Photos by Brooke

Latest garden pictures.  My garden is growing crazy.  Today I pulled the sweet peas.  They were still slowly producing but they were blocking the sunlight from other plants and they were encouraging the squirrels...  Those buggers were splitting the pods open on the vine and leaving them empty...  And since my garden is so creature friendly they were constantly burying things in the mulch pathways.  I'm not sure that squirrels have any benefit to the garden.

I also trimmed up my broccoli that had gone to seed.  It's from over a year ago and it just went to seed in February?  Something like that.  The bees and butterfly's love the tiny yellow flowers and so I leave it for them.  My broccoli planted in January is still producing.  Tomatoes are getting huge and they all have flowers and small firm green  tomatoes the size of my thumb.  Onions are growing well.  All herbs doing fantastic.  Pulled the last of my beets today and still have a few carrots.  They aren't really growing but they aren't bolting either so I am leaving them in the ground.  I think I water everything deeply enough that it helps prevent bolting of the carrots and broccoli.  I'm still getting strawberries but the birds typically beat me to them.  It's okay, the birds also help keep down any hint of a pest  problem.

I've had a bit of a slug issue.  Which is surprising.  They are tiny little things but they love the leaves on my broccoli and marigolds (I didn't know ANYTHING ate marigolds).  Favorite pesticide is cups of Miller Beer.  Miller cause it's the least expensive but it's embarrassing to purchase.  I trot through the grocery with my buggy of organic whole foods items and gluten free oats and my Miller.  Oh yea.

I bury my little cups an inch or two in the ground and fill 'em up.  Every day or so I dump out all the dead slugs and refill.  Fresh beer is best, even with slugs.  It's amazing how quickly my beer cups fill up in the shady spots.  If they are left for more than a couple of days a slimy film forms over the top. Somehow this makes it more disgusting.  Oh and as a bonus I sometimes find floating cockroaches also.....  Only in the front flower bed though where it is the most shady and has only marigolds - thankfully nothing I eat.