To those of you who are out picking buckets of tomatoes and peppers, this will seem like an insignificant feat, but I feel like Aunt Bee ready to enter the county fair. (more…)

Now, if I did this, people would accuse me of having too much time on my hands. But I spotted a brilliant idea to introduce into your garden whick is both functional and decorative.

It’s a life-sized outdoor “tick tack toe” game which will keep your children and grandchildren occupied. It will also require so much work on your part, that you won’t have time to get in trouble yourself.

The gardener created the game by pouring concrete into square forms which were studded with colorful “found” objects around the house - old marbles, small toys, sand dollars, etc. After the squares set up they can be arranged in the garden. Huge butterflies and hockey pucks were used to mark the squares.

Does anyone know how to mix concrete or where to buy the forms? This is one project I’m going to do. Heck, I may line my garden with a giant monopoly set.

Last fall, after all the trick-or-treaters were gone and the Thanksgiving turkey only a memory, I chunked four pumpkins into the bath tub that masquerades as a planter on my tiny courtyard. I figured they would decay and fertilize the nandinas growing in the tub. Low and behold all four sprouted wings and began to march across the courtyard. I let them have their way, more out of curiosity than the desire to produce pumpkins. (more…)

It’s almost lunch time and I’ve decided it’s time to harvest some ingredients for a homegrown salad. You can see my pot-fresh ingredients in clockwise order: The nasturtiams give the salad a peppery bite, fresh basil (a must for any self respecting salad maker), lettuce, spicey oregano and curly parsley.

The only thing missing is a big red juicy tomato - but I’m working on that - have seven tomato plants tucked around the yard in the few locations exposed to direct sunlight. Today I must settled for the ridiculously expensive “on the vine” varieties from Jiggly Wiggly. They’re worth every cent.

Be assured I’m not eating the hostas spilling over the border beyond the bar. On second thought, they might add a nice touch. I will google them and make sure they’re not poisonous. It would be so embarrassing to have my obit read that I expired from hosta ingestion.

Later………strolled out front to check on the progress of my tomatoes and lo and behold I have three tomatoes on one of the vines! Won’t be long now…

It’s getting harder and harder to take a bath these days.

I tossed my Halloween pumpkins into the old bathtub out back to let them compost and nourish my Nandinas. Low and behold I have a big crop of pumpkins coming along. They are fighting for space with the Nandinas and an assortment of other vines.

Isn’t it funny…if I had TRIED to get them to germinate, it would never have happened. Nature has a delightful way of reproducing itself effortlessly while we humans prod and cajole to get things to grow.