Red and yellow

A few shots around the house today.

House painting progress

There is still much to do on the house but this is where it looks today and what it looked like a year ago.

Our Table

May this always be a house with a table so bountiful.

Petit Gris De Rennes

This is a European Melon. It is growing along with our watermelons. We fought the beetles bravely for many weeks, squishing them between our fingers, thinking we would actually be able to grow this heirloom melon. All I ever saw was flowers and beetles eating them. Suddenly tonight while watering the melon bed, I saw what looked like two soft ball size melons growing in our melon patch. Upon closer inspection I was glad to run into the house and get my bride. I proudly told her, like an Indian Chief, "Me big melon grower." I am told that growing a melon to completion is an accomplishment that any gardener ought to be proud of. I will be if they grow to completion. The variety of melon we are growing is of the best French Variety and a favorite of a melon expert and author Bruno Defray. It is rare in the USA.

Black Watermelon

One of the things I do not understand about our watermelon is we have what appears to be two different kind growing from the same vine. We have one that looks like Harvey and then these black ones that are round. Does anyone know what is up with that?

Harvey for Breakfast

Harvey finally became full grown this morning and we invited him for breakfast. Along with eggs, home made salsa from the garden and home made biscuits. I must say I haven't tasted watermelon like this ever from a store.

I flipped the compost yesterday and then put it all back in to cook some more.
Our red peppers are starting to come in.

Last October and today

I love the before and after shots. Perhaps it is the way God feels about a life that has been submitted to Him. The bottom picture is the garden last October, which was an improvement from where we first found it. This morning while looking through the old pictures I found it and had to take a picture to compare the difference. There is so much more to do but we are making progress.

Just a whole bunch of things!

Well first of all, we spent most of the weekend painting the house, which there is plenty left to do. We did get the first coat of paint of the front door and installed a dark brown door handle that matches the brown trim and deck. A door handle can make all the difference in the world. The front door always seemed kind of cheap, but it was the handle that was cheap. Now when the door closes it has that nice solid feeling.
Harvey the Watermelon continues to grow about an inch a day. This picture is two days old, so he looks totally different than this picture here.
Harvey also has several siblings, here is one. You know it's always the first child that gets all the press.
A couple of shots of the garden on August 2nd. (how did it get to be August?)
The melon covers pulled back to allow the bees to do their thing.

Here is the enemy of our garden Sleeping with another enemy of our garden.

Here is the enemy of our garden wishing they were paying more attention to that tall skinny guy with the camera.

We have dozens of peppers, all types and sizes. The bell peppers you see here are from seeds my wife saved last year. A lot of things in the garden come from those seeds she saved last year. The bulk of our garden next year will be from seeds she saved this year. My wife is not only a seed eater but a seed saver too! She's kind of "seedy" but I like "seedy."

This is one of the favorite parts of the garden for me. The compost pile. I can put everything in here and there are millions of hungry critters just waiting to turn it into rich soil for us. Last Spring I put all the old sensitive tax papers, banking statements and such in this box. It works better than a shredder. Two months later we were feeding it to our garden. I think Harvey the watermelon could do our taxes after all that financial information went into the melon patch.

Our table has never been without cut flowers. My wife makes everything so beautiful.

Last but not least, in the kitchen this morning these three cabaleros were thinking of making salsa out of this lone tomato. I didn't want to get involved. I hope the tomato came out of it ok.