Garden Progress

Due to our abundant rain and sunshine, the garden has been doing well.

Here are a few photo's...

Winter Squash. I had planted these into the ground holding my breath. I half expected the slugs to find them before they got this big.

Cherry tomatoes

Tomato plant and green beans.

Mediterranean (Israeli) melons

Eggplant

Cucumber

Friend or foe? I checked my Texas Bug book and couldn't identify.

Zucchini

Baby watermelon

Melon patch.

The melon vines are spreading like wildfire. We pulled weeds today and found a snake. Tomorrow, I'll catch the plants early and spray them with a combination of Dawn dishsoap and Cayenne pepper. So far so good, on keeping the aphids under control. I have a lot of space around my bell peppers and hope to do some companion planting beside them soon.

Bird's Eye View II

Thought I'd update you on the bird's nest we had found. The day after I posted the first entry, I checked and 1 egg was missing, leaving two. Look at how pretty Ma Cardinal is. She lets me get up close.

Papa Cardinal.

Only one egg hatched. The hatchling here is 1 day old.

Both Ma and Pa Cardinal have been taking their turns feeding the chick.

Garden and Grill

We've recently replaced our old barbecue grill with this new cast iron smoker. All I can say is that cast iron makes a huge difference! This is one of the best grills we've ever owned. Food cooks faster, and the warming rack adds more space. Our last cook-out, we used it to bake the potatoes and corn on the cob.

I had a lot going on this week, but managed to spend my Saturday working on adding more raised garden beds. The box in the middle is where I planted my Galia Israeli melons. These will vine toward the other melons from the opposite direction. I have several potted gardens in the front yard and figure this should be plenty enough to keep me busy. So far I have growing - Watermelons, cantaloupes, greenbeans, okra, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, bellpeppers, Jalapeno's, Serrano's, Zucchini, and eggplant. Since I've started a raised garden bed, I have plenty of empty pots to start my flowers. I'm hoping to get to those this week. I know, I'm getting a very late start!

And by the way, the weather today was absolutely perfect! In the uppper 70's or early 80's. This is amazingly cool compared to what we endured with last year's heatwave. I'm really hoping for a good growing season!

Bird's Eye View

I found a bird's nest in my backyard.

But I'm concerned. The tree is less than 4 feet tall. I can't believe mama built her nest so close to the ground. Now I'm worried the stray cats will find this.

Sheba, standing under the nest. Don't worry, after taking my pictures, I found mama back in her nest, keeping her eggs warm. I wonder how soon it will be before they hatch!