July

Here are some things on my mind grapes about the yard and garden.

I think we are watering too much. Most of the things in our garden/yard are good matches for our soil but it is hard to tell if they are getting all the water they need. I know the weeds have been getting enough water so the plants should be too right?

The grasshoppers are not as plentiful around our garden area but I have found a lot in the grass. While weeding with the kids the other day three green grasshoppers jumped out of the grass and Daniel shouted "Mom!!! Grasshoppers!!!" Thus I proceeded to squish one with my shoes and kill the other two with the spade. It was awesome.

So I sprayed some soapy water on the plants to help with bugs but I think my solution was too high on the soap. The leaves on some of the plants turned an odd color and when I sprayed them with water to wash off the soap bubbles were everywhere.

The ash tree that was doing poorly is recovering and we are so glad. The lawn is looking better considering it is July. The lilacs are struggling the most. The one has been eaten alive by bugs and has rust colored leaves. The other one is still dried out like crazy but I know it is getting water because I water. Any ideas?

I have been reading about weeds and xeroscaping and all sorts of gardening things. Slowly but surely I will be enlightened enough to kill things in the yard. Mostly I am hoping to kill the weeds with out killing my children or the things I want growing.

I pulled up the bean plant (I just had one), because I could not figure out what was wrong with it. The yellow pear tomato is the biggest plant I have ever seen. It has taken over the other plants next to it and has tons of babies, we are so excited. The peppers are not doing well, but not a big loss for us since we don't really eat them. The cantaloupe has tons of blooms but no fruit so in two weeks if it is not showing fruit I will pull it up.

We are thankful for the rain today. Daniel and I saw a bunny, frogs, and at least ten kinds of birds at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens today. I love that place.

Grasshoppers and other garden annoyances

I gotta say, I am not loving our lot as much as I thought I would. We love that no matter what we will not have close neighbors but it is huge and sometimes I want to just cement the whole things and be done with it. But these are some things we have been battling and enjoying.

Weeds. I hate them and don't know which one is which. I only know two weeds coming in my yard by name so my hunt for a good weed book (hopefully from the library) is going to begin soon. We got weed killer for the lawn and the weeds in the back and then our landscaper told us some other things to do. But hopefully I can get a leg up on them. I just can't weed with the kids out there because we have small cliffs and my kids are too involved climbing the rocks to notice how lethal that is.

Grasshoppers. Thanks to my awesome parents I killed a flying grasshopper with a rock yesterday and it was awesome. I have killed a bunch and put out some poison so hopefully that will help. I read on the USU extension page that grasshoppers are supposed to be bad for a few years. I think I will get some powder poison and spread it casually in the emptiness behind us.

All my plants are blooming with small fruits on them. The peas and carrots are done I think. My pea plants have dried up. Some of my onions are starting to fall over which is awesome to watch. I love the garden and am so glad we put it in a box where it is super easy to maintain.

My plants are all doing alright. One of the ash trees looks a little sad. Two of the boxwoods are doing well but the other ones are struggling. Our sunflowers are doing well except the ones that Alice steps on every time and hopefully they will survive the heat that is coming.

The heat makes it hard for me to go out and weed and do other maintenance because it is too hot for the kids outside. But some of the plants are loving the heat, like the basil is doing much better.

Next year hopefully we will have more flowers.