I've been picking away at the veggie garden over the last week or two. The direct-sown peas haven't sprouted yet - soon, I hope. I've plopped out some of my wintersown Buttercrunch, Romaine, and Red Sails lettuce, as well as some ws German chamomile. I've planted out about 250 onion plants I ordered from Dixondale Farms this year. Now I'm starting in on the potatoes - about 2 pounds planted, about 8 more to go! Have several varieties of hardneck garlic coming up from a November planting, and a big bed of shallots because we love cooking with them. As always, I've rather underestimated the amount of room things are going to need. But that's a great excuse to start making more beds! I've got 2 tiny little two-day-old Stupice tomato sprouts - still waiting on all the other varieties. Lots of ws herbs, flowers, greens, and other goodies still to go out. They're awfully small, but my first couple transplants are very happy, so I'll step up the planting-out phase soon. My resolution this year is to keep a faithful garden journal, so that next year I'll remember what sprouted when, and what I learned from my mistakes (of which there are always plenty). I'm also doing a lot of reading about what to plant to attract specific beneficial insects, and which companion plants help repel certain pests. Dh and kids think my obsessive bug research is a little odd. Oh, well... they're probably right! I wish you well in your veggie garden endeavors. I'll be thinking of you as I putter about in mine! Maybe if you put a bed of your favorite perennials (or annuals or herbs or whatever your favorite is!) in your veggie garden, you'll visit it more often and have more fun while you're there. You'll also have fewer pests, since the flowers will attract beneficial bugs to help control the bad bugs... Nightingale :o)

I think I'll try growing some Gaillardia in my little veggie patch. "Another North American native known as "Indian Blanket" or "Blanket Flower" (Gaillardia pulchella) was effective in controlling southern root knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) on sweet potato. Tissue extracts of Indian Blanket were lethal to various plant-parasitic nematodes but were innocuous to free-living nematodes. Root exudates of Indian Blanket were lethal to mobile juvenals of M. incognita and were inhibitory to the hatch of eggs at concentrations of 250 parts per million or higher. Indian Blanket could be used to manage southern root knot nematode as a rotation crop, a co-planted crop, or a soil amendment to control root-knot nematode. (Tsay et al., 2004)"

LOVE the grandkids stories! Hehehe. I just love 'em! Tabby makes me laugh all the time. She's SO entertaining. Grandkids are just the BEST!! Betsy, it makes me crazy when the nurseries mislabel stuff. Sometimes all you have to go on is what they tell you, and if they tell you WRONG, well...that stinks! But your photo is definitely not grandiflora. I've grown 4 types of thunbergia in recent years. Grandiflora (blue sky vine), battescombei (purple thunbergia), erecta (King's mantel) and alata (black eyed Susan vine). Of those, grandiflora is definitely my favorite, just due to the wonderful vigor of the vine. The blooms on ALL of them are beautiful. Erecta is a small-leafed, upright shrub with blooms that are similar in color and size to yours. It's a wonderful little shrub, topping out at about 4 feet, I believe. At least, mine's never gotten taller than that. I think thunbergias in general are terrific plants! Marcia

Yeah. That aint no little pepper patch. It is a farm, to me. Anyway, that is awesome. I can see a lot of ripe pods poking at me. Enjoy the heat !