FWIS3

You ain't seen the boat. No window sill.

Sunflowers and pumpkins (and volunteer tomatoes from the compost) were doing well. They survived the transplants and thinning. Also made it past point where they are critter salad. They'd look great except we've gotten pounded with rain the last few days even some hail. And they're looking a little battered. But I think they're doing okay. The tallest ones are reaching up to 4 feet now.

Got 5 sunflower blossoms so far with a few more not too far off. We've dead headed the pumpkins to see if we might actually start to grow a few of substantial size. There are a few volunteer tomatoes but they're competing with the pumpkins for space and light. So far not too bad. Several are up to 8 feet high. Heads aren't huge and they're not overly tall, but maybe they won't topple so easily or quickly. Butterfly bush is living up to it's name, and the gold cherry tomato vine is producing. Plenty, plenty of rain this summer.

Sunflowers really starting to bloom. Pumpkins growing wildly. There are actually a few pumpkins hidden in there getting larger. A few volunteer tomatoes growing and the vine tomato plant is only putting out 1-2 little ones a day. Last year was the tomato year. This year is my sister's tomato year. We're pulling easily 5 pound/week out of the two raised beds her the back yard. Been giving them away at work, had fresh brushetta last night. They're delish.

This year's sunflower story. I put in all my prelim work for my strip of sunflowers, but got the seeds in a little late. Also, somebody came through, dug up and ate a bunch of seeds right when they were sprouting. So I did a replant and have been dusting heavily with cayenne powder. I've gotten it all over me and up my nose. It's been wonderful. I've got some 1 foot plants and some new sprouts. Lots of watering as the monsoons have stopped in the last week. Meanwhile, over in the gravel drive where I put out last year's heads for the birds after I harvested the seeds, about 50 plants sprouted. Did I mention it was in the gravel? I thinned them several times and instead of trying to transplant them to the bed, I said F it, and just started watering them right there in the gravel. I've got about 20 plants, many over 8 feet high, with one glorious flower and 2 more coming.

There are two pumpkin plants doing well, Mrs. T has helped dead head the blooms so we may get bigger pumpkins this year. I planted one tomato along with the sunflowers. If I didn't kill it trying to put a cage around it, we should be getting tomatoes soon.

Just don't plant zucchini. Unless you want to feed the whole town.

Yep.

Hops this year. That's about all. They grow like crazy.

We try other things every year with minimal success. This year it's peppers, basil, and rosemary. Only rosemary is doing well out of those three.

We are brown thumbs, though, so it's no surprise or disappointment. Our yard overall isn't a mess but we could use alot of landscaping/gardening help. This fall I'm going to bring in a landscaping consultant to give suggestions of how to improve our yard.

Mrs. T has been interested in trying to grow hops.

What do you do with hops besides making beer?

Some Ideas
But isn't flavoring and stabilizing beer reason enough for goodness sake!?

The volunteer sunflowers are glorious. Some are a little thin but many are close to 10 feet tall, all are blooming. Many of these plant have multiple heads. The "cared for" sun flowers are mostly doing well. The runts are getting choked by the weeds, but there are many in the strip approaching 4-5 feet. The pumpkins got some sort of fungus or blight and have pretty much died off. The tomato is doing well, I think it's a beef steak. Down in the front garden bed, we have a volunteer pumpkin (no idea how) that is healthy and glorious, so Mrs. T left it. The two tomato vines are really starting to produce. The mint is doing well as normal, as is the thyme and cilantro. We've been getting wads of fresh basil from the in laws. Weeds in the gravel drive are still doing the best.

Are the sunflowers to be harvested or are they decorative?

I leave them up into the fall and let the birds and the bees have at them. I usually grab some of the biggest heads and hang them in the barn to dry all winter. I use some of the seeds to plant the following year then put the heads back out for the birds when there's not much else for them to eat yet. I haven't harvested any for human consumption yet.

Welp, RIP my ability to use public transit at all

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... eral-judge

If you think the latest wave is bad now, just wait two weeks.