August 20th
I took a lot of pictures today.  So here is the story:

 I transplanted some of the cosmos taking over the backyard to the front.  They don't look real good here but there are buds coming.  The hope is for lots more cosmos next year.  And, my, my, the petunias are red again.  They look dead and then they revive.

Shock!  Yes, I know. this was one of those 50 cent veggies Tom got on July 18.

I never have enough basil!

 They really do taste like candy.

That is a bell pepper. Amazing.  this also was one of Tom's finds.  a sick little plant and comes to my house and voila!  Maybe I have Grandma Filomena's green thumb a little....

Okay, these are those two 50 cent tomato plants Tom got me on July 18. As a reminder, this is what they looked like a month ago. This is one of them next to the bell pepper!  no kidding!

Front yard news:

This one plant was planted by Laura Flanders after the hailstorm that threatened to ruin my vision of Alex and Elly's rehearsal dinner.  It was a perennial and has little blue flowers on it for the first time this summer.

And that Paula Bailey, green thumb extrodinare. would love to have some of those sunflowers show up in my yard.  Blow seeds over, wind.  I planted a lot of seeds this year and well, look what I have:

Paula's house first then our yard:

It will probably bloom while I am in CA.  Oh well.

Take a look at the hydrangea.  No lovely flowers but new growth for sure.  This plant as well as some of the petunias in the front (see picture)  don't seem to get enough water.  So I dumb a watering can full in it every day, it seems.  but  not as much water as those zucchinis!

See there on the left?  have to figure that out for next year.

The monster dahlia that is so heavy it is now propped up with a iron rod!  but it is pretty:

I like that lime green leaf plant and plan to get this one again next year.  It grew really well.  And note the impatiens.  I plan to move these two mums.  One is budding and the other will bud in September but they are too big and blocking the sprinkler getting to the ivy which looks pretty bad right now.

 Add the yellow dahlia.  Remember one dahlia just died....near the yellow one. It has so many buds coming!

My new thing is that the veggie garden is getting more like a  Cosmos garden and that is actually good as things are just not doing well there. The lettuce, as I mentioned, has just finished.  only one row. The carrots look good and should be dug up in September. 

So there you have it. The August update!

August 19

This month went by really fast.  When I got back from a week's absence, the front flowers did not look really good.  Some Miracle Gro and water perked them up.

The hydrangea is still alive. Debbie had to trim all the flowers but I can definitely see new bud coming.

The news is the vegetables.  The one row of lettuce keeps producing!  I've harvests green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini.  And made lots of pesto from my basil.

Tom bought me an eggplant plant, and two tomato plants for 50 cents. I planted them on July 19. Well, of all things, the tomato plants look good and I am getting an eggplant.

 The pictures above are from earlier in August.  Here are pictures from a few days ago. A couple comment:  i think some one might be eating my cherry tomatoes as I have a lot of them but they disappear. I don't think it is the Peter Rabbit who found a way into my yard. He could never get them. But it is odd. I do often go out and eat them like candy but not that often.  The other thing is that before I had zucchini and cukes, I had noticed lots of bees around the plants.  I was very  happy to see those as I knew they were pollinating.  here is the result:

I just went out to the garden and took more pictures.  

July 20

The geraniums just did not flourish.  I talked to Paula Bailey and to  Cathy Sparks and they both change their soil . Paula gets miracle gro potting soil from costco, many bags of it.

I really loved that basket I got at King Soopers with the dusty miller and the coleus.  These impatiens have done well but somehow I killed a hanging basket

What to do with the terrible soil in the front.  poor petunias

These pots have done okay.

Yep, I took out the volunteer zucchini. It was not bearing fruit

Tom picked up some veg plants like this tomato plant that must have had hail damage.  

cucumbers were have had light green leaves, not good

Next year I am putting in new soil and no plastic things to take up space.

Grace loved this garden.  I hope the petunias are still nice on July 26.  miracle grow has helped back here.  Hydrangea was alive when I left

I took a bunch of pictures before I left for C. Springs. These are the green bean plants.  have a few blossoms. I pulled out all the sugar snap and snow peas.  looked awful

I have had so little basil.  Cathy Sparks has wonderful tomatoes and basil.  I was able to help her out this past week staying at their home by making 7 little containers of pesto and put them in their freezer!

July 11- the start of the reunion!

Here are photos of the Italian garden.  I had such a shock today.  I went over to the Baileys and I was stunned at her tomato plants. I mean they are 7 ft tall.  kind of depressing for me.  at least there are some tomatoes, yellow grape tomatoes.

Then there is the zucchini.  No fruit yet.....

Then there is the volunteer whatever it is in the front pot.

Filomena Petix Licata's birthday
Thought I should write a blog on her birthday since I have basically become Grandma.  How is the garden?  Well, it's hot.  105 degrees on Monday. Then on Tuesday, in C. Springs, literally all hell broke loose with the fires that burned 346 homes.  I am sure they had gardens and beautiful homes.  so sad.

A very appropriate quote from, Everything I know I learned in My Garden by Emilie Barnes:
Even if she forgets the whole thing in her teens, later still, when she is grown up and has a first garden of her own, some misty memory of the pleasure of growing things will give her a headstart over the gardener without any background, just as children who have spoken a second language, and forgotten it, can pick it up again in later years_ Anne Scott-James

This pretty much describes me as I remember more and more of days with Grandma in her garden in Rochester, NY.

Veggies:  The Italian container garden is looking better for sure. I have a lot of green tomatoes. I took a bad tomato to Big Tool box and left with something to spray on tomatoes, zucchini, cukes etc.  My tomatoes had blossom rot.  I am so glad Debbie Rowe turned me on to the water meters. I stick the meter in the grown or pot and can tell if the plant needs water.  In this heat, the surface dirt can look very dry but the roots are wet. This is true everywhere but the front walkway. What is with that soil?

  We have been enjoying the snow peas and sugar snaps.  The lettuce is delicious.  Radishes are gone.  I hope the beans start growing.

By the way,  I have two kinds of basil this year.  The regular kind and then that small leaf. Not sure I like it yet.

Now for some humor.  Okay, take a look, what is that growing in my front pots?

David Horneyy said, "It looks like a pumpkin."  yes, it does.  how did it get there?  Was there a volunteer seed in some dirt I put in the pot along with the potting soil?

very amusing.  I am leaving it alone.  Who knows what might happen?  Ah, the fun of the garden.

Back garden report:

The hydrangea is doing okay.  I am "babying" it.  I checked with my water meter and water is getting to the roots.  

More lilies have arrived!  Note that the petunias in one box are not blooming?  I am giving them Miracle Grow

And, drum roll- a Dahlia should be here for the reunion!

More on roots

I have been concerned.  As I water over the summer, I note that at times, roots become visible under the plants.  Usually that plant looks a bit sick.  I read this verse in the Bible and had another thought. Mark 11:20  As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.

I had never noticed that "from the roots up" part.  The roots should not have been visible to the eye. Roots are supposed to be under ground. What were they doing up?


First picture is a healthy fig tree and below, a dying tree. Wonder if the roots are out of the ground?


I have been going around the garden checking out that roots are hidden.  This verse came to mind.  PS So glad I memorize verses!  Fun, fun, fun.  


I do enjoy life!

Colossians 3: 1-4 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.