Garden Update

Those who are following our garden updates might remember our grasshopper problem. Well, I implemented a few things, chile spray the plants, soap spray the grasshoppers & adding a bird bath.  I also put some bird seed down to attract the birds.  My "bird bath" is just a couple of things I already had, a tree stump & clay saucer.  The birds came for a few days but then were scared away by our cats. 

I can't imagine why, can you?  No really, my plan was that the birds would visit in the morning because we keep our cats in until mid morning usually.  That didn't work, you can't schedule birds. They avoid us like the plague.  

However, I soon found out that cats are a great deterrent for grasshoppers!  It seems cats love to catch and eat them.  I've been noticing our little Kiki especially favoring them as her little protein snack.  Hopefully she'll get them all before they completely destroy the sunflowers.  I do plan to buy some Dr. Bronners and revisit the soap spray idea. For now I put our coffee grounds behind the oleanders where they live & rely on the cats.  They seem to be dwindling a bit. 

The tomatoes & peppers are staring to produce, though nothing ripe yet.  

The pallet is happier now with pots on it.  It seems to keep the moisture level inside the pallet more equitable so the herbs planted inside have begun growing better.

I've been super impressed with our workaholic basil!  We've had at least 4 pestos from our one large plant.  So I planted a couple more seedlings.  I'd love to freeze some pesto this year.




The artichoke is recovering from its mysterious bug attack.  If it was a grasshopper attack, why don't they keep eating it? 

And here's a cilantro that finally began growing! The sage is growing well here too.

Vine tomatoes & zucchini plants getting huge!

We've had 3 lovely zucchini's from our just starting to produce zucchini plants.

We've had just two cucumbers from our two cucumber plants, one each.   But I see we have a couple tiny ones here. 

We were super impressed with the flavor & crunch to our cucumber.  I guess I've never had a truly fresh cucumber.  They are so crisp & yummy!  Here's Owen putting a hat on Mr. Cucumber.

My Mother has always said I have a weird decorating sense.  She laughs at my bowl of river rocks on the kitchen table.  How about vegetable paint color, Mom?  Wouldn't cucumber green be pretty on this wall?

And I think I'm most excted about my compost.  It seems to be working!  I'm using a 5 gallon bucket w/ drainage & air holes.  I already had to dump it out and let it dry once because of a putrid smell.  (Too many coffe grounds?)  And now it has a very pleasant smell & color.  Yay!

We're very happy with our small garden! & can't wait to expand!  A couple more square foot beds are in order for Fall.

How's your garden growing?  Linking up with Ginny from Small Things.  

Until next time...