June 26 - Red tomatoes, green melons, brown grass

Joel beat me to it. Here are two of the three tomatoes he picked today. I'm concerned that one, despite putting nearly a quart of lime in the dirt with each plant, has blossom end rot. Well, I'll fix that with some more lime!

The cantelope are continuing to grow and the plums are starting to ripen. Wish I could say the same for the front yard. I'm starting from square one.

I got a bag of centipede seed with mulch at the Lowe's hardware in Rockingham on Saturday and spread it out on the dead grass area yesterday during the rain. The seed will germinate in 27 more days, if I keep it wet. That will be a challenge, but I may just have to suck up the water bill for a month. I've got to restore the beauty of my front yard. Centipede loves hot, dry weather - but wants a lot of moisture to germinate. Then it spreads very slowly. Once established, you don't have to mow as often and your grass is a beautiful shade of green all summer long.

June 24-Two Storms Converge in Asheboro

That's according to the people in the know - local paper, weather service. Last night, my neighbor recorded a little more than 4 inches of rain in his gauge. Apparently some people around here got upwards of 7 inches. The mall parking lot and streets were flooded. For about 3 hours last night, Mother Nature provided all kinds of fireworks - with rain coming in all directions and at all angles. So, Joel's outside this morning cleaning out the gutters. I showed him what happens inside the house if the outside isn't cared for.... here I am, a maintenance woman who orders "the maintenance evangelist" around- what power!. (Check out his song at http://www.mpactlearning.com/resources and click on "Find Me a Maintenance Woman.")

I hope weather is better in Burgaw, Oakboro, Pembroke.

Today is the Third Annual North Carolina Blueberry Festival. Ivey Hayes is the local artist who creates an annual poster. Today is the grand opening of The Art House in Oakboro. And, I've got a photo shoot scheduled for the outdoor drama "Strike at the Wind!" in Pembroke.

I staked up the tomatoes that were blown down last night. Today's a good day to push metal poles into the ground. They go deep and that makes staking heavy tomato plants easier.

June 22 - I picked 3 tomatoes today!

Today a good family friend was buried in Hickory. Alfred Whisnant was a close business and personal friend of my parents - and later in my own life became a good friend of mine. He and his wife, Betty Gail, were just super. It was so nice to see her and her children, even under such stressful times.

I went home to take my dad to the funeral - and gave him and my mom three German Johnson pinks freshly picked this morning. I knew that would cheer them up. Two of them had already turned pink. The other was on the verge.

Photo you say? Joel had the camera.

Now, I still have several plants yet to be put in the ground - an assortment of peppers and tomatoes - yellow and roma. Yes, we'll have a LATE garden!

I encourage you to check out my links. Joel set them up for me. And, I'd like to introduce Annabelle Morgan's blog. She lives in Oakboro, North Carolina, just south of Albemarle. She's been bit by the blog bug too.

I know there are a lot of people who read my blog but don't post messages. I hear comments in person at various functions. So, if you've got a blog that you would like to link to mine, let me know. We can have a garden blogging network!

June 18 - Father's Day

My dad grew up on a potato farm near Alma, Michigan. So naturally, he's always considered himself a connoisseur of the root, opting to have potatoes at every supper. Mashed, baked, fried, fresh fried, potato salad, hash browns, French fried, stuffed, twice baked, - he loves them all. In my house, supper just wasn't supper without potatoes.

A few years ago, in early March, he helped me plant some.

We created a long mound of dirt and then cut out the middle. I had purchased some seed potatoes at the nearby garden supply store and we dribbled them in the trench. Then we covered them up and let them grow.

When I bought my home in 1995, the former owners, who were also avid gardeners, left a homemade potato digger. My dad found it in the garage, immediately recognizing the shape. So, we used that to dig up our harvest later that summer.

Fresh potatoes - fresh string beans - sliced tomatoes and cucumbers right from the garden -some barbecued chicken and a cold beer on a lazy hot summer's afternoon is pretty tasty. So as newspapers throughout the world today recount stories about fathers everywhere, I take this moment to share one of mine.

June 17 - A baby melon is growing up

Shortly after Good Friday, I planted 6 ambrosia cantelopes. They seem to like my soil and are spreading out just as they should. Here's one of the fuit. At $2.50 in the produce department, these melons might help me break even with the garden this year. It sure would be nice for a change!

You know, the black plastic really is making a difference with the amount of watering of need to do. I may use this again in 2007!

Seems everyone's hydrangea is in bloom - blues, violets, purples, lavendars, pinks. Oh, they're so pretty. Here's one of mine.

June 6 - A Grassy Dilemma

No, this photo doesn't come from my front yard, but it does give you the idea that not all is green where it should be..... My front yard was once covered in lush, apple-green centipede grass that really didn't need mowing in the summertime. The thick grass is designed for hot summers. It worked fine until I had the large oak tree deep-root fertilized three years ago. Shortly thereafter, a tornado took it out, leaving a large hole and 21 holes of super strong fertilizer.

With a newfound source of food, weeds of all sizes and grasses of all names started popping up. My yard had been invaded with "grass-terrorists," loaded with all kinds of ammo to kill my beautiful centipede, allowing cults of crab grass, goose grass and dandelions to overtake my yard.

I've been at war. No fence, no soldiers and no legislation could help. It's been a battle of mind, spirit, soul and the pocketbook! I've tried chemicals, horticulture-grade Roundup and more - to no avail.

It's been a mess. And now the yard has to be mowed on a weekly basis. My boyfriend Joel Leonard has been a real trouper in helping me maintain what is left of what used to be one of the prettiest yards in my neighborhood. Half is green. Half is dead.

You might say I'm working in research and development and he's in production. I'm trying to figure out how to salvage my yard while he mows the green part.

Today, I learned from the NC Cooperative Extension Office that it will take up to three years to regain my yard's health and beauty. Before I do anything else to my yard, however, I'm going to get the soil tested. Who knows? Perhaps it needs a little more than a good trim and TLC!

June 1 - Leaf rollers

See the curled leaves? That's a sign that my tomatoes have leaf rollers. A good way to get rid of the moth is to spray the plants with Pyola.

Available from Gardens ALIVE!, pyola is a mixture of canola oil and pyrethrin, a perfect organic match to kill bugs. It's safe and can be used on the fruit. (Click on the title of this blog and you'll be linked to Gardens ALIVE!)

I'll spray pyola on all my plants, including my roses, azaleas and dogwood trees.

Checked out my cantelopes today. I've got some tiny ones. The plants are starting to run. I need to cover the black plastic with straw or something to keep the plants and fruit cool.

Lettuce loves cool weather. When temps heat up, lettuce bolts. This is lettuce bolting. Leaves turn bitter and it just needs to be pulled up and thrown in the compost pile.

You can see I've not been tending my garden well - and why I'm using black plastic this year. My lettuce is surrounded by weeds and catnip.