Oh-My-Garden!

I'm so happy, I'm so happy, I'm so happy.  The combination of cooler morning temps and a few days of "free" time gave me the luxury of working on our backyard.   Oh, my aching arms and back.   I may not be able to raise my left arm above my head for a week, but it was worth it.   Check out what our yard looks like now.

This is a plum tree that we planted in front of our porch out front.   The freeze of the last 2 winters finally killed our palms out there, so this is their replacement.   The tree is a Florida variety of plum that gets covered in white blooms in Spring and yields yellow plums in the summer.   Can't wait to see that show.  I also planted 3 pineapple plants in the shells out front since that's the best place for them to get full sun all day long.  We'll see if we get any fruit from them.

These are the two areas along our back fence.   Jeremy's dog, Winston, has worn a path along the fence chasing squirrels that run on top of the fence.  Now there are Sea Grapes and Banana trees planted there and they will fill in and take up several feet of depth leading up to the fence.  I'm hoping they will fill in and create a "second level" below all the foliage of our backyard neighbors tall growth.   Hey, we're going for a "tropical" look here, and that means more native plants.   These should be able to withstand any temperature changes without damage.

This is my first experience growing a fig tree.   I planted him about 5 months ago when he was only a foot tall and now he's over 6 feet!  And look at all the figs.  I had no idea that figs grew at the outcropping of each leaf along the trunk.   I check them every day to see if they are getting ripe because I don't want the squirrels to get them! 

And now, the veggie garden.  Right now it just has a functioning fence around it to keep out Winston.  Hmmm....but I have plans, baby, I have plans to take it to the next level.  More on that later.  (Poor Joel...)

This is just some of the lettuce and tomatoes that are coming up.   I think I've planted 5 different kinds of tomatoes and 3 lettuces.   We love salads at our house.

Cucumbers.....

Pole beans......

Tomatoes and eggplant....

Ok, you knew it was coming, didn't you?   Of course I had a cappuccino out there with me while I worked!   It gives me inspiration.....or something like that.

This is the bed with the pole beans and 3 different kinds of peppers.   Along the fence are the banana trees

and gondolay bean trees.   A gardener from Wilcox Nursery grew them and he is from Puerto Rico.  He planted them for me and taught me when and how to harvest them.     I'll let you know how that goes!

Banana..........

Gondolay  (pronounced like gondola except the ending sounds like lay),  I have no idea how it's spelled so I just spelled it phonetically for us!

Blueberry bushes.....

Herbs galore......

My oregano actually survived the summer heat and is going crazy!   So is the rosemary.   I use herbs from my garden every day when I cook and love to cut them fresh to pop in my recipes.    They are especially good dried in the dehydrator.  Oh, they smell so wonderful!

The aloe plant has gone crazy this year!

Well, that concludes the garden tour for this week.   If I'm really lucky, I'll be painting a lot of fencing this weekend and maybe I'll have pics to show you the finished product in a few days.  Then all that will be left is to bring in some seashell to cover the walkways.  

Happy, happy,

Debbie