Bits and Pieces

It Has been a slow couple of weeks with temperatures in the 30C range. Too hot to do much outside other than watering the garden and taking drives. This is our new flower garden/ pumpkin patch  somewhere in there ,there are pumpkins growing.

We also had a good crop of sunflowers. If you look close, you will see a bee sleeping through the +6C night. The sun warmed him up and he continued on with his pollinating.

There was a cocky Magpie in our neighbour's Mountain Ash tree watching me very closely.

Elaine finally finished her most elaborate crochet project to date...a baby blanket.

I may have posted this Kingfisher with crayfish before, but I like the shot.

More and more mule deer are coming out to feed, and likely to get away from the mosquitos.

The old crow found something tasty, at least for him

The doe Mule Deer look healthy

This family of ducks is also looking good

The Great Blue Heron thought I couldn't see him!  just couldn't get closer.

Garden Progression

At the start of the year the garden looked a little sparse. This was the first year here for the raised bed plots.

 It kept getting better and better as the year went on

 The potatoes (to the left) grew and grew. It is likely I planted too many as the yield is about 15:1, or about a 150 pounds. That is a lot of spuds for two people!

 They are now dying off at a fast rate.

 The pumpkins and squash slightly over grew the bed! It appears we have 6 pumpkins in the patch. The medium one is 11 pounds, the largest about 25 and the rest around 6 pounds. There are many spaghetti squash hidden in the foliage.

We are fighting nightly frost. It has come close 3 times, but nothing yet. The patch gets covered over at night. There are going to be lots of pumpkin pies once they ripen! I need 2 more weeks of above freezing temperatures, or we will be trying to ripen them in the house.

Surprise!

In this mess of leaves  I found a few surprises. I was rooting around wondering what could be in there, and I found a bunch.

 This big one was completely hidden by the foliage. I cleared some away to let the sun at it to ripen. It is about 14 inches tall, and probably the biggest pumpkin we have ever grown!

 They were all hidden from view.

 There must be about 6 pumpkins and 8 or 9 spaghetti squash. 

I see lots of pies and meals in the near future!

The Dog Days of Summer!

The summer is almost over and the crops are close to being harvested. 

 This  is our pumpkin etc. patch. It has produced far too many Zucchinis and now is getting close to Spaghetti Squash time. (see above) There are also many basketball size pumpkins in there. It is hard to see them due to the foliage. The benefits of well composed horse manure continue to amaze me.

 A trip to the dog park was in order today.Daphne chased the Kong until she dropped, then went for a swim, then back to the off leash section to dry off.

  When her tongue hits the ground, it's time for a rest!

 Brooklyn is, well, Brooklyn. She doesn't run much anymore but still loves to swim

 She has just lost the last of her winter hair. Go figure!