Another month in the garden – or not in the garden, as the case may be.  As you can see, not much has gotten done around here.  I haven’t even found time to move the three extra planters over to the side of the patio (or better yet, into the shed) – they’re still there for everyone to trip over!  (The kids have used them to plant weeds, which are thriving.  At least something is thriving…)

As you all know, I am not especially ambitious when it comes to this year’s garden.  I just want to get to know the space, settle in and make plans for future years.  We’ll be here for at least two more gardening seasons, so plenty of time to cultivate a big vegetable patch – or not.  I probably won’t branch out beyond my usual container garden until we buy our forever home, hopefully in a couple of years.  But I was hoping to have at least a little bit more progress to report to you today.  Alas, not – it’s been a busy month, between getting the kids ready for their grandparent vacation, trying to catch up on work and unpacking, and juggling house projects including a big garage clean-out.  The garden just fell to the bottom of the list, and there it stayed.

Benign neglect has paid off for me in the past, so I was hoping that if I didn’t poke at the garden too much, at least a few things would grow.  And that does seem to be the case.  First of all, a delightful discovery – there are blackberry bushes growing alongside the garage!  I’ve always wanted to plant a fruit bramble, so I am beyond chuffed that I’ve inherited (temporarily, anyway) a couple of berry bushes without having to do anything.  (Don’t worry, these are definitely blackberries.  Of all berries, blackberries have no poisonous lookalikes – while they have some cousins, like the loganberry and the marionberry, anything that looks like a blackberry is per se edible.  These are nice and tart.)  I wandered past the blackberry bush today and noticed that quite a few are ripe; I might pick a handful to bring over to my dear Zoya this weekend.

Speaking of Zoya, this was my housewarming present from her – a galvanized steel pot with a selection of shade-loving plants in it.  I’ve barely touched it, but it’s doing well and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the torrential rainstorm we had on Wednesday.  Success!

Also thriving through my benign neglect strategy: this pot of mixed herbs (rosemary, thyme and chives – the rosemary especially is doing just fine; it’s so hardy).  Of course, benign neglect hasn’t worked for everything.  You’ll note that I am not showing you the mint pot.  That is because it is really most sincerely dead.

Finally, the tomato plant: the crown jewel of any container garden, right?  At the kids’ urgent request, I bought two tomato seedlings and planted them in my biggest pot.  They were both doing really well – growing fast, lush green leaves.  So, you might be wondering: why is one so much shorter than the other?  Are they different varietals?

They are not different varietals.  But one was viciously, intentionally, maliciously decapitated.  The guilty party?  Peanut.  She was mad at me about something (I probably told her to wash her hands before dinner, because I’m awful and unfair like that) and she very coolly, calmly marched out to the garden and snapped the poor innocent tomato plant in half.  (How do I know it was her, you ask?  I am an eyewitness.  I watched, shocked, from the sunroom, as she attempted to murder the tomato plant she begged me to get.)

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have suffered too much, other than being – ahem – shorter than its buddy.  It’s growing back and has added height, leaves and blossoms since the malicious attempted murder.  Hopefully we’ll still get some tomatoes out of it this summer – time will tell.  Meanwhile, the other tomato plant has tripled in size, and I staked it this morning.  (I use the Ultimate Tomato Cage, which I’ve had for several years now and absolutely love.)  Here’s hoping for continued strong growth from at least one of the tomato plants.

As for the birds, I think I’ve finally got the summer setup finalized.  Out front, I’ve got a Cole’s tube feeder and a Perky Pet water dispenser on the double shepherd’s hook, and an Aspects window cafe suctioned to the kitchen window.  Out back, I hung up a Perky Pet hopper that is supposed to be squirrel-resistant, but – surprise, surprise – it’s not.  So far, the tube feeder is by far the most popular spot.  There’s been some mild interest shown in the hopper and the window feeder, but no one has actually eaten anything – that I’ve noticed.  Except the squirrels, that is, who have completely defeated the hopper.  The tube feeder keeps me entertained all day, as it’s attracted Carolina chickadees, a tufted titmouse, one very grumpy-looking Carolina wren, and a gaggle of goldfinches.  More on that soon – I am still on the hunt for that elusive picture of the downy woodpecker I’ve spotted in my backyard, but I’m planning to do a big post with a bunch of snaps of the neighborhood birds sometime in the next few weeks.  And I’m already contemplating how I might change up the feeders for fall – I’ve got my eye on a squirrel stopper pole station and an oriole feeder to attract Baltimore orioles (the birds, not the baseball team, LET’S GO NATS) as they migrate south for the winter.  More to come…

How are your summer gardens faring?