Gunner, Borers, and Mice?

Before I even went outside today, I was greeted by the neighbor's dog, who came on our porch and looked at me with his sad eyes through the sliding glass door.  This has never occurred before, so I was a little confused.  I started to wonder if any one was home next door.  I even went out and gave Gunner some water, because he looked thirsty.  It turns out that the neighbor was 'home' (well one of the two anyway), he just happened to be socializing with yet another neighbor, outside the fenced-in portion of our duplex lawn.  So basically, Gunner was simply looking for someone who could let him inside and he noticed that I was visible from the glass door.  This was the first time that the cats got a close up view of Gunner, and Gunner of them.  Zephyr was curious, but somewhat apathetic, and Simon was curious and defensive, though not as bad as when there is another cat out there.  Gunner didn't seem to notice there was anything alive in the house other than me.  I guess he probably figured the cats couldn't let him in.  Well Gunner, I really can't let you in either, but I would at least be better at finding someone who could!

After I figured out that Gunner was not alone and would be O.K., I went about checking on what needed to be harvested.  I picked one zucchini and a few peppers, and decided to let everything else keep growing/ripening.  The pumpkin that is out there is showing a tiny bit of orange, and appears to be bigger than the other pumpkin pie pumpkin I harvested.  I guess that is a good thing, though there are no other pumpkins that have started.  I have seen many more shriveled remnants, but that is it. :-/  Even with the addition of more pollinators via my flowering oregano, there doesn't seem to be an increase in pollination.  I am not even sure how I would hand pollinate either, because the flowers don't really open.  I guess the ants aren't doing their job!

The other thing I am up against with the pumpkins are squash vine borers.  I read something that said they should be done by now, but I think the article lied.  When I was out Monday, I brought up my insecticide to use on the zucchini vine.  It was at that time when I noticed an adult vine borer in the pumpkin area.  I immediately sprayed it in the face!  I then went along the entire length of all three pumpkin vines (including the Mega vine which is most likely 40 ft long), and sprayed.  There does appear to be some damage on parts of all three vines, though not like on the zucchini plant that died on me.  I can't really tell if the damage is due to age or something else, so that confuses the matter as well.  And all three pumpkin plants continue to gain length as well as hold their leaves up, so I am thinking I may have prevented any major damage.  I sure hope so!  There is an added bonus too that the Batwing pumpkin plant I have planted off the porch has NO damage what-so-ever, so if all else fails, I will at least have Batwings for Halloween!

And in other critter news, I put out more coffee after seeing some slug damage.  The rain we got last week washed what coffee was there away, so there was a need to re-apply.  I also got treated to the nice aroma of coffee when I went out in the garden today, two days after application!  Mmmmm, coffee!  I then went inside and drank tea as I am not much of a coffee drinker.  It smells nice though!

My update on the broken air conditioner, is that it is no longer broken!  The A/C repair guys came out Monday and got us back up and running.  When they were finished, one of the guys came and told me that the reason the A/C broke was due to the mice who had moved into our outdoor A/C unit and made a nest.  They also chewed several cords and caused refrigerant to leak out (the mice, not the A/C guys).  In my moment of surprise, I didn't think to ask what they did with the mice.  I realized later, that that was probably best, because I don't think I wanted to know.  I am hoping that when they went and got our hose, that they were using it to 'scare' the mice out and then seal any holes.  I did not go out and look at the unit after they left.  That was on purpose.  We will stick with the mice alive and scared theory.

And the obligatory photos, because I habitually take them!
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Mosquito Buffet

So our air conditioning decided to stop working this weekend.  And on Saturday morning no less!  So that meant it was the prefect day to go outside, since it was about the same temperature inside as it was outside.  Yuck!  And after two days of heat advisories, followed by a day of rain, I needed to go out and harvest things anyway!

I started my garden activities checking for ripe fruits and I found quite a few.  Jalapeños, poblanos, Hungarian wax, green bell peppers, zucchinis (yet more!), tomatoes (including one Big Boy!), and some more green beans.  I also decided it would be a good idea to spray the tomatoes again with my Copper fungicide, and to spray the squash plants, since they have some mildew on the leaves.  I wanted to get more insecticide on my cabbage, since they have actually been growing now too!  Because of the spraying, I harvested a few tomatoes that were orange-ish instead of red.  You need to wait seven days after spraying to harvest.  It is supposed to rain again by Friday, but that could always change.  Better get it done while there is sunshine.

