Oh NOOOOOOOOOO....... tomato blight.

I was going to rename this "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow" but alas, my name isn't Mary. 

We have suffered the slings and arrows that Mother Nature has thrown at us over the past few weeks, tomato blight, cabbage worms, torrential downpours, high wind and hungry puppies.  We have also had some great moments:

.

Potatoes growing taller than me (5'3") and
the Yukon Gems are about ready to harvest..... that's

the potting shed (old greenhouse) in the background.

Corn about 3 ft tall (not pictured because I take lousy pictures).  Because it is such a small patch of corn, I will have to hand pollinate them when the time comes.  If everything goes right, we should have 25-30 ears of corn for the family.  Yippee. 

Squash blossoms that Shiner hasn't eaten (he uprooted and ate 3 whole plants)......  Who knew dogs could be vegetarians.  He has also demolished most of the spinach and one container of sweet potatoes.  I promise I do really feed him. 

There are the cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.  The individual plants are about 2 feet across and I've learned that next year, I need to space them out.  Unlike what Chef Michael Simon says, some things can't be smushed together. 

The Golden Sun Sweet tomatoes are about

ready to eat and they are naturally yellow.

I don't know if my husband will really

eat a tomato that  isn't red. 

Here are the newest additions to Chateau Willow.  Silkie hens.  The pretty one is Silkie and the not-so-pretty one is Sweetems.  She pretties up a little every day.  (You did know "pretties up" is a verb in Texas, didn't you?)




Again, I feel like the woman in the old Mervyn's commercial ("open, open, open") and kids when you travel ("are we there yet").  I didn't realize that a couple of months really meant A COUPLE OF MONTHS.  You cannot rush or mess with Mother Nature.  A lesson that Monsanto should take to heart.  (I shouldn't complain about Monsanto, they gave my son a small scholarship for college.) 

In our instant gratification world, slowing down to nature's speed is calming to the heart and spirit.  Something we should learn to appreciate and embrace.

SO...... I'm off to "watch my garden grow".