The results of Edible Alley have far and away exceeded my expectations!

This is what it looks like if you’re sitting on the southwest corner, just outside of it! Now it’s surrounded on all sides with flowers, but inside, it’s just as lush and green.

The Snap Peas and Tenderbeans are coming non-stop. I harvest at least this much every couple days.

And I’m bringing in at least two decent-sized cucumbers every other day. Before I headed to Mom’s, I took four of them, sliced them up and put them in some cider vinegar in a large pickling jar for Dad.

The new strawberry plants are doing well. The critters beat me to them about 70 percent of the time, but I did manage a nice little haul for myself the other day. I don’t bother with any sort of protection for them. I just munch them when I see them ripe enough.

My squash tripled in size while I was gone, and there are several flower. I have to get out there and tie this one up the ladder so it can start growing vertically. So far, I seem to have kept that Borer Beetle at bay.

The garlic seems to be a bust – though the leaves started to yellow, the bulbs I dug up were no bigger than the cloves I planted. That’s okay – we’ll plant some this fall, and see if we make out better with that.

The carrots beside them seem to be doing well. We are still well off from a carrot harvest of any type though.

The chives are growing slowly, but they are growing. I suspect next year that the pot will be nice and full. Same with the catnip. There are some robust little sprouts in there now.

But the real success story…

Is my INSANE tomato plant. There are actually two plants there. On the left, you can just see the cage surrounding one plant… but on the right…. well that monster is just taking over!!! It’s almost as tall as me (I’m 5’7″). That box it’s in is 3′ x 3′. And it’s almost taken over the whole thing. It’s planted in the left corner, but the plant almost completely fills the box!!!! The poor asparagus are almost completely shadowed.

I’ve grown some robust tomato plants in my time… but never one this quite robust. But I have one small complaint…

Those AREN’T Grape tomatoes. I don’t eat tomatoes. Dave does, but he can’t eat too many, because the acid bothers him. I like to stick to cherry tomatoes because he can happily snack on them without too much trouble.

The garden centre was out of cherry tomatoes when I went this year, but I though grape tomatoes would be the next best thing. But it appears my specimen was mislabeled!

No idea what they are or how big they will get. But one thing is for sure – I’m going to need to find lots of people to share them with – because this plant is COVERED in them!

First, thank you for all the well wished for Rupert. Everything went well and we picked him up late in the afternoon.

As you can see, it looks quite grizzly, but it should heal nicely. We have lots of good pain killers and some antibiotics to keep him nice and comfy while he recuperates. As you can imagine, he’s not speaking to me. And I imagine he’ll find some way to pay me back… but in the end he will be more comfortable.

Now… onto business…

Summer is quickly passing, and I have to admit, having the long lens on my camera has been a game changer for my daily “bug hunts”

I’m still using my phone for the majority of my photos, just for the convenience factor. But the long lens makes chasing butterflies soooooo much easier!

Normally, I’d have to sneak up on the butterflies, get as close as I can with the phone, and just hope they stay there. Then, when looking at the photos on the computer, I’d zoom in as much as possible, hoping there were enough pixels for a decent photo.

For butterflies like the Monarchs and Red Admirals, that was fairly easy. They seem to be much more brave than other butterflies. Especially those Red Admirals – they seem to really like to land ON me almost as much as the flowers.

But for the Red Spotted Purples…

Getting close enough was always a bit of a challenge. Side views were always a little easier, but full open back shots – much harder.

And then there’s the Meadow Fritillary.. Nearly impossible to get with the phone, because they just don’t let you close.

But with the long lens, I can stand back 10 feet and just snap away

Even the Cabbage Whites, which are so common, are hard to capture because they rarely sit still long enough.

But with the long, lens I can capture a little butterfly fore-play!

And of course, the long lens means I can get shots that would be impossible with my phone

Like this Monarch well above my head in the maple tree.

Of course, it’s not just butterflies it helps me capture.

These big ass Carpenter Bees are pretty easier to photo, but the long lens get me much more detail!

Same with this Bumbler, and honeybee incoming.

Or the face of a moth only a mother could love!

Or the magical clear wings and fuzzy body of a Snowberry Clearwing Moth. It’s related to the Hummingbird Clearwing (who visits our butterfly bushes as well), just a little smaller with slightly different colours. I’m hoping I’ll be able to capture an actual Hummingbird with the camera soon… they visit regularly – just never when I have the camera handy!

And I saved the best for last…

This wee baby bun was far too wary to get close to with the phone, but the long lens let him stay safe under the holly bush while I snapped away!

This camera and lens was definitely worth the price of admission!

Please send your good thoughts for dear Rupert today. This morning I’m dropping him off at the vet for a little surgery.

He’s had a benign cyst on his neck since I adopted him. At first it was nothing to worry about, but it’s been slowly growing. Before I went to Mom’s on the weekend, I was contemplating booking him an appointment to see if we should do anything about it.

When I got home on Sunday, the cyst was VERY noticeable from a distance (which it wasn’t before – as it hid in his fur). When I felt it, it was about four times bigger than it had been when I left, and I could tell it was just basically a fluid-filled sac.

Monday was a holiday here, but I was definitely going to call the vet on Tuesday. But, Monday afternoon, I checked on him in the bedroom and noticed the quilt was wet… it didn’t take long to discover the cyst had ruptured.

Thankfully, it was mostly just clear fluid, and I got him cleaned up and put some anti-biotic ointment on it. And first thing Tuesday, I called the vet and they asked me to bring him that afternoon.

The gave him another cleaning, and some antibiotics, and asked me to bring him back in on Friday. So today they are going to clean everything out, and do a little surgery to make sure the cyst doesn’t come back and he doesn’t get an infection. They are also cleaning his teeth, since they have to put him under for the cyst – kind of a two for one deal!