Another interesting tid-bit is the strange dance I saw in my backyard.  It was evening, and so the sun was starting to get low in the sky providing plenty of shade.  This meant the mosquitoes were coming out in droves.  There is a steep hill between the house and the garden, so there is quite a bit of grass that is mostly undisturbed on a daily basis.  There, on the hill, I saw a swarm on dragonflies dancing around, mostly right above the grass.  I was in awe!  I have never seen so many dragonflies in one place!  I had to look up their diet to confirm what I thought was happening; mosquito hunting.  Because I have a movie function on my camera, I sat down in the grass and filmed it.  The dragonflies went buzzing past my head as though I wasn't even there.  It was crazy!  I can only hope they make a dent in our mosquito population.  I might have to make a sign that says, "Dragonflies Welcome!  Come get your free mosquitoes!"  Here is a link to the video for your viewing pleasure.  I wasn't really sure what to say, so I said, "Dragonfly swarm".  I feel a bit silly about it.  Oh well! Link--> Dragonflies!

And some photos too!
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Canning, Pumpkins and a Frog

On Tuesday, my mom came up for more canning.  We decided to do more Zany Zucchini Pickles, as well as zucchini bread (baked, not canned).  The plan was to double the Zany and bread recipes in order to eliminate as many zucchinis from my fridge as possible.  Somehow we still managed to have some left over!  My mom had to leave early, so she was not around for the actual 'canning' part.  Which is unfortunate, because it was quite the experience!  

First, I did something a little different than normal.  Instead of warming the canning jars in water, I ran the dishwasher.  The instructions for canning say that that is a viable option, so I figured it would work out.  I also timed it so that the dish washer would be finished about the time I would need the jars.  So I got a couple jars out, filled them accordingly, and then went to put them in the water-bath canner (the huge pot in the picture above).  First jar went in fine.  Second jar made a sound like gun fire two seconds after I placed it on the rack inside.  I jumped, and swore, and then went to remove the jar.  That is when I started swearing more.  The bottom of the jar had blown off, so when I was lifting it out, the contents of the jar emptied into the water-bath!  I didn't know what to do.  Should I empty the water out and start over?  Or leave the icky water in, and just remove the chunks?  Since I wasn't sure if there were glass shards or not, I decided to empty the entire canner and start over.  To my surprise, the colander only caught one piece of glass.  It was almost as if a laser had been used to cut off the bottom of the jar; it was that exact!  And yes, I thought about that in the middle of all the insanity.  Must be the scientist in me!   

I guess the good news is I was finally able to finish the canning.  The bad news is, I had to wait for the water-bath to heat back up before I could process anything.  All in all an hour was added on to my project.  Not very happy about that.  Hopefully the pickles still taste ok, especially since there are 13 jars worth!  Cross your fingers!

And while all the canning drama was taking place, the zucchini bread was happily baking away in the oven.  It was a bright spot when the oven timer went off, and out came four perfect loaves of bread!  Tom and I ended up digging into one of the loaves right after he got home, because I was still finishing up with the processing, and we were both hungry!   I decided not to include that loaf in the above picture.  But there really were four!  I am happy to report the zucchini bread tastes fabulous.  Extra thanks to Aunt Sandy for providing the recipe.  Yum!

Because Tom and I were extra hungry and the kitchen was a mess, we decided to head out for dinner.  We went to Culver's (fast food burger place), and found a seat near one of the windows facing the drive thru lane.  As we were waiting for our food, I noticed something odd on the outside windowsill.  It was a frog!  First of all, the Culver's is right next to a busy highway that runs through the city.  Second, there is asphalt and pavement for at least a half mile in every direction surrounding the restaurant. And third, there is a pet shop in the shopping center directly behind the Culver's, so I was starting to think that someone did something cruel.  It was obvious that that frog was coming home with us.  Tom knows that look!  I wasn't going to leave that amphibian in the urban jungle!  (Zephyr, seen above enjoyed watching the frog.)

