Garden Pictures for the beginning of August

I'll start with the front of the house. This is the first of the beds. I've got Allysum growing in there along with garden oregano, a couple volunteer cherry tomatoes, yellow four-o'clocks, Cannas without blooms (I don't think I'll have any blooms this year as the sunflowers are shading them too much), Autumn Joy Sedum, zinnias and bachelor's buttons, and you can see the rock garden at the front edge of this bed. I overplanted this bed intentionally as it's going to be widened next year and another will be added on the opposite side of the stairs which will be coming down in front instead of on the side as they are now. I'll need to fill those beds in!

Here is the Peach tree we planted out front this year. It's coming along nicely:



This is the retaining wall we rebuilt this spring. In an upcoming post I'll show you before & after pictures and some of the work in progress. The beds behind the retaining wall were empty. We've planted Black Beauty Elder, Red Spirea, Persian cat mint, Autumn Joy sedum, Pinks (Dianthus), several annuals: salvia, Allysum, a pretty purple flower I can't name (shown after this picture), another that I cannot recall what it was, a couple different petunias (one was killed by the vicious, evil bindweed).


Those pretty purple flowers I cannot name. They're an annual. They were rescued from NoFrills for twenty-five cents apeice. They are lovely and I'd like to grow them again.

Remember that Ajuga bed I planted this spring? I thought it would take a couple years to completely fill in. It is doing its job of battling the weeds. Some try to poke through, but they're not flourishing, that's for sure! As you can see along the right-hand side of this bed, the neighbor's weeds are flourishing. I believe I'm going to plant his trough out with Ajuga next spring. (That's a lovely blue Hydrangea at the back edge of the Ajuga. It has a twin farther up in the bed whose flowers are pink. They weren't pink when I purchased it. I'll have to see what's up with that.)


Speaking of weeds....BINDWEED has been the bane of my gardening existence this year. We stirred up its root system when we rebuilt the retaining wall and I am extensively battling it this year. I am having success and I will dedicate another post to the topic. I did, however, lose a petunia to this evil, vile stuff. Take a look at it all over my black beauty elder:

And all over my Lady's Mantle. Yes, my Lady's Mantle looks sickly. It was transplanted in June when the heat was on. It'll come back next year nicely.



Now we're off to the back yard.....

Would you like a solution for cats who crap in your gardens? One that doesn't involve illegal activities or high-speed projectiles? Our solution is in the next picture. We have Brussell's sprouts in this plot. They were newly planted after the peas finished, but the cats were making us miserable. So we surrounded it and covered the top with bird netting (I know you can't see it in the photo.) Next cat who tries to jump in there is in for a big surprise. Grrrrrr....

A project in progress. Anyone want to place bets on whether it will be finished this year? I really shouldn't put hubby on to so many projects in one season. He has built me two new raised beds, rebuilt theretaining wall, installed the rocks in the rock garden, cut the barrell for the water garden & also filled it, built the supports for our vertical gardening, built us a rain barrell, and oh my I know I'm probably forgetting a thing or two. So I don't mind if it takes him all summer and part of fall to complete our garbage surround (made from a salvaged gazebo frame .) You can tell it's going to be lovely when he's done (ignore the weeds please):

Our Memorial Bed has gone nuts. Some of these plants are growing to be placed into the front beds next year. It's not been a memorial bed this year, it's been a "nursery." The sunflowers are 10 feet tall. The chinese lanterns (contained in a half whiskey barrell) have gone nuts. The daisy overwhelmed my gold mound spirea despite the 18 inches between them. The calendula is crazy and yes, there's another cherry tomato in there too.

The front of the bean tee pee:

The back of the bean tee pee:

Lots of green tomatoes. These are cherries. Compare them in size to the beefsteak. Yes, the beefsteak are small, but the cherries are HUGE:


The Romas look nice...GREEN...but nice:


This is part of our pepper patch. Click on the picture to see a larger version. I'm not sure if those rounded ones are cherry bombs or not. Even green, they're still hot:


Oh, and I guess I'll show you one of my gardening failures this year. This planter dries out quite readily. The potting soil I used is not helping this situation. Holes at the bottom drain as soon as water hits the soil. It's ridiculous really. Next year I'll add some stuff to help it retain more moisture. Sorry the picture is so low quality. It's the only one I took, so we're stuck with it.