Summer!!

I have been very busy in my garden lately. Last year, the area surrounding our parking area was filled with weeds and pretty much nothing else. Some day lilies and a little rose bush were the only things someone put there on purpose. I was sharing a garden with a couple friends just up the hill from me, so I didn't try to take ownership of the weed patch. This year however, the shared garden wasn't going to happen and I really wanted to put some things into the ground. So I checked with our downstairs neighbors, who said they had no plans for the space. So I decided to go for it. It's a pretty good sized area, but because we live on the side of a hill, it only gets morning sun. I wasn't sure how well anything would grow, and I also wasn't sure how much money I could throw into it, so I bought a few plants, and a bunch of seeds, including a perennial mixture with cone flowers, black-eyed susans, columbine and a bunch of other stuff. I've spent a long time staring at all the little green things coming up, trying to figure out which ones are flowers, and which are weeds. The garden is on three sides of the parking area.





This is the right side of the parking. I've got some rhubarb, strawberries, jalapeños, and a few flowers here.






Here is the same spot a few weeks ago. The rhubarb took a long time to recover after I transplanted it from last year's garden. Most of the leaves died and I started to lose hope but all the sudden it started putting out new leaves like crazy. You can also see in this picture, I hadn't cleared out the whole garden yet. The entire thing was covered in that landscaping fabric you can see sticking out in the back.






Here is the garden along the back of the parking. It looks smaller than it is in this picture. You can park three cars facing this space. This is where I planted all those flowers. I'm sure I have a lot of cone flowers coming up, a bunch of lupines, and I'm pretty sure some black-eyed susans and maybe some columbine. Plus a bunch of mysteries. I just found out that most of that vine stuff hanging off the hill is wild grapes. I'm pretty excited about this.






See? Baby grapes!






As I was examining the grapes, I also discovered a big patch of wild blackberries!!! I love my generous hill even if it does shade my garden most of the day!!






Here is the left side of the parking. On this side, you can see the little rose bush that was already there. I planted some mint, basil, cilantro, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, and more flowers. I went to buy some flowers the other day and the lady there was so nice, she just gave me the tomatoes and eggplant. I haven't really cooked with eggplant before but I'm sure I'll find something good to make out of it.






Here are some of the flowers I bought from her. She told me what they are called but I've completely forgotten.






I love our day lilies and as I wait (somewhat impatiently) for the tiny seedlings I planted to hurry up and grow, I really appreciate the bright lilies making my garden look a little more like a real garden.






This isn't a great picture but this is the front of the house. I planted snap peas and morning glories alternating all along the front of the house. The snap peas are growing much faster than the morning glories and as soon as it stops raining long enough, I will go put up some string for them to climb.






Besides gardening, I've been eating a lot of ice cream.






Also hanging out with Mosley. He is getting really big. He was four and a half pounds when we got him in December, and now is almost twenty pounds!






And of course knitting. This is a camera case I made for a friend. I made one for our camera too, but I don't have a picture. Ours is orange, yellow and green.


WARNING!! If you are squeamish, or if slugs gross you out, do not scroll down.












I have been picking obscene amounts of slugs out of my garden. Since my garden is shady, and right near a foresty hill, and it has been raining nearly every day, I have a major infestation. I decided to start counting them. I told people I had a lot of slugs in my garden, but I felt they didn't really understand how serious I was. Also, when you are picking that many slugs, it helps to focus on something else, like counting. Usually, I drop them into soapy water to kill them, put a lid on tight, and then toss the whole container into the dumpster. The first time I decided to count, I got 214 slugs. A few days later though, I was getting ready to pick slugs again, and I decided I needed to document this. So I just dropped them into this clear honey bottle, and skipped the soapy water. There are 477 slugs in there.






This is after I knocked them down, to show how full the jar is when they aren't climbing up the sides.






And the view from the top, just to give you a few more nightmares. I picked slugs again today and got 292 so the ones pictured are still the record for most slugs in one day. These guys are crazy. They totally destroyed my marigolds and have eaten most of my zinnia and sunflower seedlings. I'll keep picking them though, and I'm going to try some other natural remedies and hopefully I will be able to enjoy lots more out of my garden.