So we grabbed a cup and lid (with straw hole for air) and we rescued the frog!  I decided to do an internet search before releasing it in our backyard, because I wanted to make sure it was native and NOT from the pet shop.  Turns out it is most likely a Cope's Gray Tree-frog.  You may notice that the frog is green and not gray in the photo.  I was confused as well.  They can change colors from green to gray and back rather rapidly, and are normally green at night.  And they are native to Wisconsin!  Since it was pitch black out when I released the frog, I snapped this picture in the dark hoping that I would get the frog.  Success!  Tiny little thing!  Hope it eats some of the mosquitoes in our backyard!

And last but not least, I picked my first Pumpkin Pie pumpkin!  I am thinking one will be enough for a pie, but I have no idea.  Only one way to find out.  Will let you know!

Fence Complete! (And a weather update)

Well Gary lied.  And by Gary, I mean Chief Meteorologist Gary of our local news .  Though he really cannot be blamed for what I assume was an accurate interpretation of the computer's weather data, so maybe I should say the computer lied.  Most likely it was just Mother Nature changing her mind that caused both the computer and Gary to come to the conclusion that it was going to rain every day this week, only to have it be sunny every day instead.  (Well, there was a light sprinkle for about 20 mins one evening, but I don't really count that.)  Regardless the lack of rain meant that, GASP, I actually had to water things!  And it was the first week all summer where conditions were actually less than ideal for the growth of fungus and other diseases.  Yay!!!  But guess what?  Gary and the computer are currently predicting rain Monday through Friday of next week, so we might be back to 'ideal' conditions soon. :-(  We'll see.

I made it to my local garden store earlier this week and had both my zucchini and Peter pepper plants diagnosed.  The lady told me that my zucchini was probably the victim of a squash vine borer, and that I should get that plant out of there before the others are affected.  She also said that my mildew prevention was a good decision, and to keep it up! With the high probability that a borer caused the death of my zucchini, I decided to spray all my other squash vines with the insecticide I have.  When I checked today though, it looks like one of the remaining zucchini plants may have fallen victim to a borer as well.  (The leaves are fine, but the main stem looks damaged.)  I will keep my eyes peeled, and for now, both zucchini plants have a good dose of insecticide on their base vines!

I also noticed earlier this week that the leaves on my Batwing pumpkin plant in the garden were starting to droop in a similar fashion to the zucchini that bit the dust.  The pumpkin plants were already on my "to spray" list, but I definitely got concerned.  I sprayed all three pumpkin plants and then decided to wait a few days to see if the Batwing plant improved.  Well it looked better today, so I am not entirely sure what is going on with it.  It is not 100%, but better enough that I have decided to leave it in there for now.  I would hate to have to pull it out!

My Peter pepper plants have a much happier ending then their zucchini friend.  It turns out that, yes, there is some type of bacterial disease on the leaves, but the fungicide I have should help with the problem.  It is also good to know that the fruits do not get affected, and so far the plants are still doing their thing, so let's hope it stays that way!  As I have mentioned before, there has been SO much rain this summer that diseases have been thriving.  I feel for the people who decided this year would be their first adventure in gardening.  They may decide not to try again next year!

I am happy to report that if it does rain all next week, my beet seedlings will be in heaven on earth!  I have seen new ones pop up everyday this week and they have definitely appreciated their daily waterings.  I am hoping this batch will thrive since the last one didn't make it.  I have been wanting to plant some more carrots and maybe some spinach or cabbage, but it may be too late.  I might just give it a try since I have extra seeds, and perhaps I will be successful.  Only one way to find out!

And where might I plant all these Fall crops?  Well I could rip up more grass if I really wanted too, because the fence is finally finished!  Tom was able to get out there today and he went to town.  The garden is now approximately 32 feet x 20 feet, give or take a foot.  Most likely give since we ended up widening it at the last minute.  We had 100 feet worth of fence that we planned on using to encompass the garden.  This does not take into consideration the 5 foot door that we left in place or the fact that Tom thinks there may have been a little more than 50 feet of fence on each of the two spools we had.  He did overlap the ends somewhat, but that still left some extra.  Since the measuring tape we were using only goes to 25 feet, we can't be certain at this time the exact measurements.  So like I said, 32 x 20 feet, give or take.  It is very exciting regardless!  And since there was some extra space, I had Tom bring up the oregano/basil bin to put inside the fence.  I wanted it up there because it is a super magnet for pollinators, and it seems that the reason a lot of my pumpkin potentials shrivel up and fall off, is because they are not getting pollinated.  Have no fear!  Oregano flower power is here!  Tom was NOT amused by the bees.  He wanted to wait for them to fly away before bringing the bin up.  I told him he'd be waiting forever.  He came trudging up the hill, bin awkwardly in hand, saying "The bees are following me!!!"  I thought to myself, "Well good!  That's what we want!"  But as I said, he was NOT amused.  Lol  No one got hurt.  We walked away sting free, and the bees didn't seem to mind the move one bit.  It was a win win!