But he should be home in the afternoon, a little mad at me, but much better off!

Today’s quilt FO is the smallest of the projects I took to Mom’s.

You will recall, this was a mystery quilt along with the Fat Quarter Shop. It was such a fun little project, and I have lot of fabric left from the line. In fact, I have quite a collection of Hallowe’en fabrics now, so there’s definitely going to be more spooky projects in the future!

In the meantime, this one is being tucked away until October 1st – then it’s going right up on the wall! I’m not wishing summer away, but I do love Hallowe’en!

And so does our fluffy Master of Mystery!

The dastardly duo took it in turns the other night to help me get the binding done on the next quilt

And this one has some serious wow factor! This was the quilt-along with the Sewcialites on Facebook. They had a very cool, elaborate layout for this one, but it would have made my quilt 90 inches square. I opted for something smaller (this one is 60″ square) and simpler, and I’m glad I did.

It’s just wild and crazy with all those bright colours and busy prints.

The main line of fabrics I used was called “Catmosphere”, and I fussy cut cats in the centre of blocks where ever I could!

And the colourful cat theme continues right over to the back with this fabulous backing fabric!

This one is also in the shop… just waiting for a new home (maybe one with a cat or two!)

It was a very successful quilting weekend at Mom’s, but this first quilt I have to share – I didn’t actually quilt!

Although I’d planned to do my usual loops and swirls on it, once I pulled it out of the bag at Mom’s we both agreed it was the perfect quilt for some custom quilting. I left it in her capable hands, and as always, she did and amazing job.

She stuck with swirls on the cream background, and went fancy in each block. And I think the results are fantastic.

For the back and binding, I found two fabrics that were just perfect at Connecting Threads (during my infamous dino fabric debacle!)

This was my Stay-At-Home-Round-Robin quilt for this year, and it’s definitely my favourite so far! While blue and orange are definitely not my usual covers, there was something about this collection (called Indigo and Cheddar) that I just had to have! I am just sooooo thrilled with everything about this quilt.

If I had a room in these colours in the house – I’d probably keep it! But I don’t…. so you’ve got a chance to make it yours if you are so inclined… it’s in the shop now!

Although it happens every year, I’m always in awe of the few plants in the garden that are just awash in blooms

Coneflowers are always good candidates for this, but these two are especially spectacular this.

Tickseeds are also notorious for it, but Crazy Cayenne is just blowing me away. It’s right at the sidewalk too so it’s a great sight for passersby.

The Yarrow is also fantastic for this. The blooms start, and they just don’t stop. They fade to that creamy colour (the dark pink is how they start out) and they just last and last with more blooming all the time.

The Prairie Coneflower blooms are pretty enough on their own… but they look amazing in this huge bunch!

The daylilies are all doing amazing this year, but none so much as Crimson Pirate! Just look at all those flowers. Remember, these blooms only last a day! And every day it looks like this!

Amazing!

Did you know that bees sleep?

Every night, after the sun has gone behind the trees, I walk through the garden with a bowl of soapy water. I’m in search of Japanese beetles – they hang out on the leaves and flowers of their favourite plants, and in the evening, they are less active, and easier to knock into the bowl of water. I don’t know if it actually helps keep them under control…. some days it seems like it does, and other days…. I fill the bowl after just a couple of plants!

Anyway, as I’m doing that, I often come across other insects at rest.

Some times they are napping by themselves.

But more often than not, I find them in pairs.

It’s there anything cuter than a pair of sleepy bee bums?

As you read this, I’m at Mom’s quilting away. I will have several finished quilt posts next week, but for now, let’s take a stroll around the garden and see what’s new.

The Black-Eyed Susans are blooming and this small patch was a small few roots I brought from the townhouse. Last year, it go shaded out by the Cherry Brandy Susans. But they are biennials, and the big plants died off over winter – they gave me some new seedlings which will blooms soon, but they are much smaller, so this one had some room to shine.

To me, Susans are the sign that we are on the downside of summer. They make up for it by blooming right until the first frost. Because of this, I added two new plants to other garden (out front and around Edible Alley) and have a bunch of other seedling to plant out. They help bring that colour right to the bitter end of the gardening season.

I certainly didn’t expect it since, I just planted it this year, but my Rose of Sharon “Marina” has bloomed. And you can see there are quite a few buds. The shrub is still quite small and low to the ground, but I just love that etheral blurple!

Caroline de Monaco, Quicksilver and Good as Gold are the only roses blooming right now, but Chicago Peace, Chrysler Imperial, and Prairie Princess are all budded up. I’m very excited about that last one as she’s the newest rose and I haven’t seen her blooms in person yet.

I can’t remember if I showed you the Sundrop plant I got this year. A woman in Strathroy was having a little plant sale in her yard. I’ve never seen Sundrops at the nurseries, so I was happy to pick this one up.

All of the Butterfly Bushes are in bloom now. I have four.

Black Knight, Royal Red, Queen of Hearts, , and White Profusion. I am starting to see more butterflies, but it still doesn’t feel like a many as last year.

What we do have a lot of are wasps…

Especially this Great Golden Sand Digger wasps. I won’t go as far as to say they are “aggressive” but they are big. And they do like to fly right at you! If you are uncomfortable around bees or wasps, these are not the wasp for you. Personally, I don’t mind them. And neither do the monarch caterpillars, who are sharing the Swamp Milkweed.

This guy has plumbed up nicely, and if I’m not mistaken he should be pretty close to getting ready to go off and make a chrysalis. I’ve been keeping the mulberry in the catio trimmed right to the trunk this year, so I doubt I’ll get to stumble onto another cocoon like last year… but who knows… he might set up shop in the Butterfly bush.

I call this one…”Lemmy discovers existential dread”

I feel you Lemmy. I feel you.