Dear Carol and Mary Ann, et al., Can you believe we've reached week 17 in our vegetable journey? This week is all about bugs.  With the extremely warm weather, the insects both good and bad are doing their bit in the garden.  I don't yet have squash bugs (I hate to type that for fear that I will jinx the poor zucchini), but I do have squash vine bores which are almost as bad.  Now, I didn't take a photo of the damage because I was up to my waders in muck from the rain soaked soil and weeds.  I was afraid I would get dirt in my lens.  I already broke one Nikon lens this week, and if this other one goes down, I am lost.  Squash vine borers are a real drag because the stupid moth lays an egg inside the leaf stems or the vine itself, and...

I am sorry to say that I've gotten out of the habit of doing my Sunday Stroll with Aisling from the Quiet Country House.  On Sundays, I have family commitments.  I often miss the stroll, and it is one of my favorite memes on the blogosphere.  So, this week, I'm going to stroll on Saturday instead.  I hope Aisling won't mind. Above, I took this photo of H. 'Indian Giver' which is a small diploid, meaning it has two identical sets of chromozones in each cell.   Ever since hybridizers discovered how to treat daylily seeds with colchicine, we now have tetraploids.  Thus, daylilies are divided into dips and tets.  I like both for different reasons.  H. 'Indian Giver' is a favorite because its bloom possesses the delicate dip form with shades of both lavender and purple.  The colors in this photo accurately represent 'Indian Giver' (one of the first daylilies...

Dear Carol and Mary Ann (and all of our gardening friends), I do believe this is the latest I've prepared my weekly gardening letter.  As you know, it was delayed because my mom had surgery Monday, and I was preoccupied the day before.  I started this letter at the hospital, but couldn't concentrate enough to finish. Here's what I wrote: I'm at the hospital.  Waiting.  In the 20 years since my mother's car accident, my sister, Mom's best friend, Shirley, and I have become professional waiters.  I have a bag filled with fruit and gluten and dairy free snacks, including Vienna sausages (I know gross, but they are "safe") and dark chocolate.  Really good dark chocolate.  Dark chocolate is an essential antidote to waiting I think. But, back to the garden wherein peace doth reign. Everything is growing, but we're still in a holding pattern.  Above, you can see the...

It is a sad truth at my red dirt plot that there is never enough compost despite the fact that I have two bins, another homemade chicken wire contraption, and five shredded leaf piles. Every year, I must go to Edmond Feed (Farmer's Grain) and purchase Back to Nature as supplemental compost. Well, I hope this contraption will eliminate those extra trips.  In March, Chris from Organic Compost Tumbler sent me this compost tumbler for review.  When the tumbler arrived, it needed assembly which wasn't super difficult.  I did need HH's assistance, so I would say it is at least a one woman and one man assembly deal.   I also needed his help to carry it to the backyard. I received the 9.5 cubic foot tumbler, which is made entirely of recycled materials.  This tumbler sells for $285.95 with free shipping.  There is also a 7.3 cubic foot tumbler for...