Can I Keep It?

Bamboozled

Sigh.

There is a stand of vivacious bamboo, Chinese bamboo, that is hard to grow here in Memphis.  It THRIVES in the space to the north of the living room where some fool planted it years ago.  The fact that it is Chinese bamboo is important because it is what the pandas at the Memphis Zoo want to eat when they are breeding.  The zoo comes out and harvests it annually.  

And they didn't tell me that they were going to fertilize it until after the fact.

I HATE THAT BAMBOO.

Not only does it attract rats as it is their natural habitat, it has grown into every flower bed I in my beautiful yard.  See this stand of double cup daylilies?

 It used to be a carpet of orange.  The bamboo is choking it out.  And on Friday, I am choking the bamboo out. Well, two guys are anyway.

I'm having the beds dug up and cleared out to make room for something else.  Something decidedly not Chinese.

Here's a gratuitous shot of Simone to make everything right with the world.

Bamboo.  Really?

 

Uggghhhhh

I may have to give up organic gardening.  The weeds have become zombies and I am experiencing the apocalypse.

My poor Schicken and butterfly garden.

It's not just the pesky mimosa trees and sticky weeds and creeping-what-ever-the-heck-that-insidious-thing-is, it's the flowers of times gone by.  We planted Torina thirty feet away by the pool about ten years ago.  Every Spring? It covers the vegetable beds.  And these Cosmos?

Were put in as seeds about six years ago.  The Torina is carefree, taking up where ever it can.  Content to grow under the shade of a tomato.  But the Cosmo is an opinionated bully, springing up in walkways and shoving around the vegetables.  The bed they have taken over with such abandon is actually an okra bed.  The shamed okra is cowering beneath the showy Cosmos' display of strength.

I wish the little bunny who has been eating my beet tops and cabbages could learn to nosh on Cosmos and creeping-what-ever-the-heck-that-insidious-thing-is.

Ugggghhhh.

Fresh

My life is getting in the way of my blogging.  

And Zali is not happy about it.  He raged on for a hour this morning bout how his people are missing him. Secretly, I think they'd miss Simone more, but I didn't tell him that.

You know it's hard to write a blog with a bird on your hand.  Who knew?

My garden is a weedy mess, so Boudreaux, Zali, Simone and I headed out in the heat to fix the situation.  Two hours later, it looked as if I had been inside reading a book.

Insert disappointed face here.

But the good news is that I discovered green beans!  Surprise!

* Pardon the picture.  I still can't find my camera cord, so I have to rely on my Stupid Phone

It sorely needs to take a lesson or two from some one's Smart Phone.

Insert smiley face here.

Hudson came home at noon.  I made him some pork and leek dumplings and turned the fresh find in the garden into Schezuan green beans with ground turkey and Ponzu rice.

Insert full stomach here.

And just so he'll quit dogging me -- here:

Zali in a compromising position.

But I know this is what you really want:

Simone gazing upon you in distain.

You are welcome.

Boudreaux Gardens

Dis whut Bou fink of fowlers.

Bou rain on dem for yew.  Help grow.  Make preety.

Yewr welcome.

Gratuitous Shot of Simone

Mommy's little helper...

Sprung

A few days ago, I headed out to the garden to do some weeding with the kids.  As I left the door and waited for them to follow, I realized that the wisteria arbor above my head was issuing a low huuuuuummmm.

Spring had errupted in my yard.  The kids set about to chasing drunken bees.

 

Over night, the arbors over the patio and at the end of the pool, look as if they are cover by a thick lavendar chenille spread.

My favorite time of the year snuck up on me.

NotMe,Mommee.IHeardDemPrickleeJerksFromInsideTheHowse!

Mon Petit Chou

Today was lovely.  A soft warm breeze, slightly overcast, quiet. Finally spring-like!

Hud and I started planting the garden yesterday, so today, the kids and I soldiered on without him.

We weeded the bed in front of the Shicken.  Simone was of great assisstance. 

You could probably tell from the dirt in her ruff that she is quite handy at hole digging.  In fact, she majored in it as a undergrad.

Boudreaux was...Boudreaux.  He splashed across the pool cover, leapt over brick walls and fencing, around the backyard, under the azaleas, over the pool deck and into the garden with a crashing stop at my hunched over body. 

Bou hab eggsellent adbenture. Gardening pffun.

It was all going very well until I turned to ask Zali how he was getting along with the weeding and discovered that he had dug up one of my newly planted cabbages!  He had chomped it down to the roots.

Whut? Eet wuz zee qualitee cuntroll, Muhzer!

Now, I knew he and Simone could not be trusted with broccoli, but cabbages?!?! Le sigh. He looks remorseful, but I had to stop him from murdering the rest of the crop, the little buggar.  That's the look of a guilty man, not a sorry one.  No wait. Guilty and sorry. That's more like it.

Time of death - 10:39.  Farewell, mon petit chou.  I hardly knew ye. 

Bou and Simone took the death seriously and decided to be on their best behavior for the remainder of the outing. Zali went up to the house, pouting.  He stayed by the back door yipping to go in.  Seems I had spoiled all his fun.  

I finished planting cucumbers, beets, bush beans and Thai eggplant.  The three of us joined him at the door when it was time to start making lunch.

A very fine spring morning, inspite of the carnage.

 

 

Change is in the Air

Last Friday, the winds blew in a change in the weather. We awoke to temperatures in the eighties.  A full twenty degrees cooler than the average around here.  

The kids were frisky.  It hasn't been this lovely in months.  Boudreaux was all smiles.

Zoe felt better than ever.  She even insisted on going to the park with Hud and Boudreaux.

Zali wanted to go for a walk, but he settled for chasing Bou and Simone around the backyard.

Hud came out to enjoy the day, but he was so into the book, Gone Girl, that he hardly noticed it.

The toad lilies are blooming brightly after the storms.

All of the yard was heaving a sigh.  The drought is lifted.

AhThinkItSuks.It'sGettingMyBeautifulFurWet.StupitWain.

Mommy's Little Helpers

Every day we like to go out to the vegetable garden and weed for about an hour. 

Bou help. Dig plants.  Mommy want Bou go in pool now?

Oy.  Boudreaux likes to take naps on the freshly weeded beds.  He has absolutely no sense of personal space.  Even less for crushing plants.

The weather's been so warm, the blackberries, peppers, cucumbers and beans have already begun to produce.  We've eaten at least ten tomatoes.  I plucked two more off today.

The eggplants have just begun to flower.  We caged them to keep them from softening Boudreaux's naps.  But the herbs are Simone's favorite place to play.  Rosemary is scratchy but the thyme is soft as a cloud, according to her.

WhatDoYouMeanYouEatThatCwap?

I never thought I'd like to hear myself say phrases like, "Boudreaux! You can't sleep on an eggplant!" Or, "Dogs don't eat marigolds!" Much less the timeless, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop jumping over me in the garden?"

Seriously.  Boudreaux has mad skills.  He's like an exotic black deer set loose in the backyard.  We have a brick wall between the driveway and the pool deck.  It's about four and a half feet on the car side and three feet tall on the pool side.  I'm walking back in when I notice his running feet coming in my direction.  I look up to see him leap the  wall, perch on top of the one brick wide decoration and gently land on the decking.  So jumping , Simone, Me or Zoe is hardly a test of his agility.

Le Sigh.

Season to Taste

That's it.  We've officially turned the page on autumn.  The pool was put to sleep this morning.  We had one last beautiful weekend with it.

And now we'll plant the fall vegetables and pansies.  The air is already changing.  The windows are open.  The vernal equinox has passed.  Everything's changing.

One more bit of our past behind us.