Fence project!

We had only a few items on our list that we wanted to check off and say "done!" - one of which was the fence. It was a chain link fence and the morning glory grew up it like a trellis. I hate morning glory. h-a-t-e. So today one half of the fence project is done. THANKS PAUL!

Before

During - no fence!

During - yay posts!

After (or nearly)

The puppies approve.

New Lens

I got a new lens today - a Nikon 50mm f/1.4G portrait lens. I'm not sure yet if I am gonna keep it or not. I have 30 days to make up my mind.


Here's a few pics I took indoors in low light. Of the pups, of course.

Violet never did grow into her wrinkles

The fruits of our labor

Broccoli seeds

Deformed strawberry. These seriously crack me up. This one is my favorite

The first yellow pear tomato, plucked this morning. It tasted wonderful.

Lady Bugs are cute

I checked on the ladies this morning. So far so good. There's still a ton of them out there wandering around.

I saw many of them munching on aphids. This made me happy.

My yard is kinda pretty

All our hard work paid off. I figured I'd post this almost updated pic so when winter comes around I can go back and remember what was. Most of my yard is still similar but some of the veggies are starting to end their season, blooms are coming to an end, etc.

Attack of the Aphids

I was snooping through the leaves of my brussel sprouts today and found this:

Ugh. Gross. Talk about giving me the heebie jeebies. So we called up the local gardening center and picked up a package of lady bugs - 1500 of them to be exact. I think that must be an exaggeration though. Good thing I find lady bugs adorable.

Here are a couple of them checking out my yellow pear tomatoes

Eat that aphid! EAT IT!!!

My poor baby

I noticed a lump on Sadie's paw the other day. I've already made an appt with the vet which is next week but in the mean time - what the hell is it? Sadie is young - not quite 2 years old. Not sure if that matters or not.

It's red because Sadie noticed it today and has been licking it which is making it bleed. I keep interrupting her so hopefully she can manage to leave it alone long enough for it to stop irritating her.

My sweeties

 So she won't leave the growth alone and it keeps bleeding. We have a cone/collar on hand so we cleaned it up and put it on her. She is SO SAD. Tail tucked and she wants us to hold her. She acts so scared with it on. Breaks my heart.

Needing a hug from dad

I'm a sad, sad pup

My wish list for next year

There are many plants/trees/bushes/flowers I want in my garden. However I don't have a huge amount of land to play with (our lot is approx 3500SF including the space the house takes up) so I have to plan things out wisely. Hopefully this list will help me categorize what I can reasonably bring in and what has to stay on the wish-list.

• Negronne Fig - aka Violette du Bordeaux
• At first I thought the fig tree I wanted was the osborne prolific but after reading this blog post I am second guessing this choice. Maybe this one should be on my radar instead? Grows 8-10 feet though I am wondering if it would grow smaller in a container
• Eversweet Pomegranate 
• Grows 8-10 feet and is the only pomegranate I have a prayer of getting fruit from. Even if I don't it gives off beautiful orange red flowers so even if I lose the gamble by not getting fruit I still get something pretty to look at
• Weeping Santa Rosa Plum Ultra Dward Tree
• This thing is so damn pretty. I just love weeping trees. You get blooms in the spring, fruit in the summer, and a beautiful weeping habit as a bonus. I wouldnt even consider this tree if it wasnt small and weeping.
• Ultra Dwarf Bartlett (pear) tree
• I'm unsure about this one. Our neighbor has a giant pear tree which makes me less apt to bring in my own. You need a cross pollinizer - would our little dwarf pear be able to cross pollinate? Right now we have access to our neighbors pears but it's a rental property and the next round of neighbors may not want to share. And I like me some pears
• Improved Meyer Lemon
• Dwarf citrus tree - lemon orange hybrid (more lemon than orange). It's a dwarf evergreen tree that can survive our climate but requires going in the basement come winter time. So basically it requires extra maintenance. Also they're a little pricier than my other items on the wish list.
• Encore Azaleas
• So I have an azalea already but I'm thinking about giving it up in order to bring in an encore azalea. They bloom all season long, baby!
• Indian Free Peach Tree
• This is definitely a want but I dont think it's on my realistic list. It needs another tree to cross pollinate (so another peach or nectarine tree) which wouldnt be a problem if I had the space, but I don't. This tree gets pretty big and I don't think it fits into my small garden plans.

Vegetable Beds:

• carrots
• potatoes
• jicama
• strawberries
• lettuce
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• rhubarb
• brussel sprouts
• tomatoes. lots of tomatoes.
• snap peas
• zuccini
• artichoke

That's all I can think of for now but I know there are more.

Thanks, CD News!

Our neighborhood blog, http://centraldistrictnews.com/, showed us how to look up vintage pics of our house. Here's mine.

How cool is that? Compare to the newer pic.

Personally I prefer the siding in the vintage pic. I hate the stucco

Poor Little Dude

I found this HUGE dragonfly in the grass the other day.  I took some pictures of it and then left it be thinking it would...you know...fly away. Well it didn't and the girls smooshed it :(

Serpentine Flowering Cherry

I love this tree. I can only imagine that this tree will continue to get more gorgeous as time goes on. I love the shape of it and in early spring it gives off some pretty white blossoms. Even after the blooms are spent I enjoy the tree very much. I can't wait for it to get huge!

And here are some more recent pics of this beauty after the blooms had past. I just love it.

My Asiatic Lily

I forgot to show off my beautiful lily! I may as well show off my other small containers as well.

Here is a picture from earlier this season showing off a Japanese Maple that I ended up giving away as a gift, some Hebes (4 actually), my asiatic Lily pre-bloom, an Azalea, and something else I can't remember the name of.

My Little Helper

My husband caught Sadie in the act of eating the last of my snap pea vines. I seem to be raising a vegetarian puppy. Rob called me out, I grabbed my camera and saw this:

Good thing she's so cute.
I really hope she doesn't notice the tomatoes growing on the other end.

Various Flower Photos

Red Lace Leaf Weeping Variety Japanese Maple, Blue Variety Hosta, Blue Hydrangea, Purple lacecap Hydrangea

Blue Hydrangea

Purple Lacecap Hydrangea

Blue Variety Hosta

Red Heart Hibiscus

Daylily

Beautiful Red Rose

Rose Bush. The 1st pic shows Sadie enjoying herself in front of it

Random Pansy that found its way into my garden somehow

California Poppy

Blue flower whose name I cannot remember

 These last two pics were taken last April and was the first thing in my garden to wake up.
 Red Currant