Wed June 26
Every day I have to take a spin around the bales to see what's happening, and I'm really starting to see some action!

Blossoms on my eggplant.

My first tomato!

Peppers (there's 2 on there, but the photographer is crummy).

This is the best--STRAWBERRIES!  There was one point where the strawberries had some sort of slimy fungus on them, and I thought I'd lose most of them (you know the drill--no sun, too much rain).  I didn't know what to do, so they got a little bath with Ivory soap and a rinse with holy water (not really, but I WAS praying).  At one point I had a total of 2 blossoms between 5 plants.  They battled back though, and look pretty good now.  This experiment will be considered a success in my book if I can walk out my door and pop at least 5 warm, red strawberries in my mouth.  Critters beware: if you steal my berries, it will mean war!

And here's my secret weapon: Labrador Layla the garden guard is on duty.  No critter would dare to venture here!  My wax beans are in the foreground, the little things just sprouting are the zinnia seeds I threw in last week.  My peas are climbing one arbor, and my pretty purple clematis is in the background.  You know, at the very least, this has given me something to look forward to each day.  Despite the bugs, heat, rain, whatever, I love to watch things grow.  And now that I've pulled out the last of the grass, it is finally living up to it's weed-free billing (yes, the chia pets are gone).  Scott is definitely catching the bug, too (he's the one that decided we should have sweet potatoes and showed up with them after grocery shopping), and he's already planning next year's garden...so cross your fingers and stay tuned!