And what would a post of mine be without pictures?  Enjoy!
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Bugs, Disease, Rain, and a Late Blight Alert!

Well we had a short break in the rain over the weekend, but of course it's back.  I was able to get a some things done while the sun was out for a few days.  Saturday I reapplied Bonide Copper Fungicide to my tomato plants since it rained on Friday, and I also sprayed my cabbage and beans again with Bonide Rotenone-Pyrethrins, to prevent flea beetle and Japanese beetle damage.  It's a good thing I decided to re-spray the insecticide, because when I sprayed the cabbage, flea beetles came out from the base of the leaves. Sorry fellas, dinner is NOT served!  :)  I also got to witness the lovely sound of Japanese Beetles hitting the plastic in the garden, as they fell after being sprayed.  I remember thinking, 'Yikes!  That was fast!'.  And since I was in a spraying mood, I reapplied Cutter Bug Spray to the lawn as well.  The neighbors were out of town on a camping trip, so I figured it was an excellent time to get out there a spray while they and their dog were gone.  That way the Cutter spray would have a chance to dry before Gunner, the dog, went in the yard again.  And I know the human neighbors will appreciate the reduction in mosquitoes!  So far there has been a reduction, but there are still quite a few out there.  No where near as bad as other places I have been to in Wisconsin though!

And speaking of destructive critters, I have two plant pathogens of some sort reeking havoc this year.  One is affecting my Peter Pepper plants.  It looks like some kind of bacterial infection, from what I have seen online, but I will be bringing some of the leaves into my local garden center to confirm.  I am crossing my fingers that it is something treatable!  The other peppers in the garden still look fine, but they probably have more resistance because they are not a novelty species.  The other problem is pictured above.  Something seems to have destroyed my zucchini plant!  The other two plants look fine at the moment, so I am at a bit of a loss.  I think it may be Powery Mildew, which is a group of fungi that can affect many plants. However, I had mildew on my zucchini leaves last year, and they didn't die.  In fact, they seemed to be completely immune!  And the fact that the other two plants are still doing fine is a bit puzzling.  If anyone has an suggestions, let me know!  (I did spray some fungicide on the zucchinis in case it is Mildew.  I think the plant in the picture is no more though.)

And while we are on a disease kick, let me bring to your attention the latest on Late Blight in Wisconsin.  As of July 23rd (the latest report to date), five counties have reported Late Blight on both potato and tomato crops.  Here are two links for more information! http://www.uwex.edu/ces/admin/2010_tomato_late_blight.html  http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/wivegdis/

While there have been a few incidents of bad news recently, it hasn't all been bad.  Everything is still producing.  Even the 'dead' zucchini plant has a few fruits on it somehow!  Another good thing is the Pumpkin Pie mega vine has a couple new pumpkins on it that are actually getting bigger!  This is exciting news since most new growths would appear one day and be yellow and fall off a couple days later.  The current contenders have been on there for days and are increasing in size.  That is a sure sign that they are on their way to being full grown pumpkins!  

Another thing that I did that should help the pumpkin plants, including the two that are 'normal' size, is cover the "compost" section with black plastic.  This will provide the smaller vines with a better surface to expand onto, as well as protect any fruits from the sticks, hay and other random organics in the "compost" section.  There is an off shoot from the mega vine that was already in the "compost" section, so I guess it will benefit as well.  I tell you, that vine is INSANE!  Tom went out to check out the garden with me today and when I showed him where the end of the mega vine is currently, he said, "Wait, is this vine from ALL the way back there!?"  Yeah, it is.

In other news, the fence remains in limbo, but is trying to make progress.  I put markers out for the remaining fence posts, and started getting the ground ready so that the fence will lay flat.  I can't remove anymore old fence at this point, because if I do the garden will be a free access location.  Unfortunately I just don't have the strength to put the posts in, so I  can't put up the rest of the new fence without Tom.  After the rain ends, he said he'll be out there; with a massive coating of bug spray all over his body.  The mosquitoes REALLY love him!

