Two months later...

I got back from my two-month road trip yesterday morning, fearing for a disastrous garden. But this time I was pleasantly surprised: Kevin had taking over the responsibility of watering the garden quite well!

There were a few casualties, though. The more northern Fuji Apple tree died, as well as my Turkey fig tree. There weren't as many tomatoes as I had hoped, although we do have a few large Beef Eaters ready for picking. All the apricots had been eaten by the birds but there were blueberries and strawberries ready!

And I'm amazed at how many BIG peppers we got this year, bigger than last year. Perhaps they need deep pots after all, as all the large fruit are in five-gallon pots. We will definitely overwinter those potted plants for next year!

Weeds weren't so bad, either. I only had to pull out one Russian thistle (tumbleweed) and a few young desert brooms. The rest are small weeds that I can pull a little every day unless they go to flower. My attention will be to pull out the Johnson Love grass growing everywhere. That stuff is as persistent as a Muslim insurgent.

We hadn't had the rain like we did last year. The Burmuda grass grew in nicely but there are still patchy areas that need special attention. I will focus on that this week, so that grass can grow there before the season ends.

Kevin harvested some of the Russet potatoes. Some were grape size, which I told him where best left in the soil for regrowth. It looks like some of the plants are ready for harvesting.

"Those potato plants were so beautiful when they were in bloom" said Kevin. I'm sorry I missed that.

My Quinalt strawberries are doing very, very well. Some have already multiplied, which means next year the older plants will bear fruit. Those plants do like shade and deep soil.

"I really like those turnips and beets!" said Kevin. Those are his favorite. But next to the turnips is a naked area, eaten away by large grubs that the thrashers (birds) had been digging after. They left their burying holes quite visibly in the open. What I don't want is another infestation of beetles in August like last year.

Corn is ready for harvest. So are some beans.

As for the front yard, things are looking good. The Jujube tree has fruit and it indeed does taste like dates. Perhaps I'll plant the Jujube where the fig tree once grew.

Some of the heliopsis have died (yeah!) and I already pulled out the dead ones. I'm not sure what I want to plant in their place instead; I haven't spent a lot of money on new plants for the front yard this year, knowing I was going to be gone this summer. I do like sage and lavender, though.

The mulberry tree is growing nicely in the pot on the southside. I may transplant that tree next spring somewhere in the garden. The mesquite tree is looking great and so is the smaller yellow palo verde, an offshoot of its mother plant that now is bearing seed pods.

The blue palo verde, ever the rebel tree in the front yard, FINALLY realized it needs to grow UP rather than out like a shrub. That tree may just be the front yard's center piece in a few years.

The Argentinian saguaro under the larger tree is about three feet tall now. Its sibling under the other tree hasn't grown as fast.