Possibly peaches

a garden update....
It looks as though we may get some peaches this year.  The chipmunks and squirrels have left the peach tree alone, and some peaches have started to grow.  (To "help" the chipmunks and squirrels leave the tree alone, I placed an upside-down aluminum pie tin around the tree, just below the bottom of the pic.)

I don't think we'll have any apples this year.  The tree had only 3 blossoms on it, and none seem to be turning into apples.  The amount of fruit on an apple tree varies from year to year.

The vegetable garden is starting to take off.  The tomato plants have a few blossoms.  And a cucumber plant had its first blossom.  I've harvested a couple radishes -- and still haven't figured out why growing radishes here is so hard.  And, I think that a couple of broccoli plants are growing from seed.

a general update
I was going to leave it with just the garden update.  Then I remembered that I hadn't posted anything since before my birthday....

My DD's boyfriend (from England) came to visit her for a couple of weeks in early June.  And, my DS1 was here for a few days during his stay.  (My DS1 came here to help celebrate my birthday -- and also to go to a wedding in Ohio and also to help celebrate my DH's birthday early next month.)  The day before my birthday, we all went to a couple Gold Cup soccer games at Soldier Field.  Then, on my birthday, we all went to a baseball game at Wrigley Field.  (The Cubs won.)  It was the boyfriend's first time at a baseball game.  And, I think he enjoyed it.  He learned a lot about the game, as well.  He's probably the only one of his friends in England that knows what a suicide squeeze play is.

a late spring for my vegetable garden

This year we really didn't have a spring. As my DS2 noted -- May's weather just switched back and forth between summer and winter. So, the vegetable garden isn't as far along as last year's at this time of year.



Last year, I planted cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and a regular Big Boy tomato.  I discovered that only the Big Boy tomato had the taste I like in tomatoes.  However, it bore fruit fairly late.  So, this year I planted some early tomatoes (60-65 days) --  2 Early Girl bush and Park's Whopper.  They already have a few blossoms.

My DH loves hot peppers.  So, besides planting jalapeño and habanero peppers, I'm also trying out a tabasco one.  Then I decided that I'd plant a sweet pepper (giant marconi).  I hope that the flavor of sweet peppers has improved since I last grew them -- in the 80's in NC.  (The ones I grew then were pretty much flavorless.)

My big problem this year was finding broccoli plants.   I just couldn't find any plants for sale.  So, about the second time I went looking for broccoli, I bought cucumber plants.  After planting the cucumbers, I placed carrot seeds (Danvers Half Long), spinach seeds (Melody hybrid), and radishes (cherry bell) between the cucumber plants and also between the peppers.  Then later I added a few broccoli seeds between the cucumber plants.  (I'm not sure whether or nor they've germinated since I have no idea what the seedlings look like.)  On my final search for broccoli, I got some sweet potato plants (Beauregard).

My string beans (Burpee's Tenderpod bush) didn't do well last year.  So, this year I planted pea seeds (sugar snap).  But, I also planted the string beans again and added some Kentucky pole beans.

So, we'll see what happens this year.  The radishes didn't do well last year.  So, this year's garden has added peat moss.

It looks as if we might get some peaches this year (if I can figure out a way to keep the chipmunks and squirrels from eating the fruit when it's bite-sized -- for them).  It was loaded with blossoms and now has quite a few small peaches.  The spring weather was so damp that the peach tree has leaf curl (a fungus).  But, according to what I've read, that shouldn't affect the crop.  I'll just have to use a fungicide this fall.  The apple tree had just 3 blossoms on it.

The filbert nut trees that I got from Arbor Day are growing well this year.  They're growing so well that I'll have to move one of them to a better location.  Even the one that got broken off (or chewed off) near the base last year is doing well.