I have a very limited photo gallery this time around, but it does show the pumpkin vine and a couple of the new pumpkins that are on their way.  Feel free to check it out!

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Canning and more Fence Removal!

Well the canning on Tuesday was a success!  My mom and I made Zany Zucchini Pickles and Pickled Beets.  The beet recipe came from the Farmer's Almanac and is supposedly a "State Fair Winner".  We shall see!  Even though we used 14 cups worth of zucchini, there are still several zucchinis left in my refrigerator.  I even gave some to my mom to take home with her, and some others to our neighbors!  And just today, I picked two more.  I hope to make some zucchini bread, but that won't make much of a dent in the supply.  I may have to do more canning!

In addition to the canning, I also did some work out in the garden this week.  I planted another round of beets after weeding and re-tilling the ground.  I had done a second planting earlier this summer, but it didn't turn out.  I am not entirely sure what happened (it may have been rabbits), but I am hoping that the extra tilling will help this time around.

I also did some work on the fence.  Mainly, I was just attempting to remove the old fence from the back part of the garden.  Since we are expanding in addition to putting in new fencing, there is a bit of a buffer between the old fence and the new fence by the watermelon and zucchini.  The new fence is still only halfway around, as we have not added more of the new stuff yet, but not all of the old fence has been removed.   It has been extremely difficult getting the old fence out, since it became buried over the years and is being held in place by grass roots.  That means that when Tom and I last worked on the project together, we just decided to leave the 'back wall' section of the old fence in the ground and put the new fence around it.  With the new perimeters it works out fine.  I would like to get that fence out of there though, because the zucchini plants could use more space.  Or more accurately, the plants that are being overrun by the zucchini could use more space.  Slowly but surely it will happen!

I will leave the rest of the update sharing to the pictures.  Enjoy!
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New Fence, New Pictures, and Canning!

So I thought I had only neglected to post on here for about a week, and then I noticed that it has been almost two weeks!  Yikes!  I apologize.  In my defense, it has been crazy busy here, and the busyness is still on-going.  I expect the non-garden related stuff to be over soon, but with all the produce that is growing out there, I know I will be plenty busy with garden stuff!

After my last post about flea beetles, I discovered that there were young rabbits still managing to make their way into the garden.  Talk about maddening!  This prompted me to get more fencing since the current fence is very old and rusty, and is not even two feet tall in some places anymore.  I just wanted enough to encompass the cabbage and beets at one end of the garden, since that is were the dining was occurring.  Well, Tom decided we should not only redo the ENTIRE fence, but make the garden space bigger while we were at it.

So we went out and bought 100ft of 28in garden fence, as well as new posts to put the fence on.  We then spent two days working on it last week and only got halfway around.  I had an out of town event that I had to leave for last Thursday, and was hoping that Tom could do more work on the fence while I was gone over the weekend.  Well I returned on Monday to find no progress was made, and the fence is still only halfway finished.  The good news is that there are no holes and the rabbits seem to be gone... for now.  And Tom was not sitting around twiddling his thumbs.  He had to pick up our charge for the week: Willow the dog.  Yep, we have been busy dog sitting this week.  A new experience for cat owners who are used to sleeping in, and not having to take walks everyday.  Oh yeah, did I mention my parents are cat sitting for us?  We had to transport them to their temporary home as well.  Like I said, it has been crazy busy around here!

But how is the garden doing?  That is a great question!  I am happy to report the plants are doing well despite all the hiccups and the fence that remains in limbo.  Turns out plants keep growing regardless of the busy lives of their human tenders.  Good thing, or most of us wouldn't have gardens!  To prove how well things are growing, I have attached an updated album at the bottom of this post with pictures from July 19th through the 23rd.  I was unable to get out there yesterday (July 22), because of severe thunderstorms and thought I wasn't going to get out there today due to more rain in the forecast.  However, the bulk of the rain held off until about an hour ago, so I was able to take a few photos.  I was disappointed to see that the severe weather caused one of the main branches coming off my large Mr. Stripey plant, to break.  It was still attached to the plant, just ripped, so I repositioned it gently with twine, and then added additional supports. I also put two more tomato spirals in place, (one for the 'broken' stem and one for another large stem), that I probably should have put out there a long time ago.  I had a few ripped branches that survived and kept growing on my tomato plants last year, so I figured I would try to salvage the stem and see if it survives too. Unfortunately, sometimes something bad has to happen before you get your butt in gear!   Lesson learned.

