Not the only one

Since we aren't having the greatest luck with our garden lately, I was actually rather happy to see that our favorite local gardener, Ann Edwards (see her blog here: http://soundharvest.blogspot.com) is having just as much trouble. I don't mean to find pleasure in other people's misfortune, but I do like knowing we are not alone. Plus I strive to be Ann Edwards, so the more alike we are, the better!
Here's a look at our garden, taken a few days ago. It is from afar, so you really can't see exactly how bad it is:


That front right corner used to be zucchini. Take a closer look at what used to be a ground cherry:


That green thing is a weed. Go figure. If we could find a way to market Virginia creeper, we'd be sitting on a gold mine.

I can't complain too much, though, because despite how awful our tomato plants look, they have produced some pretty stellar tomatoes. Too bad the season won't last, but at least we got something out of them:


Even the paste tomatoes have been good. Good size, few holes and cracks, and no end rot. This cherokee purple looks so pretty still on the vine:


We also had a decent potato harvest. The Yukons didn't get very big, but check out those nice red skinned potatoes:


I think they are dinner tonight. And although we don't usually eat them (they are a 5 out of 5 on the spiciness scale), our fish peppers are gorgeous this year. Right now they are just beginning to turn.


Some of my perennials are dying, including my asters and a blueberry bush. My coneflowers wilt terribly every afternoon, but seem to be hanging in there. The coreopsis looks awful and I'm tempted to cut it back. My liatris, however, is in full bloom and looks great. I didn't believe the description when it said it could be 5 feet tall!


Dog wants in, cat wants out.

Parched

Lisa and I think God (Allah, Mama N, or whoever) has a large invisible umbrella over Carteret County. Not even the whole county, just mostly our neighborhood and vicinity. Huge thunderstorms and rain events have this uncanny ability to break up into nothing when they reach our force field -- I don't think we have received more than 1/8" of rain in four weeks, despite the constant storms popping up around us. This has made both of us rather irritable, and despite our efforts to water our garden, it is quickly approaching dead.
Luckily, a few things are hanging in there (and we'll be saving seed for their exceptional drought-tolerance!):


Our cherokees are hanging in there pretty well, and we've already harvested about 5-6 really nice looking tomatoes. And no end rot this year! I'll have some more photos of them soon. Even though our paste tomatoes are looking pretty awful, we got some nice fruits off them, too. I think they are done for, though. Our potatoes never got very big before the plants died, but they are still pretty tasty!

Our pride and joy this year are our peppers, both the bell and chilis. They are just beginning to turn, and I love how nice and big the bells got:


I think having them on the deck, partially shaded by our bushes really helped. This photo is from just one plant.

And here are a bunch of photos from my seedballz:

It's a mix of flower seeds held together in a clay ball so they don't dry out or get carried away by birds when they are trying to germinate. It creates this neat bouquet effect. With everything else withering away, it's nice to see some unexpected color.




And finally, here's a glimpse of our little possum (opossum?) baby that was trapped inside our 5 gallon bucket and nearly gave me a heart attack (he's probably saying the same about me!):


He eventually scampered away and probably up the magnolia tree. Haven't seen him since.

Our first big bounty

Not pictured: new potatoes, chili peppers, bell peppers

A trip to the big city

Lisa and I got out of our bubble this weekend and explored the booming metropolis of Raleigh. We used our time wisely and managed to squeeze Thai food, the asian market (more mochi!), the art museum, and of course, Trader Joe's in one day. Look, here we are at the Arboretum:


I think it's funny that we took a break from our garden to visit a really large...garden. At least we suppressed the urge to pull weeds (not that there were many).

Unfortunately, Lisa's camera died shortly after this photo was taken, but we did manage to get a shot of this gorgeous dahlia:


They had a bunch of equally stunning varieties. They were huge, and something about their dark purple stems and bright colored flowers was striking. There was one that was literally fluorescent yellow. Not sure how much I liked that one, but the genetic feat was admired.

On a completely different note, I wanted to share with you our latest critter of the household. I think I'll name him Todd. Or maybe Stan.


Lisa says he's like an Easter egg because he just shows up in random places around the deck. I've never seen him move. I like how he made himself at home in our yogurt cup basil.