Garden Update

 We have been in that 'heat dome' that you hear about on the weather reports and I have been watering every single day, since there has been no rain. UNTIL LAST NIGHT. Finally we had a wonderful downpour and it continued again this morning so I am having a day off and loving the way the flowers have perked up.

 My new plants include a gifted banana tree from my pal Patsy who has huge 10 foot trees in a clump in her front yard on the mountain. Mine is a baby and I will be planting it in the ground in the fall. Behind it are two bags of zinnias and Vista Supertunias in Bubblegum and in the picture above, Silverberry. They are going nutso. Yay!

Here are more zinnias and that neato keen red coneflower called Tres Sombreros. For some reason the leaves on these zinnias a pitiful and yet the stems are tall. I may add some fertilizer, altho it is not recommended, as they will make more leaves and fewer flowers, but geesh, they look insipid. 

 The cell block garden is starting to improve and I am no longer apologizing for it's poor performance. I think it is due to the mixture I made with coconut coir, perlite and compost. I think the compost wasn't fertile enough to counteract the other parts of the mix, so I will really augment the soil for next year. Funny tho, the lettuce and basil are happy and productive. The lettuce is all gone now, but I  have more seeds and will do another planting in September.

 Here's a big boy basil, two plants, next to the last lettuce. Sad nasturtiums. O well.

 Then the bag of Easy Wave Petunias, red Gallardia, marigolds, and three varieties of Daisy.

In the back garden bags I have abundance in sweet potatoes, French Haricot Verte, Brussel Sprouts, Beets, carrots, zucchini and Butternut squash plants, 4 tomatoes, more basil and Yukon Gold potatoes. I have five pepper plants in amongst the flower up front. Next year I won't be doing veggies in back, but will have them in front. I prefer to have them visible and then I don't neglect them as much.  

The 'in the ground' plants are doing great, but I didn't take pictures, so that update will have to come later.