Last but not least!  With all the produce that is becoming ripe, especially the zucchinis, I have decided it is time to start canning.  The calendar is marked, and my assistant has been called!  Next Tuesday, my mom and I will begin canning.  I will try and take some photos of that to post for your enjoyment as well.  Wish us luck!
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Early Blight and Flea Beetles

I am happy to announce my tomato plants are not only healthy, but are also protected against Late Blight and other related fungi as of today.  This is particularly good news considering what I learned at the garden store.  Apparently a LOT of people have been bringing in diseased tomato leaves to have diagnosed.  No Late Blight leaves yet, but plenty of Early Blight which means conditions are perfect for Late Blight to move in.  I also witnessed Septoria leaf spot, another common fungus, on tomato plants at my parent's neighbor's house, on my last visit.  While Septoria is rather easy to control, Early Blight is more difficult, and Late Blight requires you to destroy your plants.  The fungicide I picked up and used on my tomatoes today was Bonide Copper fungicide.  It is the fungicide I mentioned in my Late Blight post that is safe for use in organic farming/ gardening.  It is important to spray the entire plant from top to bottom, to the point that it is dripping.  This ensures that you covered the whole plant.  You also should spray at a time when the plant can dry, so sometime during early to mid day and not right before rain is predicted.  And be sure to repeat as directed for maximum protection!

The other chemical spray I picked up today was for my flea beetle problem.  For that I got Bonide Rotenone-Pyrethrins Spray.  It is also approved for organic gardening, and is apart of Bonide's Naturals line.  I technically could have used the Ortho spray I picked up for Squash Vine Borers, but it is not approved for use on the edible parts of the plant, and I needed to spray my cabbages.  It's a good thing I did that today as well, because when I went out to spray the tomatoes, two of my Chinese Cabbage plants had all their leaves eaten down to the vein!  Evil, evil bugs!  I feel terrible killing anything, even bugs, but it had to be done.  I just take comfort in the knowledge that there are exceptionally more insects on this planet then there are any other creature.  And since they have been around for millions of years, I doubt a few sprays of insect killer in my garden will upset the balance in the insect world.  Sorry bugs!

Because of all the bad news (bugs eating everything, fungus taking over), I decided there needed to be a bright spot in my day.  So along with the pesticides and other miscellaneous gardening items I purchased at the store today, I also picked up a replacement Roberto.  Roberto is our Ficus Rubber plant that Tom whisked away to his office at work.  Roberto was suppose to be a house plant, not an office plant, but Tom needed the air-cleaning qualities that Ficus plants possess.  Since there is probably no hope of Roberto returning in the near future, I decided to purchase Roberto 2.0.  If Roberto 1.0 ever does return, he will have a friend to hang out and purify the air with.  It feels cleaner in here already!

Tonights dinner with fresh from the garden zucchini!!  I had to share. :)

July 8th: Race for Garden Domination

Nothing is more exciting for a gardener than discovering that first blossom or first fruit on a plant you have put so much time and energy into helping grow.  And as anyone who grows several types of plants knows, everything has it's own blooming and fruiting schedule.  Well when I was out in the garden on Wednesday I was excited to find pumpkins already forming on two of the three plants!  However, my excitement was followed by confusion.  It is only the beginning of July, so I assumed it would be a bit longer before I saw any pumpkins.  After all, most people don't go pumpkin shopping around here until October, and there are farms were you can go pick your pumpkin straight out of the field!  And those are BIG pumpkins; I planted two small varieties!  If they have already started making pumpkins now, does that mean they will just keep churning out pumpkins till the fall frost does them in?  Will I have hundreds of pumpkins and nothing to do with them?  Will the plants produce so many pumpkins that they roll down the hill and bury the house?  I guess we'll find out!  Anyone want some pumpkins? ;-D

The discovery of the pumpkin fruits, made me wonder about the watermelon.  And sure enough, there was a watermelon fruit starting on the long vine as well!  That doesn't surprise me as much as the pumpkins, though I did think the vines would get a bit longer first.  I was hoping there would be plenty of watermelons, and it is looking like my wish will come true.  G-ma B will be pleased as well!

