Gone Feral In Idaho

The incessant heat is driving me bonkers. I am looking toward fall, just one evening when I need to wear a hoodie seems a dream, never possible. I have begun to toil and shovel up the tons of gravel lining every edge of the lawn wheelbarrow full by wheelbarrow full at bit each day. We went to the botanical garden yesterday to see what is working at the end of summer in the intense heat. We finally have proudly become household members for the first time as well. The Bot. garden here is small, but neatly planned and I hope to see it grow. This time of year I miss the Chicago Botanical Gardens- oh what an Eden.   The back yard is still completely in experimental phase that I am certain will continue as long as we do. My proud Costco purchase was our second "bone daddy" featured on the rickety bench. I have half a heart to leave him out there and let the deadly morning glories overcome him. I'm sure I'll hate myself when I have to cut him out this fall, but I love th...

 The bicycle planter is filling out The tomato plant on the left is officially over my head. We'll need a ladder to harvest the ones from the top. The tomato "pergolas" are getting set up. We grow single vine tomatoes. Every sucker gets removed to leave only one vine. This style of growing them has worked well for us in the past.   Yes, another shot of "Indigo Rose". They are hard as rocks, so no ripe ones yet. Once they get soft I'll give them a gentle twist each day until they gently break off.  The Japanese Black Trifele plants look like they are going to produce tons. These were listed as determinate, so we are growing two vines on each plant. This is Red Zebra, you can already see the stripes. These are the Green Zebra's.

 The view from the patio is pretty nice right now. One day we'll have proper patio furniture.  This year I grew 10 different tomatoes. This is Indigo Rose a "blue" tomato. The plant itself is pretty blue and you can see where the sun hits the skin it also turns blue.  All the plants are flowering now. The alliums are kaput and I'll cut them down this weekend. The bicycle planter is starting to take off with the summer planting.

I'll post a step by step on this project once I get my ducks in a row, but I'm loving our bicycle planter.