Garden Update

We've had a challenging gardening year, but these are a few of the highlights despite the ongoing war with gophers, moles, mice, chicarees, squirrels, chipmunks, and quail. (not to mention late snow and mild summer temperatures!) The first few photos are from earlier this summer when the clematis and native columbine were at their peak.

Annie contemplating world peace (or maybe a bug) in her backyard sanctuary...

Views of the front border. Yes, there are a couple of mullein in the garden. We know they are an invasive weed, but we think they're pretty, so we let them flower, and then we cut off their heads before they set seed!



What we affectionately call the "Hart" Bed...it's literally in the shape of a heart, although it's not very apparent in this photo.

Close-up of the Hart Bed beauties...

The veggie garden has been ground zero in the Critter War of '09. The peppers and cucumber plants have been replaced three times, so what is left standing is not going to amount to much this late in the game...

We've actually managed to eke out a decent crop of tomatoes, but not like last year's harvest.

Our first crop of hops! Out of the two varieties we planted, "The Nugget" was the success story. We're guessing we have maybe an ounce of hops...just enough for one batch of homebrew!