I have my herb garden done, though I'd still like to add some lavender, mint, and chives.

I have two kinds of basil, rosemary (my rosemary lived all winter!), two kinds of parsley, cilantro, catnip, sage, thyme and oregano. This is the first year I've actually had parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme!

Past the herbs is one of the grape plants we are trying out this year. I didn't think grapes could grow here, but when mom was looking at houses, one of them had a deck overrun with green grapes, and these claim to be okay for our area. We will see.

Around the Mary statue there were my magnificent black (really deepest purple) tulips. They have passed on, so I will get a picture next year.

I still have to plant the veggie beds, but at least I got things started!


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Today Corey and I went and got gypsy_raihana's old raised bed from her apartment and moved it over here. We also brought over a few of her sunflowers that were in it, because they were lonely, and I have a crop of sunflowers for them to hang out with!

It was rough work getting it all set up, and we were both sweaty and tired but it looks so nice out there. It's too dark to take a picture, I'll put one up tomorrow. We also went up to Lowe's and bought some marigolds, since I don't have time to grow them -- the squashbugs kinda freaked me out a little. They have a bunch of their plants on sale for the end of the season, I wanted a bunch of things but I decided to just buy one very pretty butterfly bush for the front area. It has deep purple flowers and I love it. Plus, it's called Black Night. I thought that was cool.

I may go back and get another hibiscus though, they had a lovely peach one that I fell in love with.

Oh man, I still have the creepy crawlies!

I went out to check on the beds and debated pulling up one of the squash plants that looked like it was near death. Then I took a closer look and saw that it was infested with squashbugs! Ahhhhh!

I sat down and started crushing each one by hand, and I thought I was doing pretty well until I flipped one of the leaves and saw nearly a hundred little babies, and several more egg clusters. The other squash plants seemed fine, so I just pulled the plant up, smashed every last one of those little bastards (sorry, there's no love here for bugs!)and took the remains of the plant out to the burn pile. I gave another check in the bed but didn't see any. I'm pretty sure they'll be back. This is the bed I have not planted marigolds in, and believe me, I'll be getting some soon! I read online that if I keep a small board laid flat in the bed, squashbugs will sleep under it at night and I can kill them in the morning. I'll be doing that too. Little fuckers.

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This morning I finally got to ride my new bicycle!

If you haven't seen my spiffy bike (I won it in a sweepstakes, the only real prize I've ever won!)

You can see it here:

http://www.electrabike.com/06_new/flash_index.html

It a men's Townie 3S, in charcoal shimmer.

Yep, I've had my beautiful/fabulous/sweet Electra bike for ages now but haven't been able to get a riding buddy so it's been sitting. Corey and I went out to Cedars this morning and rode on the roads there, maybe about 2 miles. My bike rides like a Caddy on clouds, I swear. I've never been on a bike that comfortable. If you want a nice bike and you have the cash, Electras are supersweet.

I am completely out of shape aerobically though. I was huffing like a big bad wolf over a couple of those hills, and for a second I thought I had overdone it! I think the combination of heavy menstrual day and congested sinuses had a big part in that too though. Two miles isn't that big of a deal, but the hills were much steeper than I thought, and while my muscles were willing, my lungs were not! Anyway, we are going to go to Don Fox park tomorrow morning since that's flat--provided my muscles are able to move! I still have class tonight too.


So hey, how about some gardening pictures?

Look! A green pepper! OMG! (and big horse feet in the background.)

This lovely flower is a type of hibiscus called Luna. So yeah, I had to buy it. It's really beautiful, but I've since brought it inside, it doesn't seem to like the sun, regardless of what the tag says.


( More shots from my garden, my very first one! )