Ok gardeners… need your help on this one.  Our second go at squash is going great, actually our second go at squash & cucumbers.  But these are getting a bit bigger and actually they look to have buds coming in.  All pretty cool…

Now, on with the problem or questions or whatever…

Check the picture below.

I show you this picture first, not to ask if those are buds, but for you to look at the leaves close up.  See how they have those highly defined viens of white.  Is this normal?  I will show you the other picture from farther away and it almost looks white for the most part.  This has us worried since it is already getting late in the season and have yet to pull anything off in regards to squash.  Do we have a disease?  It doesn’t look like all the pics we have looked at of powdery mildew… but we lean on you guys to help us out.

So what do you think?  Here is a pic of it from a bit further away.  We are not sure the exact type of squash at the moment but could find out.  I didn’t feel it was some super rare kinda - picked it up at just a local store.  Anyhow tell us what you think.

Tags: Gardening, Pictures by James
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Once again it has been awhile since I graced our blog, the last time was June 18th to be exact.  It’s not that I don’t love our blog and everyone elses that I read, it’s just that James is the writer of the family so I let him write while I do all of the watering, babying, picture taking, pruning, planting and all the other hard work.   He gets off extremely easy if you ask me!  Ignore those posts about that tree, I’m the one doing all the work but I choose to let him take credit, he needs to feel like a man!

Ok, ok back to the blooming.

As James posted a couple of days ago, we had nice rain this weekend and it has really helped all of the plants.  I did water a little bit yesterday so that things didn’t completely dry out.  Our weather has been quiet unusual and the overcast, cool days are a nice change.  Our plants are loving it and are showing us some great blooms.

First off is MY celebrity tomato plant.  I picked it out because it looked like a great plant, actually I liked the name but whatever the reason was it has been growing good and is finally putting off some blooms.  We haven’t had many tomato blooms and I think that it is due to the extremely hot weather, but with the cool front came these blooms.  Maybe it will stay cool enough for a couple more to show up.

Next, our first pink canna bloom.  The yellow one bloomed what seems like forever ago so I was excited to see these blooms.  You can see behind the flower that there is a whole bunch of them just waiting to burst open. 

We have posted quiet a few up close 4 oclock pictures but none of the whole flower bed full of them so I tried to snap some pictures last night.  We call these our 7:30 oclocks because that is about the time they bloom.  I had never noticed their scent until last night.  It isn’t very strong but is very sweet and nice.   These flowers have quickly become one of my favorite things in the yard.  They require very little water, are sturdy so they stand up against west Texas wind and they are beautiful when in full bloom.

I hope that everyone has a very fun and safe 4th of July weekend.  Our weekend is already booked and we plan to enjoy every minute of it!

Tags: Gardening, Pictures by Shala
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As many of you know, I worked on getting our dead tree down this past weekend.  Really my plan was to just get the small stuff cut down, so that one weekend we could really get after it and take the big ones down.

Well… when you get going on those type of things, you just don’t want to stop.  So I worked for about 4 hours Saturday straight and had half the tree down.  The problem with this is the fact that I had no real intention of cutting down the big stuff so here was about a ton of wood laying on the ground and all I had was a pole saw to chop it up with.

Not cool.

Our friend Chris said he would help out, but I don’t think he knew what he was walking into, when he showed up he looked at it all and went straight for the beer.  I don’t blame him, I was half drunk by that time anyhow.  The massive amounts of wood that had to be cut up and stacked seemed to force a man to drinking.

If there was a plus side, most of the stuff was pretty dead - so it could be broke just with a swift kick.  So after a long break (it started acting like it was going to storm), we started in on it again.  Chris busted ass to get most of the small stuff broke down while I cut up the larger stuff with the pole saw.  It was sorta like beating in a nail with a wrench -but it did the job.

After about 2 more hours of work, we had most of it cleaned up and decided that a chainsaw would do the best work so most of the big stuff laid waiting.

Yesterday (Monday) I got out there about 5:30PM and started hacking away at everything again.  Took down two HUGE limbs and some smaller ones as well.  Got them chopped up, along with some more from the days before and began stacking once again.  HOLY HELL IT IS A LOT OF WOOD!  HAVE I MENTIONED THAT!

So after 4 more hours yesterday, here is what we are left with - and hopefully today I can finish it up without many problems.  Lets hope anyhow.  Actually here is a picture of the tree prior to trimming, after trimming and then the wood pile created so far.

Below you can see what it looks like as of this morning…

Then of course the wood pile, now remember there are about 6-7 huge limbs on the ground as well, not part of that.

Tags: Gardening, Living Green, Pictures by James
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Ok - our favorite game around here, Name That Plant.  My Mom & Stepdad were in the Beaumont, TX area this past week and she said these plants where growing in the bar-ditches along the road.  I am not sure if she snatched one up or just wanted to know so she could buy one at a later date - but she sent an email asking if our group could help figure this one out.

So put on your gardening/plant identifying/master hats and help a sista (my Mom) out.  Check the pic below… if you have other questions, just leave them in the comments and I will make sure the Mother tries to answer them as quickly as possible, if possible.  Thanks in advance.

Tags: Gardening, Pictures by James
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We are on day two of nonstop rain.  I hope our plants do not decide to drown or better yet I hope they do not get used to this rain we have had - because if this year is like any other year, this will be the majority of our rainfall.  Only crammed into 3 days.

Saturday about 6 or 7 PM it started to rain.  It was nice and unexpected, in fact it cooled off rather quickly - which screamed hail to me… but that wasn’t the case.  Apparently a “cold front” had dipped down and we were experience real rain!  RAIN!  No crazy winds and thunderstorms that were capable of producing softball size hail… no sudden downbursts… just rain.

A pleasant surprise.

Well Shala was out of town, and so when I got up on Sunday morning it was still raining - again kind of surreal for us… but happily I accepted the fact and tried to persuade the dogs that they would not melt if a drop hit them.  Shala flew in after noon and so I picked her up and it was still raining.  Well, sprinkling.

This continued pretty much the rest of the day and when I hopped up to take the dogs out this morning… RAINING.  What is going on… really… we are worried that we have stepped into Seattle by accident or something.  Very strange deal.

Our dogs are sitting under the porch wondering what the hell has gotten into us, creating all this rain and stuff.  Shala said Mikey ventured out into the yard this morning tippy-toeing around.  He is such a girl.  Izzy on the other hand thinks God is trying to spray her with the waterhose or something and just runs like crazy if she makes it out, then slides back under the porch.  She will never make it as a water dog/retriever… sad.

I did get a crapload done on the tree - but haven’t taken pics just yet.  Will try and get some taken today and posted as soon as possible.  Hoping to finish it up this week - will be a big chore off the ever-growing list.  Yay. 

Happy Monday everyone… wish we could share some of these temps and rain with everyone else.

Perfect chance for some “rain” inspired music right?  Why not…

Rain - Beatles

Like The Rain - Clint Black

Songs About Rain - Gary Allan

No Rain - Blind Melon

November Rain - Guns N Roses

Have You Ever Seen The Rain - CCR

Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain - Willie Nelson

I’m No Stranger To The Rain - Keith Whitley

The Rain - Missy Elliot

**UPDATED**

Let It Rain - Eric Clapton (suggested by Kate - the manic gardener)

Tags: Gardening, Personal by James
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