Good news/ bad news on the garden pest front.  First, the second application of liquid fence seems to be keeping the rabbits out.  Yay!  As long as it stays that way, I will be happy.  The bad news is I discovered there are Flea Beetles eating my cabbage.  The little buggers (pun intended) have put holes in my Chinese Cabbage leaves and are starting to munch on my Cabbage Babies as well.  I plan on asking the people at my local garden store what they would suggest I use on them.  The limited research I did do brought up so many choices that I decided I would just go straight to an expert since I need to go to the garden store anyway.  Will let you know what I end up with and if it works!

Last little tidbit.  The pumpkin and bean vines are competing in the Backyard Garden Domination competition.  I was unaware there was such a competition until both plants clearly showed me differently, with their excessive need for more and more space!  The question is, who will win?  (My money's on the pumpkin plants, but don't tell the beans!  They scare me!)  See the competition, and other photos, in the album below!
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Tumbling Tom And Squash Borer

It is official!  The big Tumbling Tom tomato plant has made it into the garden.  When I removed it from the pot, I was somewhat surprised to see roots all the way down to the bottom!  Everything came out in one piece as well; no soil left in the pot.  I guess I assumed the size of the pot was WAY bigger than was needed, and that the short time the tomato would spend in said pot would not have allowed it to have roots that deep.  Obviously I was wrong!  I then took the pot and put the Mr. Stripey plant, which has been growing from seed, into it.  Since the Tumbling Tom plant used all that space, I figured the Mr. Stripey seedling would enjoy some extra room as well.  So far he seems to be loving his new home.  I am pretty sure he will love being in the ground even more.  As soon as he has some branches, in the ground he'll go!

And speaking of late bloomers, I put one of the remaining pumpkin seedings into a mound right off our porch.  Both pots that contained the extra pumpkin plants got knocked over by a naughty chipmunk.  I left the pots as they were since I wasn't going to be needing either plant.  Well, one of the plants died, but the other one not only didn't die, but it made flowers!  I felt bad for it, so I decided to plant it in the "sand box" next to our porch.  I had wanted to plant flowers there last year, and so I pulled out all the weeds and starting digging, only to find that below the small layer of gravel there was sand!  I also found sandbox toys, and a container for holding lost teeth shaped like a molar.  No teeth were inside, thankfully!

After finding these treasures last year, I went with plan B.  I already had a flower I wanted to plant there, so I just dug a hole in the sand, dumped in a bunch of soil, and planted the flower.  It did great, so that is where the pumpkin went this year.  I had some extra soil, so I gave it it's own mound.  At first the leaves, which were a bit yellow when I put it in the mound, started dieing.  But now there are new bright green leaves, and even the stem looks better!  I predict that it will be a bit late in it's production, but if we get an extended growing season like we did last year, there will be pumpkins into early October!

And speaking of the squash family, I was doing my normal walk around the perimeter of the garden before actually working in the garden, when I noticed a squash vine borer!  I was actually on the phone with my mom at the time (reception is better outside), so I didn't swear when I saw it, but she can attest I was rather upset and wanted to swear!  My eyes got as wide as they could and I probably had the look of wrath on my face.  I immediately reached for my scissors to cut the damn thing in half.  However, it managed to fall into a rather thick area of grass, and therefore escaped certain death.  I use the very evil 'cut in half' method on Japanese Beetles, because I don't want to spray all of my edible plants directly with a chemical, and because they tend to just sit there when I move in with the scissors.  Bad news for the bugs, but great news for my plants.

With the advent of the squash vine borer's appearance, and it's much swifter movements, I knew I needed more than scissors, so Tom and I heading to the Home Depot and got some Ortho Max spray that is safe for use on edible plants.  I then sprayed my zucchini plants, which is were I saw the bug, and will keep watching my pumpkins to see if I need to spray them too.  I really don't like to use chemicals unless I absolutely have too.  And one chemical I had to use again was the liquid fence spray.  On a separate occasion from the squash borer, I came out to the garden to find two rabbits inside the garden!  Luckily they did not do too much damage, but I immediately got the liquid fence spray and sprayed the perimeter of the garden when I was done working for the day.  Crossing my fingers that they stay away!

More photos of the garden's progress from July 1st!
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