I know I said there wouldn’t be any TNT this week because I was headed to Mom’s for the weekend – but there was a little bit of a hiccup… I had been on the highway for about 10 minutes (about 40 minutes into the 2.5 hour drive to Mom’s) and Wilma decided to be a bit of a diva….

The engine started shuddering and hiccupping… and the Check Engine light came on. I know enough about vehicles to know it likely wasn’t catastrophic, but it DEFINITELY wasn’t a good idea to try to get to Mom’s. I got off the highway at the next exit, and limped her home. Dave put his scan tool on it, and determined it was misfiring on one of the cylinders – apparently due to an issue with one of the rocker arms in the engine. It’s not the end of the world – the issue is very fixable, and it’s covered by the warranty. Hopefully it will be taken care of this week.

But it meant I wasn’t going to make it Mom’s and get my quilt done. I was disappointed, but it’s not like I don’t have lots to keep me entertained here.

And as I said yesterday, the heat wave finally broke Sunday morning, so I was able to enjoy a lovely afternoon on the porch with my stitching.

I only spend a couple hours on it, but I was able to get Mr. Moths squishy body and fluffy antennae done!

And I got a chance to put another needled minder to work. Mom gave me this one when she gave me the gnome. Isn’t she cute?

While I might not have loved the obscene heat and humidity (which thankfully broke on Sunday), the edibles sure did…

Top: The baby pumpkins and gourds are all doing quite nicely. Bottom left: The zucchini have exploded. Bottom right: The cucamelons are taking their time and are still quite small – but apparently that’s pretty normal. They get a little bigger every day.

My potatoes have the prettiest little flowers! And you can totally see their relation to tomatoes, and other night shades in the blooms.

The snap peas have really taken off and are climbing the strings nicely. I expect to be enjoying fresh peas in about a month.

The Japanese cucumbers are only just starting to climb, but I expect they will really take off soon.

I got my bean towers in and the beans are filling in nicely. There are three types here- two green and one yellow. The idea was to see which one I liked best and focus on it next year… but I still have a tonne of seeds left, so unless one is horrid, I’ll be growing them all again next year.

The carrots are really starting to looks like carrots now. I’m so glad I bought the pelleted seed. It meant I was able to space them easily, and I don’t have to worry about thinning them. The garlic I showed yesterday shared this bed, and now that its out, I’ll plant up the empty half with more carrots so we get a second later harvest.

The broccoli is looking nice, though I’ve seen a few Cabbage Whites flitting around so I’m going to have to keep an eye out for eggs and caterpillars. I’m new to broccoli so this is definitely and experiment for me.

And last…

I’m already in a battle with the Squash Bugs – I’m removing eggs daily. And so far, despite their efforts, my squash are thriving!!!!

Just look at the size of these leaves!

Because the weather has been so gross, I can’t really spend more than 20 minutes or so at a time in the garden right now. The weeds really need to be brought under control again, but there was a task I needed to get to first…

Harvesting my garlic

It all came up beautifully! And you can see, I’ve got 14 lovely-sized bulbs (they filled half of one of the square raised beds).

I plan to take two of the smallest to Mom for some fresh eating (she’ll be able to use them up quickly before they rot).

The rest I tied up in bundles and they are now hanging in the sun porch to dry and cure for longer storage!

Not a bad haul for about 10 minutes of work last fall!

The summer colour is really starting to show in the garden.

It feels a little early for Coneflowers, but I’m not going to complain. They bloom right to the frost and are one of my favourite long-bloomers.

The Tickseeds are starting to bloom. As you may recall, I have several variants. I thought I lost all the pretty pink ones I had (they are a little more tender), but they just took their time coming back. None are blooming yet, but it won’t be long.

Stella D’Oro has the honour of being the first day lily to bloom. Stella D’Oro is one of the most common Daylilies next to our wild orange “ditch” lily. It’s a smaller Daylily, and it will bloom all summer long. It also needs next to no maintenance, making it a popular choice for commercial and office property gardens, which is where you see it most often around here.

“Tiny Double U” is the first true Lily to bloom. It’s not a big lily, but, makes up for it with colours and blooms – as you can see by it’s bold orange, and double flowers. It’s multiplied beautifully over the last couple of years, so I’ll probably split it up and spread it around after it’s done blooming.

I’ve got Blanket Flowers throughout the gardens, and they always bring a smile to my face.

I love the combination of the pink Pincushion Plant, and Pink sage at the foot of the walkway garden.

And is there anything more cheerful than a yellow rose? Right is Mellow Yellow, centre is Good as Gold, and left is a miniature yellow rose.

Long time readers will recognize Chicago Peace. It starts out a gorgeous deep coral, and blossoms into a big blousy bloom of pale pink and yellow.

The Marguerite Daisies (left) and False Sunflowers (Right) are cheering up the border around Edible Alley. I had to get ruthless with the Marguerites because they tried to take over their corner of the border. They are so cheerful in bloom -and a mega pollinator magnet.

Blue can be a hard colour to get in the garden (most “blues” tend more towards purple). but this blue Delphinium nails it. It’s such a stunner.

Every day I take a stroll through the gardens to see what’s new… and every day I’m delighted. And there’s so much more to come!

Like many of you, our weather has been disgustingly hot and sticky this week. This kind of heat hits all the cats hard, but it definitely hits Burton the hardest. But he’s a smart boy too – this chair back sit directly in the path of the downstairs air conditioner.

