What's Blooming in My Garden?

Took pictures of some of the plants that are blooming yesterday.

Red Velvet Yarrow:



Pink Primrose



Crocosmia Lucifer



Red Bee Balm



White Bee Balm


Black Eyed Susans (a variety that doesn't have black centers)


Borage



Calendula


White Butterfly Bush with Hummingbird Bug


Lavender Hyssop



One great thing about our house is that the previous owners put bird houses everywhere, which saved me some time and money.

Orange Trumpet Vine Growing up an Old Tree

Skunk Rangling & the 4th of July

When you live in the country you never know what kind of wildlife you may encounter on a daily basis. On this particular day, it was a hungry skunk that had roamed into my parents garage trying to eat dog food. I pulled in their driveway and could smell it before even getting out of the car- whew! Well, their black lab Bingo was relentlessly chasing the skunk in the garage. So, I go in for the removal. The best idea I could come up with was to scoop him up on the snow shovel using a broom. It worked and luckily we made it out without me getting skunked!



Headed out to watch fireworks last night. I was able to capture a few good pictures with my phone. Feels like summer is moving so fast and I have many things I still want to do before it ends. Going out to look for chickweed today.

Salad Spinner: Must have for your greens

This is the salad spinner and a best friend to the veggie gardener! I never really understand what it was good for until this year. We are growing lettuce and all kinds of mixed greens in the garden. Right now, I can go out and pick enough to make myself a huge salad everyday and it's heaven! The only problem is the greens can get really gritty and dirty, I mean really gritty.


I take the little basket part out to the garden and gather what I want to eat. I give them a quick rinse with the faucet attachment. Then I put the basket inside the salad spinner, put the lid on and start cleaning the greens. In the picture at the top, you'll see a hole where running water from the faucet goes. Then you use the little crank to spin the basket around. All the greens go out to the sides to get washed and the spinning motion dries them off when you're done washing. Super invention!

I put my chives, greens, salad burnet, basils, cilantro and purslane together. It makes a wonderful salad and I grew it all myself so I know it's pesticide free!