Gone Feral In Idaho

Five years ago we started to try gardening. We had a large yard and decided to think outside the box and plant vegetables everywhere. I went to the local nursery and asked if tomatoes would grow in a flower bed (yes, I understand how goofy that sounds now). They told me I could if it got enough sun and I proudly exclaimed that we were going to make really good use of the yard and skip flowers and only grow edibles. Thank goodness the people at Edwards taught me that flowers attract beneficial insects into the garden and ignoring them might not be the best idea. I left with two small flowering perennials that day.  The thing we've learned over the past several years is that flowers attract a lot of good insects, but water is AMAZING for honeybees. Last year I was  worried to have 5-6 honey bees drinking regularly . This season is so dry we have at least 20 at a time. I've gotten used to them and we've had no problems. We do need to teach Lucy to not bother them as she...

I am trying to patiently wait for Kyle to finish mowing so I can get this tank set up. More photos to follow. It is early in the season. We have 5 fish left, floating water lettuce, dwarf pink generic water lily- divided into two plants, Walter Pagels white water lily divided into two plants, Black Taro, Pink Cana, underwater water sprite and two other oxygenators. Corkscrew rush needs to be re potted before putting into the lower tank. Obviously the planters need grasses to help shade and add movement with summer breezes. This is about 250 gallons of stock tank pond in all. I can't wait to find our new home and move this setup in a garden room corner. We got two Black Moor goldfish that are currently hiding in crannies in the sheep tank. I repotted the Corkscrew Rush, Black Colossus, and a pink Canna in plain clay kitty litter and covered that with aquarium gravel. This was my first time using kitty litter and I'm quite pleased. 

The wildfire smoke has been horrible this year, the worst in my 10+ years in Boise. The heat has been pretty bad as well. At least its a dry heat? Walter Pagels  First multiple bloom on the pink lily  Multi-colored tomatoes Tomato pergola in full swing

We got our first tomato harvest on Sunday. These are (not quite ripe) White Queens, Honey Bunch, and an Egg Yolk. Since then we've gotten a few Pearly Pinks and a Black Cherry, but I ate them before getting pictures. I turned them into a little salad by cutting them up, lightly salting in a colander to get extra moisture out, then tossed them with oregano, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This is one of my favorite ways to eat tomatoes. My other fave is with a few drops of truffle oil, basil, and fresh mozzarella. To me cucumber salad and tomato salad are the epitome of the taste of summer. Forget hamburgers, home grown tomatoes with a few simple ingredients are the best on a hot day. I also had the bright idea of building a tomato pergola. We knew the plants would reach far above their 6' stakes, so we made a trellis for them to grow across before we cut off the growing tips in about a month. So far I am keeping all my tomatoes pruned to only two vines per plant and ...

This is one of the ways I retain my relative sanity, the other two are gardening and haunting.