More Garden Updates

    This is the first blossom on the melons ... a cantaloupe, Jeff says.  Another plant also has a blossom.  Whether or not they'll actually form and ripen into a melon remains to be seen.  No sign of a watermelon.

   I started out the season by planting pre-seeded 
flower strips (that had been a gift) in the tops of the corner boxes. The directions said to water them often but they all
rotten from too much rain except one...it's suppose to be Painted Daisy's and has quite a few flower buds but the yellow is the only one that's opened so far.  Hope the others open soon so I can get another photo.

  Jeff started to pick some of the veggies today ...these are flat Italian
beans...and started one of his monster soups for tomorrow's supper.  Besides the beans, there
are greens and peppers
from the garden in the soup.  There was too much greens for us so he took some to the friends who
gave me this HP computer.  And Jeff said if he goes to his sister's house tomorrow to trim some of her yard, he'll bring her some of the beans.  That's one of the problems with a garden our size...everything ripens at the same time so you really need friends you can share with.  I did sausage, potatoes and peppers for supper and the sweet Italian peppers from the garden tasted so good!  You can really tell the difference between home grown and store
bought.   Jeff even took some of the peppers home with him to cook for himself!  I overdid it with the greens last week...and my MD agrees.  She's increased my daily dose of Warfarin in an effort to get my INF back into range.  I'll eat the soup tomorrow and then lay off the greens for while until I get my INF checked again.  Maybe greens 3 or 4 days a week isn't the way to go.  At least not the 3 or 4 days before a blood test!
   The strawberries are still blossoming and baring fruit but we haven't gotten any yet.  The critters and birds keep beating us to them!  They got most of the blackberries, too!
 

My Joanie O Geranium

   This is the geranium that came home from camp with me in the fall of 2009.  Our neighbor up there, Joanie, always 
gave me the biggest geranium she had at the end of the season rather than let it die.  This one winters in our living room getting watered once a month.  In late May it moves onto the deck...as far as I can move it alone!  You can see in the photo that it's got over a dozen flower buds ready to open.  I have never heard of a geranium living so long! It is an annual, after all!  Jeff gives it a shot of compost tea once or twice a season and that's all the fertilizer it gets.  I'll get another photo of it when it's in full bloom. (One fall it was so bushy a mouse was hiding in it when I brought it inside and we scared each other when it jumped out and found itself in the den!  I quickly shooed it out the door before it got any ideas about spending the winter with us.)
   Don't know if I'll go with Jeff to his sister's tomorrow or stay home and knit.  I'm working on a 
size 9-months baby's surplice cardigan called Picchu.

My Lemon Picchu needing a button.  Any suggestions?

It's suppose to be done in 5 pieces and sewn together but I changed it and did it in 3 pieces with just the sleeves sewn in because I hate sewing so! I'm using Red Heart's acrylic in lemon and since it calls for only 1 button I  think I'll look for something cute. I think the next one may be done in one piece with just the underarm of the sleeve needing to be sewn.

My PinStripe in Progress

  I've also got to finish embroidering the pinstripes on my yearly Pinstripe Cardigan.  It took just 2 days to knit the size 2 sweater but so far I've spent 4 days on the embroidery!  I'm scheduled to work in Cooperstown next Wednesday and I'd like both sweaters to be ready to take down.  The Baseball Hall of Fame's Induction Weekend is July 25-26 and the more I have on display the more better! 

(We stayed home today...my Imprezza got new brakes both front and back...and had that great soup for supper.  Fanny dined on one of the soup bones and totally enjoyed herself!  update 6:30pm, 7/17/2015)