How is your garden looking today?

duplicate post ... oopsie!

Critters (squirrels more than likely) have been getting to my first prized tomatoes. Squirrels 4 - Me 0. I staked along the edge of the raised bed and threw netting over the whole deal. Hopefully that will keep them out.
Peppers looking good. Squash is struggling. Cucuimbers seem to be staging a comeback. Still no info on those sticky yellow bugs that have done so much damage to the squash and cucumbers. But picking them off along with the beetles seem to be helping a great deal.
The flower garden is looking good.

A glimpse into Nekochan's world under the shrubbery:

I have a window that faces into a neighbor's yard across a little 'alley' of overgrown weeds and dirt about 3 feet wide. They have a wooden fence along their property line along which a squirrel (or maybe more than one squirrel) runs everyday to snatch peaches from their peach tree. First they were little and barely peach-colored fruits and now they are fleshier and downright appealing. I saw the little guy get 4 peaches in under an hour one afternoon. I wonder if the family who lives there got to eat any of them.

I havent taken any pictures of gardens yet this year. humm. Have to keep that in mind in the next few weekends. My forest is so bad this year I cant even see past the Queen Annes Lace to my Clematis. The honeysuckle has been taken over by weeds in the drive and not blooming along the fence out back-although if it was I probably wouldnt be able to see it anyway. The guy next door continued with our original simple clean up of giant tree weed that had grown into his Cherry tree and cleared out about two feet from the fence-and I caught him pouring some liquid over there--he's preparing for a fence to be put in so, I dont blame him--I wouldnt want to look at this yard either. sigh.
My Impatients have gone nuts in the last week-thats nice. I had a drainage problem in my catnip pot so, Ive got two or three sprouts so far but, thats it.
I dont see any Pears this year but, we seemed to have been attacked by caterpillars in all the trees so, its not surprising.
Havent seen the groundhog this year yet either but, he could be keeping in the tall stuff as well.
Your pictures have inspired me, I should take something here at some time. I hope . If not here in the jungle than the next time I'm at the mans house I'll share his stuff- which is looking lovely

The front yard looks great. A neighbour who is re-landscaping was giving away bags of landscaping marble, so another neighbour and I salvaged about 10 big bags of it. 5 bags went onto my tiny path running across my little front yard (it's about the size of 4 cubicles at work). I took a couple of pix, and once the camera batteries are re-charged, I'm gonna download 'em.

The back yard is a jungle! The rain has made everything grow unbelievably. Since I haven't watered in almost 3 years, the plants go mad when it's this damp. I've got to go out there this weekend and clear some brush! The snowball bush is about halfway up the 2nd floor, the saskatoon berry bushes are about 4 feet taller than I normally see them, the black hollyhock is higher than the 8 foot fence (the tag said 3 - 4 feet). If I can clear a path, I'm taking the camera in there. The roses, day lilies (especially the burgundy and yellow ones), and the mexican hat plants look striking in the middle of all that green. There's some purple flower, which is probably a weed but looks spectacular, coming on strong.

Pray for a cool weekend for me.

Tomato hornworms are wearing me OUT! Yanking them off both the tomatoes and the peppers and they've damaged both beds now. Veggies aren't doing too good this season at all.

The last flowers for 2004: the butterfly garden. Bees and bumblebees have the place to themselves now.

eastern lake ontario : very little rain during august, watering restrictions - only allowed to water the garden every other day from midnight to 9 am. the garden does not look very healthy right now; there is a promise of 20 mm rain for overnight. the potted flowers are doing o.k. and there are a few tomatoes, beans and zuccini struggling on. hbg

My garden for years has been in my next door neighbors undeveloped lot. Well, he got in trouble with the law, and had to sell his property. Unfortunately, to speed the process, he sold the two lots separately, and now my garden is going to be developed.

Such a shame, because in addition to my vegetables, the lot harbored a naval orange tree, a meyer lemon tree, a gravenstein apple tree, an apricot tree, tangerine and fig tree. The lot has supplemented our groceries quite nicely over the years.

Right now it looks pretty good, but because of the people working on the two lots, stuff is disappearing. I lost two large green peppers that were ready to pick. Most likely to the latino day workers, who'll take them home and make chiles rellanos. Hey, at least someone appreciates the garden.

My big crop right now is green beans. I planted two sections of blue lake pole beans, and they're producing about a pound of beans a day, or more.

not a good time of year for my garden.

Mine either, littlek. IT tends to shine in late spring and early summer.

I was reviewing the posts and noticed that Neko Nomad (did I get that name right?) posted a nice photo of a butterfly garden.

I've bought a few largish mums. I'm hoping to disguise how bad the garden is by planting them.

If I had drip irregation and a little sunshine, I could probably fill out my garden a bit. As it is now, it's a little tough. I do have some clematis blooming just now and the liriope and monkshood in the back yard have yet to bloom. Oh, and the toadlily is still forming buds too.

neko

<swoon> How beautiful is your garden! Do you meditate? A perfect place for it.

Me: Thrilled beyond belief to come home just now & find my first magnolia flower has fully opened! Only planted the bush about 4 days ago & it's responding very nicely.

Oh,msolga, if only you could view the butterfly garden from the patio at dusk! At sundown it resembles a living floral arrangement, with the white asters appearing as baby's breath blossoms seemingly suspended in midair amongst the zinnias, goldenrod, and darker colored asters-- in varying shades of purple and lilac-- providing a truly meditational setting.

Small birds are showing up now, most notably the goldfinch, which sports an unbelievable yellow, to browse the seedheads of the queen anne's lace or the tiny insects drawn by the flowers.

Nekochan is in her element there, stalking the chipmunk trying to escape her attention. Every so often she presents it to me,alive,and of course I let it go.... but the little thing stays around--smarter, I assume.

Neko Nomad -- Your description makes that garden come alive. It sounds wonderful! Lucky to have goldfinch and chipmunks and a well-behaved kitty on patrol. The early morning and the early evening are the best times for a garden, don't you think?

It looks like heaven, neko.

the house we have moved into has a tiny front and back yard which we have had walled in and every square inch is covered 2 inches deep in gravel rock. I am very slowly removing, square inch by square inch the rock and filling the emptied space with potting soil mixed with steer manure. Across the back wall and running about 50 feet is a 2 foot high terraced plot about 3 feet in depth that we will have as veggies and some annuals, the remaining yard I hope to have about 40% in lawn and the remainder I would like to design a japanese style moon garden with a water feature. will take pics in about 5 yrs to let you know how it's going.

In the meantime, dys, good luck & enjoy the process. It's hard work, but few things are as satisfying as creating the garden you really want. Some photographs of the work in progress would be good!

Ooh, Dys, sounds like a lovely retirement project! It will be good for photos in a couple years, but you'll have a lifetime of tweaking it.