We are now in the beginning of the rainy months here, so before the rain started this morning, I ran outside and got a few quick (not good) pictures of the garden. Oh, did I mention that I finally have a full day off from work? Starting next week, I requested that I work longer days so I could have 3 days off a week. So maybe, just maybe, I will be able to re-organize my crafting closet and start sewing again! Okay, sorry, back to the garden. Things haven't turned out quite like we planned. The romaine lettuce that was growing like crazy has slowly shriveled away either from the excess moisture or the pesky bugs. The spinach and swiss chard never got a foothold, but we will try again with them in the cooler, drier months since that is when they grow best here. The bibb lettuce isn't doing that bad and we may be able to harvest some soon:
Moving down the line to the tomatoes. What a hard time we have had with them. The freaking caterpillars have been eating them like crazy. Mike has been using a natural insecticide, but we still are having problems. I don't know how they get up there so quickly. It's not like the plants are on the ground or even under a tree. We only have about 6 good ones still growing and only one of those is almost ripe:
You can even see in the picture all the leaves missing from the plant on the right. Boo....Since the basil I planted from seed was having a hard time with bugs too, Mike got some already started basil plants and paired them with some mint. Apparently mint is a bug deterrent for whatever it is next too. As you can see the new basil is doing really well:
But as soon as Mike did that, my old basil that I planted from seed also started to recover. Basil galore. The old basil, avocados, and blueberries all got moved to the ground for some reason:
The blueberries are doing good. We have harvested about 10-15 ripe blueberries already that have been used in oatmeal and smoothies. We have some new ones coming in too:
They were very sweet. More sweet than bitter which was a pleasant surprise. Lets see, what else is going on out there...Oh, the lemon tree has a lot of lemons (not ripe yet) growing on it :
Nothing has been interested in them yet and I am hoping it stays that way so I can make lots of fresh lemonade! The lime tree and the orange tree have new growth, but no fruit yet:
And finally the lavender I planted in the fall. It is supposed to be a dry weather plant, so Mike moved it under the over hang to try and shield it from the summer rains and it looks like it is doing much better:
It's flowering again! Yay! I am still dreaming of making lavender butter. It would be magical with homemade bread.
You are now caught up on the garden, on to dinner from Tuesday night. I still had a deep discounted rack of baby back ribs from Aldi. Instead of repeating the same sweet tea rub I did last time, I decided to make up a chili garlic sauce to roast them in:
This was ketchup based (yes, I know, it's sad, but it was quick and easy for me) with some spices and what not. The ribs were served with just steamed vegetables:
I think the sauce could have used a little more spice, but it was nice non the less. Again, the meat wasn't fall off the bone, but it was still good. Ribs are not my best dish, but it's a nice change.
I work open to close the next two days in a row, so until next time, please enjoy this photo of a green frog I caught at one of the Metro Parks back in Ohio during a summer hike back in 2007:
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