Let's peek in on Marcy and Michael's garden

Hmmm...this doesn't look their garden, but...look , it's eggplant and we all thought these guys only came from hens!

Hmmm...this only looks like Marcy's wishful thinking garden (take deep breaths now Michael, don't pass out...this is NOT next year's plan...but don't rule out the year after that completely).

Now we're cooking...this is definitely a garden and a half and Michael and Kelly both just love corn. What do you think Mikemal (a pet name for him that my grandson Corbyn gave him and we both love )?? We could borrow Mimi's monster tiller again??

With just a little, tiny bit of extra tilling this could be ours, all ours!!

For those of you who have limited space, here is the garden for you:

I just loved these raised boxes, so beautiful, but Mikemal didn't jump up and say YAH Hoo, so I sense hesitation on his part...

Okay, finally the real garden, from pictures taken yesterday. Now before you look or try to click on these pictures, I probably need to have a coaching moment here. The 'proper' comment is "oooooh....aaahhh and look how huge everything has gotten"...this is one time I am allowing one and all to lie freely. You can also say "wow...how do you do it?" Or "holy moly, what a garden!"

These kind of comments are guaranteed to get the blood pumping and have me out there weeding in no time (they might even work for Mikemal, if you REALLY get 'gushy").

This is my transplanted, from seed, orange poppy flower, surrounded by four baby red poppies from seed. For sure Eileen should love this pot as it is losing its' paint, a bit like me.

What do we have here...could it be a little green bell pepper?

Here's one of Michael's favorites, but we planted it too late and I am still hoping something will happen with this broccoli..anyone see any florets here (psst...it's okay to lie/fib now too)?

Now what is this beside the marigold?...yah hoo..it's a free dill growing from last year!

Now here is a delightful addition to our back yard, our fake owl designed to put fear into the bravest bird heart and stop them from methodically eating the big berries off of one of our new little blueberry bushes. Just a couple of days ago, Michael wanted to show me these big berries on this little bush and discovered that only one was left, so out came the fierce owl(where he had been 'hibernating ' in the garage). Now here comes the sad part of the story, our mean looking owl didn't scare anything, certainly not the berry eating bird(s) as the last one on that bush disappeared after the owl made his appearance. Michael thinks he needs to be mechanized...any suggestions here?

Here are some of the red poppies that I grew from seed and some of which I planted next to the orange poppy.

Last, but not least for today's foray into garden land, is the strawberry patch. We had thought of using said owl or his kin for this area as those inconsiderate birds are eating my strawberries too. the worst part is that they just take chunks out of one and leave it, then go for a different one...why can't they finish what they started, for pete's sake??!! At least I can usually find one or two intact each morning.

Here's something I got from the Internet:

"You Know you’re A Master Gardener When:
You rejoice in rain...even after 10 straight days of it.

(I do love the rain and am now thinking of doing a rain dance to get some more of it .)
You have pride in how bad your hands look.

(Wow, I have shown off these beauties to a few people...truth be told my right hand did get swollen from weed picking and my thumb nail has some hidden crevice where I can't get that little bit of dirt out no matter how many dishes or showers I take.)
You have a decorative compost container on your kitchen counter.

(This does sound like a good idea as right now I am using a cut off milk carton.)
You can give away plants easily, but compost is another thing.

(So new at 'real' composting that I never gave this a thought except it's messy enough for us, so giving it could be a challenge and not giving it might even be a blessing for the non recipient.)
Soil test results actually mean something.

(Another thing to try out, like a new toy??)
IPM rules!

(Lost me here, but I CAN look it up.)
You’d rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store.

(How can one pass by the flowers and veggies anywhere?)
You look for gardens open to the public whenever you go on vacation.

(Is this why I've always been drawn to the botanical gardens anywhere?)
Your non-gardening spouse is actually getting involved with your garden endeavors...digging ponds, building bird houses, watering, pruning, turning compost piles, planting...

(UH oh...this metamorphosis has taken place...)
And you definitely know your a Master Gardener when...
You are surrounded by terrific people who share your passion!

Now for a couple of cute jokes:

"An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, "What is this, Father?" The father responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is."

While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of lights w/numbers above the walls light up. They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened up again and a beautiful 24 year old woman stepped out.

The father said to his son, "Go get your Mother."

~~~~~

An Amishman lived on a quiet, rural highway. But, as time went by, the traffic slowly built up at an alarming rate. It became so heavy and so fast that his chickens were being run over at a rate of three to six a day. So he called the sheriff's office and said, "You've got to do something about all of these tourists driving so fast and killing all of my chickens."

"What do you want me to do?" asked the sheriff.

"I don't care, just do something about these drivers."

So the next day the sheriff had the county go out and put up a sign that said: SLOW: SCHOOL CROSSING. Three days later, the Amishman again called the sheriff and said, "That sign didn't help a bit. They are still hitting my chickens."

So the next day, the county put up a sign that said: SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY.

Again, no change. So the Amishman called and called, every day for three weeks. Finally, he told the sheriff, "Look, your signs are just not working. Mind if I put up one of my own?"

The sheriff told him, "Sure thing, let's see if yours works better."

He was willing to agree to anything to get him to stop those daily calls. Well, the sheriff got no more calls from the Amishman. After three weeks, he decided to call the Amishman and see how things were going. "

Did you put up your sign?"

"Oh, I sure did. And not one chicken has been killed since. I've got to go. I'm very busy." And he hung up the phone.

The sheriff thought to himself, "I'd better go have a look at that sign. There might be something there that WE could use to slow down drivers..."

So the sheriff drove out to the Amishman's house, and he saw the sign. It was on a whole sheet of plywood. Written in large, yellow letters were the words: SLOW: NUDIST COLONY.

~~~Thank you dear Lord for the blessings to be found in the buds and fruits of your earth.