I started out wanting to “impress” everyone, with my new-fangled attempt to keep the vegan varmints away from my 3-4 remaining ears of corn.  So I covered them with old knee highs and tied the ears to the stalks. We’ll see if I get to eat any of my own corn this year.  Nothing like “airing my dirty laundry in public”….

Here are my latest plantings of bush beans.  The ones on the left, behind the virtually non-existent herbs, were planted around 7/12 — after the retreat, anyway.  The ones on the right were planted a week ago.  I tried the (non-bordered) Square Foot Gardening spacing of 9 per square foot.  I think I counted 26 of the 36 in that 4 square foot area, so far….

(For Mel’s sake, if you look closely enough at the newest plantings, they are divided by rocks & straw to mark off the square feet.  It’s too late in the season to care.  I just want more beans for me and my dog.)

I didn’t mean to insert the picture of my apple tree here, but oh well.  I sprayed it with Neem yesterday, hoping it might repel insects, and work as an antibacterial/antiviral agent, since the tree looks like it’s on its last trunk.  But at least the apples made it to a larger size without falling off so much this year.  And some, probably the ones I actually covered with my homemade garlic spray when they were just forming, look like they might not have worms.  We’ll see, whenever apple picking season starts, if I have any worth eating.

I’ve been thinking about saving my pits & seeds from my various organic fruits, to see if I could grow some fruit trees.  Or I might order some — maybe from the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation which is one of the cruelty-free humanitarian organizations.  Let’s see if this shows up, since I don’t seem to be able to make normal hyperlinks:  #mce_temp_url#http://www.ftpf.org

Here are some miscellaneous shots of various parts of the yard, including the “whole view” of the veggie garden, the Square Foot Garden facing south, the “park” on the corner, and the mail box area on the other side of the driveway.

I decided to post the last picture of my bug-eaten/spent sunflower plants that I bought last May, because I was really surprised that it made one final attempt to bloom.  Maybe I should dead-head the flowers.  Who knows?  Maybe it will grow more.  But the leaves are so badly eaten, that I’m surprised they’re still alive.  I’m sure there is a theological lesson to be gained by reflecting on that picture.

Here’s what I picked on 7/31: