The good, the bad, and the ugly

It’s beginning to taste a lot like summer. I have too many tomatoes that we gave our first ripened group away to neighbors because I couldn’t figure out what to do with it – what would you do with all these tomatoes?

I tend to show you the pretty parts of our garden, but I wanted to be transparent and share some frustrations with gardening too. It is a labor of love, but I enjoy reading gardening blogs, watching  YouTube videos and just asking questions to figure things out. I’m getting better at gardening but really it’s just trial and error – just like life!

I’m happy to see our pink lemon tree budding again, I spike fertilized our trees and I’m just going to guess the nutrients made this girl decide to bloom again so hopefully we’ll get a good harvest by winter.

My completely overgrown tomato bed.

I see two summer squashes – this guy will have to be moved below as I’m sure the bigger he gets he’s going to fall off or a bird is going to peck at him.

Speaking of birds – here’s what happens when you try to grow sunflowers and the love birds think you planted them breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I think I want to get a scarecrow – or maybe an owl that moves his head – I found one on Amazon. But, I love seeing the other birds, the red and the yellow ones.

I spy a summer squash hidden under the squash leaves. I also don’t know how to eat summer squash, so this is new too.

My pretty mixed iceberg roses are still blooming pink and white – lucky me for spotting this crazy mixture as this isn’t common – so I was told by the nursery.

Here’s the ugly – upon further inspection, it seems as if we have a little leaf-cutter bee! They make them for their nest and they are really darn cute. I’m not a fan of how my trees or rose bushes look but I do love leaf-cutter bees they are small and not agressive. I think they are pretty cute so I don’t mind it.

Back to roses, they are in bloom, they all seem to bloom at the same time – I was hoping more of then would have been in bloom for the baby shower I co-hosted but nature likes to remind me I can’t control it.

Above is the Queen Elizabeth rose which has grown very well.

The yellow rose I forgot what it is but I had thought I had a Lady Banks rose only to find out I didn’t get that – lady banks don’t have thorns and these definitely do. I’m OK with it because these bloom multiple times whereas Lady Banks roses only bloom once and the rest of the year remains green.

When I pruned back this rose bush hard, I spotted this.

Argh! I remember reading about these from our arborist, AZ Plant Lady, here. Cane borers! They are tiny wasp-like insects that drills in freshly cut rose canes and lays eggs inside. Gross.

I made the Mr. cut them back until we found it cleared and thankfully we didn’t cut anything that I know in half but we just sealed them with non-toxic wood glue. I read Elmer’s glue works too. Those guys can kill your rose bush or parts of it, so it’s important to check and try to prevent them.

I’ll end with the good – these little pops of summer.

On a photography note – these were taken high noon, not an ideal time for portraits or much else, but when gardening calls, I can’t take into consideration the lighting, just gotta do it! *wink*