[ gardening ] :: garden update

Sadly, I haven't done a whole lot in the garden this week. The Hubs was out of town and I had to grade tests all week...yuck!

We did get a new little sprinkler for the garden bed, as well as 10 bags of dirt (yay!). The garden is looking a little crap-tastic at the moment. Check it out:

I'll fill in that hole tomorrow and plant my Brussels sprouts. I was going to pull my pepper plants since they started dropping flowers last week, but since the weather has been dry and in the 80's all week, they've started producing again. My okra plants are making monster size fruit (8-10" long) that got so big I fed them to the dogs. They had a nice vegetable snack yesterday afternoon.

My sugar snap peas are super happy...I can't believe how fast they grow.

And my rashes are looking radish-y (finally!). I'm growing French Breakfast Radishes and Red Cherry Radishes. I was hoping that the radish greens would be good for cooking, but they're really fuzzy and not too appetizing.

Gardening wouldn't be complete without my Demon Dogs. They got so busted last night when we came home from the Duluth Fall Festival. As we pulled up the driveway, we saw this little guy bolt out from under our back gate. We call him Little Dog.

Sometimes the Demon Dogs have unauthorized dog parties and Little Dog squeezes under the gate or through the fence (our dogs are just too big to get through), and has a blast with my pups. He also comes in through the doggie door, too. Unfortunately, his owners don't put a collar or ID tag on him (so I can't return him to his owners) and he likes to go on freedom runs to my house. Whatever. He's a sweet pup.

But look at what these a**holes did. Remember those 9 pounds of apples I got from Aldi? They pulled a 3 lb bag off of the kitchen counter (somehow) and dragged them out into the yard. I'm also missing a bag of bananas, so they had quite a little feast!

Look, ma! Green balls.

I was going to see if I could salvage any of the apples, but they all had puncture marks or bites taken out of them. Typical. Granny Smith apples are Emma's favorite.

This one has the good flavor.

As mad as I want to be, the whole this is really comical. They have dog parties and get into shenanigans. They eat fruit. Weirdos!

On the positive side of things, the Demon Dogs went to the vet yesterday. He said they look really good (ideal weight, glossy coat, very active), and it's probably due to the insane amount of fruits and veggies they eat. I think the dogs are just sticking to doctor's orders. Who can blame them?

- Maggie White