Garden Goodness

We are beginning to eat the fruits of our labor, and they taste great! I made a vow to take better care of my garden this year, and for the most part I have. I cannot be held responsible for the lack of perfection. Everything seems to be a bit behind this year, but when I talk to other gardeners, they seem to be experiencing the same. Overall, the garden looks better than it did last year when it was a jumbled mass of greenery, mostly weeds. What do you think?

A couple of weeks ago, we harvested the first zucchini. For some reason this common vegetable produced in me great joy and celebration. Can you tell?

Since then, we have been eating a lot of salads straight from the garden. Fresh lettuces, cucumbers and sweet peas. I am amazed that any peas made it into the house, but there were so many that I could not eat them all in the garden.

The tomatoes still were not ready and the climate is not good for avocados so the entire salad was not from our garden. This week the tomatoes have begun to ripen, but I eat them all before they get in the house. Soon we will be making salads with nothing but produce we have grown ourselves.

As with last year, I have not had much success with the radishes. I planted them too close together once again. You would think that I would have learned. You would be wrong. I will try again next year. However, one lone radish managed to survive my poor planting and thrive despite me. It was enormous and tasty as well. We ate it in another salad.

My pumpkins are also struggling. Today I mulched the entire garden in hopes that it will hold water better. The soil seems to dry out too quickly and the pumpkin vines are turning brown and dying. I hope this helps because I would love to have fresh pumpkin in the fall.

The pumpkin vines in the center of the garden are still green. They get more shade there, so I am hoping that with the shade and the mulch, we will have pumpkin pie in our future.

While I was mulching the vegetable garden, I decided to add more mulch to the newest of the front sidewalk gardens. Look how great the butterfly bush looks. Remember when I thought it was dead this spring?

My white grapevine is still fighting for its life. I am hopeful that it will survive. If you have any advice on growing grapes, I would appreciate the help. I need all I can get!

The loofah plant on the other hand is thriving. I am told that these phallic-like things are going to turn into loofahs.

I weeded while I was out there. The front gardens are looking great.

Here are some close up pictures of our flowers.

When I went to take a picture of this pot of flowers, I noticed something flying around. Can you see him?

At first I thought that it was a hummingbird by its size and movement, but it seems to be fuzzier like a bee. It also has antennae. I could not get a good look at its wings in person, but in the pictures they seem to resemble a butterfly’s wings. It also has a proboscis and six legs, so it must be an insect. To give you an idea of its size. The thorax is roughly as big as my thumb. If you have any idea what this little guy is, please let me know.

Update: When Douglas shared this post on Facebook one of his friends replied that this is a hummingbird moth. Not only does it make perfect sense, but after a little investigation with the help of Google, it seems to be the right conclusion. This picture looks exactly like my little friend. Welcome to the Cape of Dreams, Hummingbird Moth!

I sat there and watched him for a good fifteen minutes. He was having a blast in the flowers and did not seem to mind my presence at all. I have about a thousand more pictures if you would like to see more.

I hope that all is well in your gardens, even those gardens that consist of a plant in a pot. Life is so much better with greenery, wouldn’t you agree? The bees do!

Happy Homemaking!