I know. It's been a while. I don't really have an excuse........ Well.. the computer did die, we finally gave it complete transplants and revived it. It has been working well for some time now.....but then life has been ...... well...... life. I've missed you! While I've been gone things have been busy! One daughter and one niece have been married. A son-in-law has graduated from nursing school. Now he and my daughter are moving across the country. Another daughter is moving to Panama with her husband to teach. My oldest son, wife and two grandchildren were visiting from Quebec most of the summer. I finally got to play with my youngest grand kids!!! My youngest son just went off to Marine Boot Camp. (I'm proud and sad). Now I have one daughter left at home. She is into distance running. By the time cross country starts next week, she will have run 300 miles this summer. That's just a few high points. Meanwhile....I'll share a little of what has been going on in the gardens. The top picture is our side entrance in late June.
This is a view from the same entrance looking towards my mom's garden. She is soo talented! Her garden always looks fantastic!
One of my favorites in the back is "Love lies bleeding" aka "Kiss my over the garden fence". It's not what you see in every ones garden. The color is so vibrant. It also dries well.
We have gone from mostly shade in the back to almost full sun. This tree in the reason.
We spent a couple of days in spring cutting it down. It was such a lovely tree, shading the house during the summer and keeping it cool. Unfortunately, it had rotted inside and was mostly hollow. So it had to come down before it fell.
Now we are using the wood for evening fires outside.
Matilda was loving having the garden to herself. We thought she needed some company. And I know I need more eggs. So we have a total of five chickens now. They are almost grown. For the longest time they stayed away from the veggies. Then one day I went out and almost all my greens were gone, and damage to other veggies. I didn't want them to spend all their time in the coop, although it is very roomy.
I took lots of sticks from the tree we cut and pushed them along the edges of the beds. They were easy to move when I needed to work in the beds. It actually worked keeping them out. There were enough bugs and other yummy plants for them to eat in other parts of the yard.
Now I'm harvesting broccoli, cabbage, and beans. It's a busy time canning, freezing, pickling, etc. It's something I really enjoy. I'll share more.
Oh, of course we've had some time camping and enjoying my favorite beach, Oceanside too.
Did I plant enough? I knew I wanted lots. Two plants last year just didn't make enough. Back in May each plant was so small. Twelve plants, two different kinds. That should be enough to dry some and make pesto, I thought. Maybe I should have gotten one more six pack of plants. Ha!This year the plants are sooooo much bigger. They are growing and growing. Maybe it is do to the chicken contribution. I've cut bunches to dry. Yesterday I harvested more. I made 18 batches of pesto to add to what I made earlier. The basil plants are still healthy and growing. I'm sure I will have much more in the end. Did I mention, there have been basil give aways too. There will be more. Anyone live close by??
Then there are the cucumbers. I haven't made pickles in years. I unearthed my old recipes and "put up" a few jars.
The green beans are still going strong. 32 pints. I made a few pints of dilly beans too. The peaches are yummy! Quarts and quarts of peaches are waiting in the pantry for the time in the winter when we want to bring back the taste of summer. Then I've made peach jam and syrup. Maybe I'm doing more this year because most of the kids are gone. Wow, they took up a lot of energy! There will be food in the pantry when they come visiting.
I've been enjoying "putting food up". Each day I've wanted to do something has been a cooler day, in between our heat waves. So it has been enjoyable. There is still lot to do in the garden. It's satisfying. 
