Garden Report - July

I think one of the things that we are happiest about is having our own little patch of ground. We both love to garden and have big ideas for vegetables and flowers to plant when we have time and funds. The yard we bought has its strengths and weaknesses, and today I want to share some of its lovely surprises:

- Three purple butterfly bushes, on the side of the yard where I wanted to plant a purple garden!
- An orange-red daylily, which I love because these were blooming at our garden wedding.
- An amazing rose mallow that exploded in bloom this morning. Each flower is about 8 inches across.

We also have an ancient but totally out-of-control grape vine growing on the shed.



We're thinking of taking off the roof of the shed and some of the lattice to make this a grill and outdoor dining area. The California girl in me was also really excited when our real estate agent suggested a hot tub! But for now practicality (and masculinity) will win out.

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Without our own vegetable garden, we are reliant on the Saturday morning farmer's market in the town square. This morning we brought home this bounty to enjoy now:



And, because I am a sucker, we brought home these little plantlets that I hope to get into some soil soon. That's Tomato Goliath on the left and "regular old sweet basil," said the farmer, on the right:



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Bonus Wildlife Report: While shooting these pics, I spotted for the second time a cute little chipmunk on our back stairs.



But if he goes near my vegetables, he's a dead chipmunk.

We've also discovered a fairly small yellow jacket nest right above our back door, so we'll be dealing with that extermination at some point. Anybody ever done this?