As always… edible gardening comes with it’s ups and downs.

Down: One of the watermelons ended up with blossom end rot – a large mush brown spot on it’s end. I had to toss it.

Up: I still have two mini-Mike melons that are looking great!

Down: The cantelope and honey dew melons haven’t produced one single fruit, though there are lots of flowers. Even if they do – this late in the game it’s unlikely they will ripen.

Up: In the middle of that melon bed is an unplanned potato plants that is looking lush and green and will hopefully provide me with a better potato harvest than the laundry basket did!

Down: I noticed some yellowing carrot greens and pulled them…

And I discovered a few mushy, rotten carrots. Not sure what caused it, but I pulled them so they hopfully won’t infect an other carrots.

Still down: Those carrot starts I bought to try are resulting in carrots that look like this (and quite a few of them are producing split carrots):

Up: But they are still edible, and I’ve learned that they are right when they say you should just start carrots from seed. And learning something is always a win in my book!

Down: After bragging that the White Cabbage Butterflies had been staying away from my cabbages… Is started finding these guys last week!

Up: They are mostly going for the outer leaves and the inner heads seem to still be intact. And the Cabbages still look gorgeous. And I seem to be able to stay on top of the little green boogers with hand picking.

Other Up: I planted dill among the cabbage, as it’s said to attract parasitic wasps that help keep the White Cabbage butterflies in check…

I don’t know if it’s working, but it’s pretty, and it smells amazing! I may just plant some among the flower beds for fun!

Down: once again I’m not having a great cucumber year.

My plants got started late, and now they are overrun with cucumber beetles. They seem to have completely destroyed one of the plants.

Up: The zucchini and yellow squash are making up for it.

Other ups…

I’ve already got enough blackberries for two batches of jam, with lots more coming!

I’m quickly getting overrun with beans (despite saying the other week I’d planted the exact right amount!). I’ve got a giant ziploc bag in the fridge waiting to be blanched, and frozen in to dinner portions for the winter.

The birdhouse gourds are doing amazing! I’m going to have to find a safe place for them to dry over winter so I can make some birdhouses for next year!

And last, I’ll leave you with a little laugh.

I have a gnome that hangs from a little swing on the squash tunnel. Over winter, someone ate his swing ropes so I had to replace them with thick twine. Apparently I didnt get the knots tied quite good enough, because he started to fall.

But if you look closety, the tendrils from the birdhouse gourds decided to save the day before he hit the ground!

I am so happy to announce that both of my Maypop are blooming beautifully.

Like all passionflowers, the blooms only last one day. But they are glorious in full flower. Now.. you may recall that I said I was waiting for the pink one to bloom… and that one on the left is decidedly purple in my view.

Now.. one of three things happened.. either I got the species version (not a hybrid) which is purple, this is a pink “variation” which apparently can happen (though pink is used loosely in this case), or the website grossly misled with their photos.

This is the picture from the website. Now.. based on internet descriptions, I think I got the species version – specifically because they mention the banded fringe, which mine has the pink advertised one doesn’t seem to have.

Either way they are stunning and I’m so glad I added them to my collection of native plants. It’s unlikely I’ll get any fruit this year, or if I do that it will have time to ripen. But as the roots mature, they will put out bigger, stronger vines, and more flowers each year. I’ve got them growing up the east side of the catio fence, so they will provide a nice bit of morning shade to the boys during one of their favorite times to be outside.

Another stunner is this beautiful dahlia! It’s called Wizard of Oz, and it’s a ball dahlia. It will get paler as the bloom matures, and becomes reminiscent of Glinda’s gown. I have three of these plants. Two are still in pots, and I need to get them out in the garden. And then remember to dig the tubers up before the frost!

Sunflowers continue to brighten our days. And let me tell you – I am never having a garden without sunflowers ever again! They are just so cheerful!

Chopping Back the False Sunflower in the front garden has really let the Pink Princess Butterfly bush shine. As you see, she had very full, large panicles of flowers. They only other butterfly bush I have that compares in size, is White Profusion, which is out back on the back fence.

I know I gushed about my spotted bee balm before, but I really just can’t get over how wonderful it is! I want MORE of it!

I recently cut back my perennial sweet peas, and they’ve rewarded me with another flush of flowers. I have two colours – a bold pink, and this lovely white with touches of mauve! The perennial sweet peas don’t’ have any scent, but I find them much easier to grow than the annual ones.

The days are noticeably shorter, and the nights are getting cooler….

Soon enough the 2026 garden will come to an end. But for now, we’re just going to sit and soak up the beauty!

If cats took School pictures, this would be Furby’s.

Finally!

Burton was back on the job for the last few nights, making sure I stayed in my chair and got the Broken Seed Stitch Socks done.

