Pretty combination.  Double Knockout rose, Maynight Salvia, daylily, and heuchera.

 A surprise volunteer.  I haven't grown coreopsis in two years.  I used to grow Tequila Sunrise.  A lovely dwarf variety with variegated foliage.  It only survived about 3 years.  Two years later...surprise.  What a fun plant to pop up in the crack between the house and sidewalk.

 My dwarf Alberta spruce has had issues since I planted it last summer.  Lots of browning along the bottom and huge sections died off.  Since we had such a severe drought last season, I figured that I must not have been supplementing it enough with moisture.  Turns out, mites are most likely the continuing problem.  Check out all the webbing.  Ugh.

 Guacamole hosta shaded with pink and white azaleas.

 My Golden Delicious apple tree had some funky leaves.  I peeked inside to find lots of ants and aphids.  Yum.

 After unrolling the leaf, here's what was inside.  Where are the ladybugs when you need them?

 Felix Crousse peony with my new birdhouse in the far back (left side).  We just put the birdhouse up today.  I can't wait to see if we get some curious renters.

 Fat N Sassy peppers are loving the heat today.  The Kennebec potatoes are doing well in their containers.  I will have to fill them up the rest of the way with soil now that they are tall enough.

 Reliance grapes are starting to form.

 The entire vine.  Now I only hope I can keep the birds away from them this season.  They ate EVERY grape OVERNIGHT last season.  EVERY GRAPE!

 Ville de Lyon clematis gracing the porch.

 Navaho blackberries are blooming their hearts out.

 Raspberries are already in bloom!

Double Knockout Rose.

Four of my 10 tomatoes.  Clockwise starting at the top left: Sandul Moldovan, Sun Gold, Sun Gold, and Kellogg's Breakfast.

My composters in back.  Mixed strawberry varieties in the raised bed in front of them.  The front bed is Music garlic and Kennebec potatoes.

 Caroline raspberry plants.  3'x3' bed.  I planted only THREE plants here in the fall.

My Fat N' Sassy (King Arthur) bell peppers.  This is a 3'x3' raised bed.  I placed one pepper in every square foot.  This spacing works beautifully for me each season.

Oh yeah!   It was just as sweet as it looked!  Best year for strawberries yet!

Potato Planting

It's time for potatoes! Well, in containers anyway. Tonight there is a freeze warning. They are calling for temperatures around 27 with a Real Feel of 19!. Yikes. We haven't seen weather like that in a while. No worries. The potatoes can easily be protected on my porch for the night. The first step was to thoroughly moisten some peat moss. The peat is important for keeping the pH low enough to prevent scab on the future potatoes. I dumped peat in one of the large containers and poured tons of water on it. You have to keep stirring and mixing it. The peat is very hydrophobic at first. It takes a while for it to start to accept the water. Just keep mixing....and mixing....and mixing.
Once the peat was thoroughly moistened, I filled each large container 1/4 of the way with the peat. It's pretty moist (as you can see), but then I filled the containers to the half way mark with potting soil and left over top soil. Mixed it well, and in went the potatoes. In this case I planted Kennebec potatoes that I found a Walmart yesterday. One large seed potato went in each container. Each had about 4-5 eyes that were already sprouting. I pointed those points upward and gently covered with the soil. Once the plants reach up over the rim, I will fill up the rest of the container with soil. Boy it feels good to get my hands all dirty!

Harvested the last two potato containers. The potatoes that never died. I planted them back in March or April, and they just kept of going. I think I put 2-3 seed potatoes in each 12" container. Between the two containers, we got around 15 good-sized potatoes. Enough for two meals for the family. I'm definitely going back to only growing potatoes in containers next year. They always yield so much more. And the kids love dumping them out. I have to admit, I do too!

