A Break from the Heat

Finally! The way-too-early-in-the-season heatwave has broke and Dave and I are able to enjoy a nice evening outside on our expanded patio with a fire. Dave put the gazebo cover on over the weekend. I must say, the patio looks totally awesome and inviting now - hence the reason why we're enjoying a little break outside this evening. Too bad my goofy dogs hate to be outside. The pix above are the before-and-after shots of our patio. The before is from 2007 - yuck! But look at it now! We expanded the patio last year and this year added the planters for the hops. Sweet!

Yesterday I did a little work in the garden. I planted some petunias in the garden beds that had the early Spring plantings in order to spice them up a bit. Dave and I worked to cage the Roma tomato plant with some faux bamboo poles and some twine. We'll see how that works. I also trained the pickling cucumbers up faux bamboo poles (today they have blossoms!). Knock on wood, so far so good with the cucumbers this year. I guess they just need to be in a lot of soil. I also planted the regular cukes and I have pumpkin seeds soaking so I can give those a go. I hope I can attract enough pollinators to get some cukes & Jack-o-lanterns this year. Dave has discovered the frustrations of the Japanese beetle. Now that we have hops, we have them all over the place and they are eating the hop leaves. He picks them off and smushes them. I think it's weird that they eat the hops because the leaves are fuzzy and the vines are really "grabby." The vines will grab onto your clothing and stick!

Ahhhh...the Corinthian Bells windchimes are hung...we have a slight breeze...a fire and citronella candles going...now all I need is a Tequila Sunrise or Long Island Iced Tea and I'm set!