I cast these back on at the end of May. And here were are three months later. It should not have taken me that long to finish them. They are short. The seed stitch is only on ever other row, and once you get in a rhythm, it goes pretty fast.

No… the reason they took so long was simply I didn’t pick them up and actually work on them. There’s just been too many other things to do.

But they are done now. They are already off the blockers and on my feet as I type. Now that the A/C is back and working properly, the house is nice and icy – and so are my feet!

In truth, they are a touch big and I should have gone down to 60 stitches like I normally do with socks for me. I thought I’d done 64 on my original pair, but they fit more snuggly than these.

Here’s the details:

Pattern: Broken Seed Stitch Socks

Needles: 2.5 mm

Yarns: Grey Multi: Gathering Wool (don’t know the line); Black: Regia 4 ply.

Notes: Other than making them shorties, pattern knit as written.

I do want to make another pair of these, with the black and a bright multi – I think it would look like fabulous stained glass. But for now I think I need something a little more mindless. I still have a half a ball of the grey left, and I can probaly eek a pair of vanilla anklets out of it. I’d like to see how it knits up on its own, unbroken by the black yarn.

We had a mostly lazy weekend and I don’t feel like I really accomplished much of what I wanted. But Burton and I spend a good part of Sunday tackling a task I’ve been been putting off.

Some long overdue alterations to some recent dress purchases.

There’s a store, that I love, called Torrid. They make beautiful, stylish clothing for plus-sized ladies like me. And quite a few of them are made from 100% cotton – which I don’t need to tell you, can be very hard to find these days. They also put POCKETS in most of their dresses. And let me tell you, I’m never buying a dress without pockets EVER again!!!!

So when I get a dress delivered, and it’s not quite right, I’m more than willing to make some alterations to make it suit me better. (And thankfully capable, thanks to a Mom who taught me how to ply a needle and thread)

This dress is a prime example. I’m not a super big fan of halter next dresses. I find the bother my neck. Otherwise, I absolutely loved the style, and the print. So I bought this dress knowing that I could turn those ties into two regular shoulder straps pretty easily. What I wasn’t so sure of was that opening at the back. Don’t get me started on WHY it’s open at the back… let alone on a plus-size dress. But I tried to have an open mind and see how it looked on my body. In the end, it did exactly what I thought it would do, and highlighted my back chub in the MOST unflattering way. So it got sewn up by hand, as well.

On not one, but TWO versions of the dress (green floral and this lovely dark purple). The dress is much more wearable now.

The next dress was a little easier. I bought this dress last year in a different print. While I absolutely love it and feel like a total princess in it, the big bows on my shoulders just looked silly, not to mention they drove me nuts, catching on my hair, earrings, anything that got near them. I turned them into regular straps instead of tie up straps, and the dress was absolutely perfect. When this print came up last month, I just had to have it too. So like the first, one, I turned those tie up straps into solid, sewn straps.

This next dress is part of their “Retro Chic” line. It’s green, and covered in cute little foxes. Of course, I had to have it! I have several dresses from this line, and love them all (they also make crinolines to wear under them to give them extra poof so of course, I bought a few colours.) But for some unfathomable reason, they decided NOT to put strap adjusters on this one. It wasn’t a surprise that the straps were too long for me, but at least it was an easy fix.

This last dress is the third one I’ve bought in this style (I have a turquoise floral and a black/brown plaid). And while the dress is super cute, classic and oh-so-wearable, they all have the same problem – the back hangs too low, showing the top of my bra strap. And while I can’t see it unless I look in the mirror, knowing it’s showing drives me absolutely crazy. The fix involved unpicking the casing on each sleeve at the neckline, shortening the elastic, and sewing it all back up. Easy enough, but very time consuming.

So, that’s five new dresses to add to my closet, already overflowing with dresses. But the one who dies with the most dresses wins, right?

I didn’t get quite as far as I’d hoped on my little Woodland Fairy

But I did get that first wing filled in. To be honest, I spent a fair amount of time dithering over colours to use. I went off script from the very start, using whatever I had in my floss box.

It’s a fair departure from the original, but I quite like it. Of course, looking at them side by side made me realize, I’d completely forgotten about the deer! It’s not just one wing and the fox and then I’m done.. there’s a deer too! Oh dear!

Don’t tell Burton though…

The four colours of Essex Linen we ordered for our next project came in on Friday. And as you can see, he’s eager to begin. I guess he’ll just have to wait a little while longer!

Miss Freya arrived on Thursday evening, as scheduled.

She hung out under the dining room table until she got her bearings. But it didn’t take her long to start bossing the boys around, before making a beeline for the catio.

The catio is definitely her happy place!