My Darrow blueberry that I found at Lowes a few months ago for $3!!! It's been sitting in it's pot for months, so I planted it today. I'm not too worried about transplant shock since the rootball was still completely intact when I removed it from its container. I have 3 other varieties planted a few feet away for it to cross-pollinate with.Carmine Jewel bush cherry. Arrived in spring as a very small specimen. It was thinner than a pencil. Only about 7" tall and you could see the wrapping of the small plug that they placed in a 2" container. Not nearly worth what I paid for it. Lesson learned about ordering from that company again. Today I planted it in its permanent spot. Again, I'm not too concerned about transplant shock since the rootball stayed intact.Sunshine Blue caryopteris is now in bloom. The bees love it!
Autumn Joy sedum is starting to blush and the bees are really taking notice.
Fireworks goldenrod starting to bloom.
Mystery plant. Just popped up in the newly added section of garden. I'm not sure what it is, but it is getting prettier and prettier each day. Amaranthus?
My back bed. Walker's Low catmint, Autumn Joy sedum, and an aster that is nothing but ugly all season....until just a few days ago when it shot out healthy green foliage. I was going to toss it at the end of the season, but now I think I'll relocate it behind other plants.
Two Caroline raspberry plants are beginning to fill in my 3'x3' raised bed. Oklahoma red zinnia are blooming their hearts out in the bed behind them.
My three Fat N' Sassy bell pepper plants. They made a delicious stuffed pepper supper yesterday.
Oregon Sugar Pod peas. Even though you can eat the whole pod, my daughter insists on still shelling them. Guess I'll go back to just planting shelling peas from now on. I have to admit, I do enjoy popping open the pods and eating those tasty nuggets.
My new raspberry patch. First homegrown raspberries ever. Fall Gold and Carolines.
One of several containers of potatoes that never died. After weeks and weeks of drought, then flooding rains, these potatoes don't know what to do. They were planted back in April or May. They should have died back, but I think the potatoes resprouted after all the confusion. I figure I'll wait and see what happens.
The "shell" garden due to its shape. In the back are my tomatoes. Spirit pumpkin in the middle. Sweet basil that overwintered is front and center. Tango celery, that is passed it prime, to the left of that.
My homegrown jack-o-lantern still remains a possibility. The vine produced three nice pumpkins in early August then quickly declined. Luckily, after the drought was finally over, the vine put down new roots and took off for the second time.

Photos of Today's Garden

Cherokee Green, Stupice, and Lucky Cross tomatoes. It rained very hard the night before I picked these, so the big ones cracked. Still tasted good though!My new birdbath! It looks solid, but it's very light-weight. Love it! It's a Pedestal Bird Bath for Wild Birds by Gardman. It says it's frost and weather resistant. At $30 bucks, it felt like a steal.
A portion of my backyard bed. In the front is one Walker's Low nepeta with Autumn Joy sedum behind it. To the left are two "leftover" tomato plants that needed a home. I believe the front one is Stupice. No clue about the other until it matures. The ugly plant on the right is some sort of aster that I purchased from Jung. It's always been ugly. It puts out flowers though, so I think I'll move it in the Spring back behind other plants to hide the hideous foliage.
A few weeks ago the kids started some cabbage, lettuce, and radishes in the empty spots next to the Caroline raspberries that I added in the Spring. A few of the raspberries didn't survive, so now I'm just making the best of the space until the replacements arrive next Spring.
Fiesta del Sol tithonia. I am absolutely in love with this plant. It hasn't even reached two feet high and is so lush and healthy....Love it!!!! It handled the drought and 100+ days without skipping a beat.
Fat 'n Sassy hybrid bell peppers. Now sold under the name King Arthur.
Two more Spirit pumpkins. Some of the Oregon Sugar Pod II peas I started several weeks ago are planted along the front edge of the bed.
Winona Strawberries that were planted this Spring. They are sending out runners and filling in nicely.
Common milkweed that I started from seed in late winter.
Carmine Jewel bush cherry that I just purchased this Spring. The tips appeared to have some sort of blight in the beginning of the season, so they were cut back a bit to remove the funny looking foliage and stems. Now it's putting on some new, healthy growth. I will be transplanting it in the fall to its permanent position in the garden.
Yukon Gold and Red Norland potatoes that are just starting to show signs of dying back.

A portion of my Red Norland and Yukon Gold harvest. I planted about 6 to 8 seed potatoes in a 2 x 3 foot space in a raised bed. I know the drought and extreme heat this summer impacted their numbers. I also found it tough to find the time to water as often as they needed. Even still, the ones we did get looked very healthy and colorful. Next season I am going back to growing them in 3 gallon containers like last season. My containers get much more regular watering than anything in the ground. They did really well last season. Even still, these will taste great in the slow cooker tomorrow night with a roast. Doesn't everything taste better when it was grown in your own garden?

Bumblebee on bolting Golden Acre cabbage flowers.My bed of Yukon Gold and Red Norland potatoes. There are two Mucho Nacho jalapeno and two Fat N' Sassy pepper plants in the bed. Yesterday I added more straw mulch around the growing potatoes to keep them from turning green. Then I added even more straw around the strawberry plants to keep the berries away from the soil.
I purchased seed for Common Milkweed. Asclepias syriaca. Only one of them germinated. I hope it not only survives, but thrives and multiplies.Nepeta Walkers Low. It may be low but it sure isn't petite. This ONE plant that I added last summer is at least 4 feet wide. This is after I used a shovel to slice off a large chunk to plant out front. The bumblebees are absolutely loving it!Yesterday I placed some clothespins on the dwarf fruit trees I planted in the fall. It may not be attractive, but it will help with maintaining wide angles for the scaffolds. This is my dwarf Golden Delicious apple tree.I found apple aphid clusters on the new foliage of this apple tree. Their buddy, an ant, was hanging out with them. I didn't want to dig out the hose and haul it around the house to blast them off with water. I couldn't find my spray bottle either. What to do? Improvise. My kids' squirt guns came in handy. Not as good as a hose, but it slowly worked.