dead or alive

I had so much fun with my yard in the spring. Less so in the summer. What with no rain and water restrictions the soil got so dry that weeds couldn't be pulled out without tools and considerable effort. We were allowed to water on a schedule, from a hose only- no sprinklers. That meant standing around letting the mosquitoes gorge themselves on my ankles, so nothing much ever got watered. What I'd tended so frequently, as I puttered around watching the boys play, soon became crowded with weeds and limp or brown from the heat. I do that every summer. While I love seeing what can happen when a garden is tended with love (such as at Faire Garden), in the fall I have this:



grass: Ha Ha Ha! We grow dust and straw. The positioning of the basketball hoop does not help.



annuals: A joke. I found one tiny bloom to prove that they aren't quite dead. No water, no attention, no love.





tomatoes: They must have been planted only for our amusement. We've eaten less than a dozen cherry tomatoes and even fewer of the others. This planter feeds the chipmunks- even my gargoyle doesn't scare them off.













cantaloupe: There is no time for our only fruit I'm afraid. Cooler weather will kill it before it grows and ripens. I wish we'd planted cucumbers, but they'd probably be dead too. I'm an optimist today, I know.

Swiss chard: The leaves are about two inches long. They look like seedlings but have been around since early early spring.











purple hyacinth bean vine: They grew ok but the leaves are eaten full of holes.




gourd: The sprawling vine grew from our compost heap. I think it was the best thing we grew this year. Aren't the colors and shape wonderful?