Garden in Mid-June

We have been working a ton in the garden this past month.  Everything is growing and will soon be in full glory.  This has been the place for some great parties these past weeks as well (maybe more pictures to follow).  Anyway, enjoy these pictures of our little paradise and if you want a tour, come on over! 

Our very own pergola which lights up at night.

The Meyer Lemon is in full bloom and smells amazing!  Come January we will have about 10 pounds of lemons.  When life gives you lemons...

Peppers, peas, tomatoes, onions, squash & herb garden.

Standard and purple tomatillos are already in bloom!

80 onions in the middle on each box.  We will trellis the squash up the sides.  We have blue and green Hubbard, spaghetti, zucchini, Casper pumpkins, and butternut. 

Garden peas with string beans coming up right behind.

Something new, potato box.  The box progressively gets taller as the potatoes grow.  We grow them in straw to keep them clean and for easier harvesting.  They are super late in the ground but I hope we get enough. 

More Garden Photos

The shade garden has been a life savor on hot days.  It is a nice  and cool seating area. 

Another view, we can't wait to see this in mid-August and the end of the season.

All together we have 34 different tomatoes.  Mostly heirlooms and a couple hybrids.  We love heirloom seeds because they are easy to keep from year to year.  That is another blog post for sure.  Plus this year we should have red, pink, purple, orange, white, black, and green tomatoes.

Small cherry tomatoes of the back door. 

A few of the herb garbage cans made it to the new house as well and are in full glory. 

Our first harvest of peas.  Our favorites are Lincoln Garden peas.  They are dark green and sweet.

Working in the Yard

When we start working in the yard we really get, "We're really doing this moments!?!?"  Especially because Joe is a control freak and Alex is also a tad of a control freak.  But one thing we have in common is our love of just having everything looking tip top shape.  Our new house had a great yard with not a lot of plan to it so we have come up with PLAN and the plan.  The PLAN is a couple years out and the plan is what we are doing this year.  So far in the plan we are adding a shade garden, pergola garden, vegetable garden in raised beds, perennial flowers, two fruit trees, and new chicken coop.  That seems like a lot and it is, again, really these are the moments that make up seemed cracked out on gardening love.  It is sad when the nurseries call us and make fun of us for being there a couple times a week.  

Start of the garden boxes in our backyard.

One day, Macy and Abby will share a chicken dinner.  Just not today. 

Alex is taking apart an old swing set.  We have taken some of the pieces of the set and incorporated into our garden.  Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. 

The chickens got out to help the clean up as well.  They love to eat our bugs and we love them to do it. 

Off topic, Joe helped out our bestie, Laurel catch a swarm at her house.  Alex was taking pictures and watching out for bees so he didn't get a sting.  He is allergic.   

Look at the cool cone.  It was awesome.

Joe all suited up!

Coming up with an action plan.  Notice Laurel's coolness and my tension. 

Laurel carrying part of the swarm to the new hive.  While I am making sure a bee didn't land on my neck.  I was the hero because I put the lid on the super and didn't crush the queen. 

Vacation in the Caribbean

We needed a well deserved vacation so we decided to rebook our cruise. Instead of returning to the Baja as originally planned we changed to the Caribbean. We went on Carnival, which is okay if you like kids and you think fancy dress is maxi dress.  Although the drink specials were fantastic and the ports were perfect for what we wanted.  We also met some nice people, made some new friends, and relaxed! So mission accomplished. Enjoy the photos and the mini-stories.

Joe's first time swimming with the sting rays in Antigua. 

Huge ficus!

We went to the botanical gardens in Tortola because they canceled our shore excursion.

 

Of course the only other gay couple on the boat was assigned to our table.  We made great friends and had fun laughs.  This is Alex and Michael from Atlanta, Georgia.

Joe sitting with the queen.  I think she needs to close her legs, they are wide open. 

Alex also got an audience with Queen Elizabeth.