Stay cool my friends!

On my internet travels this spring, I came across this neat project.

I just so happened to have one of those wire baskets. I actually have two – I don’t used them as hanging baskets anymore as I find they are too hard to keep the soil moist.

So why not turn one into a turtle. I bought some hens and chicks, sedum, elfin time, and moss several weeks ago, but didn’t get around to putting him together until this past weekend.

And of course, when I did… I didn’t actually go back and look at the instructions… I just kind of winged it from memory.

So my turtle is abit more… umm… laden than the one in the project, lol. I do have some sphagnum moss, left over from our adventure with Newt, so I’m tempted to go back and lighten him up a little. It’s not like I cant put a few of those plants somewhere in the gardens.

We’ll see if I get around to it. For now, he’s hanging out behind the cucumbers in Willow Grove, keeping an eye on the bird bath.

While the cross stitching didn’t see much love, the same can’t be said for my latest sock project.

This one seems to be just flying off the needles. As you can see, I’m through the leg, heel and almost done the gusset. While I did 2-2 ribbing on the leg, I’m doing the foot plain. It’s my favourite way to knit self-stripers. I also find it’s one of the best fitting ways to knit a sock.

Like the others, this pair is destined for the gift box. But I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself – I still have to finish this one and then make the second!

I finally decided on a new project for the hoop. I printed out the pattern, picked out a couple colours…

And that’s as far as I got. Saturday got eaten up by picking up Wilma (she was in a town 1.5 hours away), a little thrifting on the way home (Dave got stuff, I didn’t), and then a full evening of much overdue weeding on the front yard.

Sunday we ran a few errands, and by the time we got home I was just too burnt out to do much more than play games on my phone.

And I’m headed to Mom’s this coming weekend, so this poor project won’t see any love then either. Oh well – there’s always the weekend after. As you can see, I’ve decided on a moth this time. Like the butterfly, it will be on black 18 ct aida. My super bright task light has made working with the black fabric a much less daunting task. I’m looking forward to this one!

As alluded to in previous posts… I’ve been on the hunt for a new vehicle. Last month, I took Dory in for some possible brake work, and the mechanic called me a short time later. He told me not to put another dime into her and start looking for another vehicle. The sub-frame was rotted. It was time to say goodbye.

Now I really can’t complain. Dad gave her to me back in 2018 (he’d had her from new). She had a mysterious coolant leak, but as long as I kept any eye on it, and kept it topped up she’d be just fine. Though he warned me not to hope to get much more than a year or two out of her. The car I was driving (Dave’s old Buick) was barely roadworthy, so even a vehicle that lasted a year or two was a step up.

In the end… Dave and I accidentally found the coolant leak while boosting the Bonneville. That, along with other repairs normal for her age (she was born in 2008), saw her last me almost six years. She had 210,000 km on the speedometre when I got her, and more than 320,000 km by the time I had to say goodbye) Not bad at all.

But it was time to put her out to pasture. So, the weekend before last, Dave and I went out, and set things in motion for a new vehicle. This weekend, everything was finalized and we went to pick it up. For convenience, we traded Dory in for her scrap value. And I’m not going to lie… leaving without her made me feel a little sad. Kind of like we abandoned her there.

But… we did come home with Wilma.

She’s a 2014 Jeep Cherokee. Ten years old, but with fairly low mileage and in good condition for her age. And still the newest vehicle I’ve ever had. She’s a little smaller than Dory, with a touch less cargo space – but still enough room to haul plants and dirt. She doesn’t have a trailer hitch, so we’ll be installing one so I can still pull my box trailer when needed.

I’ve only had her since Saturday, so I’m still getting used to all her new fangled things… (like a 9-speed transmission that shifts when I’m not expecting it) but I think she and I are going to get along just fine. (And I have already ordered her a Hello Kitty sticker for the back window – just like Dory’s)

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any pictures of my backyard friends – but I’ve got some new ones for you this week

Last weekend, I gave the pussywillows a trim, and as I was bagging up the cuttings, I (luckily) noticed this little guy.

Google tells me he’s the caterpillar of some sort of Underwing moth (there are several and they have similar caterpillars).

I’m thinking it might be a Lesser Yellow Underwing moth…

Because a little later that day, when I was cleaning up some weeds in Edible Alley – I came across one! What are the chances?

A few weeks ago, Dave put up a rustic little bird house I’d bought last year. And it looks like it might have a new tenant…

When I was mowing the lawn earlier this week, I noticed this little one going in and out of it constantly.

It’s a House Wren. It has the prettiest little call. I don’t know if there’s a nest or eggs in the house (Dave put it up too high for me to peek in easily) but I’ve since seen two of them hanging around it, so I’m hoping.

Back behind the yard, our rear neighbour has a very large mulberry right at the property line. It’s branches over hang our yard giving us some nice shade in the evening. And right now it is full of ripe mulberries. The birds are in and out of it all day (the robins really seem to love the mulberries). And I’ve spotted a few of these guys.

Cedar Waxwings. They were particularly hard to photograph, even with my long lens. They were definitely wary, and hid behind the leaves more often than not.

Eventually, they got a little more comfortable with me, and I was able to get some good pics.

A very pretty bird.

And of course, a backyard friend post wouldn’t be complete without one of these guys.

They have been enjoying the mulberries just as much as the birds have.