Lemmy, of course, kept a very close eye on her, to make sure she didn’t disturb any of his favourite plants.

With her settled in, Dave and I headed out to get some groceries and dinner. And while we were having dinner, I got a text from Freya’s Dad. Sadly, they had to cancel their trip. They were headed to B.C, and the current state of the wild fires made heading that way a bad idea. He said he’d be home on the weekend and would pick the little Miss up when he got settled and unpacked again.

In the end, he picked her up late Saturday afternoon, so we only got her company for about 48 hrs. But we loved every minute of it.

Freya’s Dad is hoping to reschedule the trip in a few weeks or so, fires depending. So we will get more time with her, even is this visit was short and sweet.

While the veg garden has definitely had it’s ups and downs, things are looking pretty good here mid august.

On my last veg post, Dee remarked that she didn’t realize zuchinis start out fuzzy. Indeed they do! And they grow fast. Here’s that same zuchini – just a week later! A day or so away from picking size!

The Bird House Gourds start out fuzzy too. In fact, every part of this plant is soft and fuzzy! It’s really the most lovely plant. And it looks like we may end up with a bumper crop of gourds!

My cabbages are getting prettier and prettier by the day. As you can see, they are starting to take on almost a seafoam green colour. I bought these as starters from the garden centre, and I have no idea what variety they are! Apparently this is normal though… According to google: “Almost all purple cabbage varieties (such as ‘Red Acre’ or ‘Ruby Ball’) naturally grow with greenish, slate-gray, or dusty blue outer wrapper leaves. These large outer leaves act as solar panels to photosynthesize and feed the plant.”

They are starting to get a nice, tight little head in the centre.

Cucumber production is a bit slow, but Cucamelon is not! I’m getting a little bowl full of these guys pretty much every day. I told KathyB last week that Cucamelons are a great alternative to growing cucumbers if you don’t have a lot of space. Put them in a pot, add a small trellis for them to grow up and they will be happy as a clam! They are great for salads – just slice them in half, throw them in – they are the perfect size! (and you may recall, you can also pickle them!)

The Swiss Chard got off to a very slow start, but it’s starting to look better now.

You will recall that I lost the first crop of peppers, but they have bounced back and I now have three. They are still small, but it’s better than nothing!

And we have tomatoes… they aren’t ripe yet, but they are there! I’d say they are only about a week or so behind where tomatoes usually are here (at least in my experience).

The most recent carrots have been… interesting.

While they are nice and thick… they are very short! I thought this might be down to variety…. but it looks like it’s more likely down to watering. AS you know, there’s hasn’t been a lot of rain. I have been watering, but apparently not deeply enough. That means they didn’t grow down, but instead stayed near the surface where there was more moisture. Something to keep in mind for next year.

It doesn’t affect their taste – just the length!

And last…

Here’s a quick melon check in! The three beauties on the ladder are growing nicely!

Here are my favourite things blooming right now.

My “Marina” blue Rose of Sharon. I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of Rose of Sharon, but this blue one has been an exception since the moment I spied it at the garden centre. I’m so glad I bought it.

“Velvet Queen” sunflowers are always a favourite!

I mentioned in my critter post that all the Butterfly Bushes are in bloom. Here we have (L-R) Queen of Hearts, Princess Pink, and Buzz Lavender. Not seen are Royal Red, Black Knight and White Profusion.

The first flush of Red Hot Pokers is done. I cut the off and we often get this second flush. They are usually shorter, lesser, but just as vibrant. I acutally picked up two more on clearance and planted them in the front gardens – they are one of the plants that get the most comments from neighbours. Everyone wants to know what they are!

The Common Milkweed, and Swamp Milkweed are done blooming, but this orange one (commonly known as Butterfly Weed) is just getting started. It’s much smaller than the other two, but it’s just as pretty.

My one and only hydrangea is blooming. Hydrangea is another plant I’m not super font of… but this one, called Little Lime Light is definitely an exception. It starts off bright white then slowly changes to a very vibrant pink. It’s fascinating. It’s also the perfect plant for the edge of the yard just under the maple.

I showed these Strawberry Blonde Marigolds last week. And I just love them more and more each day! I am definitely going to be saving seeds.

I’ve got a few late-blooming Stargazer Lilies. It’s hard to get showier than these guys!

And last… the first Maypop (Native Passionflower) has bloomed! There’s still a pink one to come, but isn’t that white one a stunner? Mother Nature really outdid herself with this plant! These were by far my most expensive plant purchase this year (almost $40 each) but this makes it all worth it!

There’s just something so magical about orange cats outside.

Maybe it’s how well they go with all the green in the yard!

And… in other exciting news!

The Marshmallow has returned!!!

Freya is here for two weeks while her Dad drives to B.C. and back!