Back to the Good Earth

Alrighty, the garden is growing along just fine, soon to yield its mighty green bounty direct to our dinner plates and hopefully to our bloggy pages in the form of photographical goodness.

Now, folks... I've been on several gardening sites lately, and even some on Flickr, and I would like to ask you.... can we call a moratorium on the word "sustainable?"  Please, I beg of you!  It's an overdone buzz, used to make you feel all righteous and helpful.

What other words can we use instead, when we speak of the greening of America?  Go forth and let us be fruitful with our adjectives instead of using media-induced politically correct crapola in our writing!

Last year in the home and design section of the St. Petersburg Times,  it was suggested that we use bamboo cutting boards instead of our usual, whether those are wood or plastic/acrylic/glass, etc.   And that begs the question, should we all fill up the landfill with our old cutting boards in the quest to have a politically correct, sustainable kitchen of merit?   

Grrrrr.

Lettuce go back to the garden and be corny again:

This is soon to be a yellow banana pepper!

 

 A Big Boy tomato, about to shoot upward with all abandon. I have just 3 tomato plants this season! 

Behind it sits another tomato plant that is not doing very well.  I'm not sure why. Possibly too much water? Bugs? More investigation is needed. Suggestions welcome!

 

The red and yellow bell peppers are doing well. I'll get more photos of them soon. 

Let's get out of the yard for a moment! 

I noticed these guys on the top of a power line on the other side of my neighbor's house. I climbed on a ladder and tried to shoot, blocking out the neighbors roof. This is a closely cropped photo. 

 I've been watching them for a few weeks. Everytime I get closer to the pole, they fly away.  I will catch you, my pretties...

Meanwhile, back in the garden, this little guy and his cousins have been causing me to jump in my tracks.  Quite often, my neighbors hear  me scream. 

This one lives near the pool.

  His cousin is a good 2 or 3 feet longer and is frequently seen slithering through the side yard.  I'm not sure how big they get, or if they're territorial.  Anyone know?  They've been living here for years, lighting fast and harmless (in my opinion).

I've  named them Jack and Mack. They are of the familius Black Racer.

And out by the pond,  a symphony in pink:

That is all.

 TOMORROW, a photo meme! join us!

See details below  <---click there.

Comments

[mom]

nice pictures. How in the world can throwing away our wood cutting boards save the planet? Rick made us a beautiful board 17 years ago. I want to keep it. If you want any, there is plenty of bamboo down by the river . They would make a nice table. It grows and spreads fast. And harder than hard to cut.
I am sure your father and our cat will be delighted to know you named your snakes after them....lol Good thing Dad likes snakes. We have some black ones here too.
Hot here 93 today.

[me & my puppies]

Ok ~ next time there needs to be a warning about the snake. They totally creep me out! But the woodpeckers are beautiful!!

[Deana]

Oh I wish I could have participated. I still have to unpack and I barely got my post done as it is...but it sounds like a great one.

[kenju]

Great photos, but you can keep the snakes.

I wonder about the cutting boards too. Perhaps we should buy bamboo ones when our old ones wear out. I'm certainly not going to sack the 2 I have and go buy more!

[Dani]

It looks like your little tomato has a virus. Not much to be done with it. Alot of people pull them. I have a couple heirloom types growing right now and they have the same thing going on. Just for grins I've let them go and even though they they look awful,they have tons of fruit on them.

[mom]

plant marigolds around them. they protect the veggies. I forget how.

[Laura]

I have marigolds around them, but they don't protect against viruses or over/underwatering, etc etc. Although, I have been pretty consistent with the watering issue. I think it's a virus also.

I'll do some sleuthing online and see if it's something that might spread to the other plants. If not, I'll leave it.

Judy, as with most things these days, they'll tell us to go green, yet they're filling up the landfills with discards!

Deana, welcome back and it sounds like you had a great time!

Pups, point taken. Maybe I'll put the photo below the fold next time, LOL!

[Meems]

Popped over from FC's blog. I like your veggie garden. This is my first year to give that a whirl and most everything is coming along nicely. Wish I could help you with your tomato quandry but I'm just learning how to do it myself.

We have lots of black racers too.I used to (30 years ago) track them down and kill them... gasp! but learned to let them be ... still get startled by their slithering at times.

Meems@Hoe&Shovel

[Laura]

Hiya Meems, and welcome! This is my first year back to gardening again after an absence of sorts. I've moved the garden to another spot in the yard, but I kept it small because I can't manage a big garden right now!
I hope yours does well this year! If you want to check back, I plan to have a a link to some good gardening sites up on my site soon, including one by a new blogger who is a regular to FC's site and mine as well. I'm really excited that she's started a blog! I'll be over to see you soon, and welcome!

[Janet]

I'm only doing three this year too, can't decide on plum or cherry tomatoes! I've never had luck with the bigger ones.