plants beginning to bloom, I've decided to put them in one of the two 2'x4' beds. I knew this pot would be too small for them, but didn't know where they'd go when I impulsively bought them... I added bone meal to my chili and green bell pepper plants. They were flowering, but no fruits were growing so I thought I'd give them a little boost. Now all four of my pepper plants have begun to grow their fruit. We are big pepper eaters, and our mouths are beginning to water! This is one of my two Yolo Pepper plants...