Irrigation: Check.

The irrigation system is in. For the container plants on the patio, we have a Rainbird drip irrigation system. The smaller plants are on 1 GPH emitters while the larger ones are on 2 GPH emitters. (We ran the system this morning for 20 minutes - and twenty minutes is too long. Every plant had water in its tray. We dumped out the pepper plants' trays so that they won't drown.)

The squash are on a 25 foot length of weeper hose and the ornamental garden is on a 50 foot length of soaker hose. These two hoses are joined by a length of plain hose, and the weeper hose is connected to a plain hose which is connected to the faucet.

At each of the two faucets, we installed the manual timers (think kitchen "tick-tick" timer) that we got at Tractor Supply. Once we sort out the proper time for each group to have the water running, taking care of the watering chore is going to be very easy!

Speaking of the ornamental garden, yesterday Danny planted the coleus, Johnny-jump-up, and English daisy seedlings that had been languishing in my office. They're all still pretty tiny, but hopefully they will perk up now that they are out of the house and in the ground where they belong.

Here are this week's photos. Everything is doing really quite well!

Spaghetti Squash 

Stevia, Banana Pepper, and Three Other Kinds of Pepper

Look! Our little banana pepper plant has produced again!

 A closeup to give an idea of the size.

Basil, Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Basil

Patio Tomato, Patio Tomato, Stevia, Patio Tomato

The tomato plants are already putting on tomatoes!

Another closeup of the plant in action.

Hard to see...but all the little sticks indicate the newest plantings.

And...the first thing we have is...Peppers!

Everything is growing like crazy. The tomato plants are putting on tomatoes. But the first thing we're going to be able to harvest is a pepper! Hot banana pepper, as it turns out. Here are this week's photos, including a closeup of the amazing pepper plant.

Stevia, Hot Banana Pepper, and Three other pepper plants

Hot Banana Pepper

Basil, Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Basil

Tomato, Tomato, Stevia, Tomato

The morningglories...still getting going

Spaghetti Squash

Phew, Time Flies When One Has a Garden!

I just realized this morning that I didn't take pictures of the garden last week and that it has been exactly two weeks since I last posted! I guess, in my own defense, that I have been busy, but, still...

The pineapple sage is blooming. The flowers are gorgeous, but usually when a plant like this blooms, it means it's nearing the end of its life cycle. I don't know yet what to do with pineapple sage, but I'm going to have to find out.

Here are this week's pictures. A new one has been added - the morning glory plants under the trees. These were started from seed a few weeks back and then put outside about two weeks ago.

Stevia, four kinds of pepper

Basil, Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Basil

Tomato, Tomato, Stevia, Tomato

Spaghetti Squash

Morning Glory

We discovered that the reason the pepper plants were going all yellow and looking so bad had to do with overwater - they literally were drowning. So Danny has put me in charge of the watering tasks, and I've started putting in a Rainbird irrigation system for the pots, so that all one has to do is turn on the faucet for a short while every other day or so. Of course, weather being what it is, no soon had I started putting in the system then we started getting fairly regular rain, and we haven't even had a chance to test the system because we are getting plenty of water already!

Next Sweater and Another Pair of Socks

What a productive day! I finished the second sweater and another pair of Liberty Wool socks. I changed up the neckline a little on the sweater by adding a row of shell, left of the shaping on the shoulders, and added a row of single crochet at the end of the sleeves.

Blue Liberty Wool Socks

Both sweaters

The newest sweater

Soap Baggie

So I have a lot of Peaches and Creme yarn leftover from the first sweater. It suddenly occurred to me that it might be possible to make a quick little bag to go over a bar of soap, along the lines of the ones I've (rather endlessly) crocheted.

For the record, here's what I did tonight. It definitely needs refinement.

Using KP 2, open cast on 15 stitches, leaving a ten inch tail Knit 20 rows. Completely unravel every other stitch, starting from the second stitch in. Run a piece of waste yarn through the loops that the ravel cord holding the weight on goes through, and a piece of waste yarn through all the loops on the needles. Remove the work from the needles. Don't cut the yarn.

Hang half of the length of the piece on ten needles, and hang the other half on top of the first (this is how the bottom is made). Knit one row. Remove the work from the needles. Don't cut the yarn.

Hang the original stitches through which you threaded waste yarn onto 7 needles, with an empty needle between each inwork needle. Hang the loops that original held the ravel cord on top of these and knit one row. Cut the yarn, leaving a ten inch tail. Use a yarn needle to thread the yarn through the stitches on the needles, and remove the work from the needles.

Tie the two tails together in a knot. Use a yarn needle to run them between the first row of stitches around the opening to create a tie. (Note: this part needs to change. Perhaps an i-cord would be suitable.)

Put a bar of soap in the bag, close the opening with the tie, and use in the bath or shower.

Garden Update II

I am amazed at the difference a week has made in the spaghetti squash seedlings. Last week, you could hardly see them, and this week they are quite visible. Also visible in the photo is the new 25 foot weeper hose that we put in to make watering easier.

Although there's no photo of it because you can't see the plants AT ALL, today I planted the Morning Glory seedlings in the back of the new raised bed between the trees. I'm happy to report also that the English Daisy and Coleus seeds have sprouted. The Johnny Jump-Ups, however, have not...yet. But it's only been a week.

Here are this week's pictures:

Spaghetti Squash

Tomato, Tomato, Stevia, Tomato

Basil, Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Basil

Stevia and peppers