The second landscape contractor came by yesterday to pick up plans and talk about our changes to them. He recommended that we wait as long as possible this fall b/c we're going to transplant so many things (azaleas and dwarf hollies).  Also, he thinks it's a good idea not to do anything in the back yard until we re-do the office because that remodel will tear up the landscape around it.  It would be a good way not to waste money on landscaping.

Anyhoo, the garden has its peaks and valleys.  The squash are struggling.  They look dead, and then in true Monty Python fashion, a few buds and green leaves will appear as if to say "I'm not dead yet!"  But they are still mostly dead.  The cucumbers are still trying and with the next few days of sunshine, they might pull through.  The pole beans look about ready for their second harvest.  Did I mention we had the first harvest last week?  YUM! YUM!  We have tons of green tomatoes.  They are slowly ripening and we're bringing them in as they do.  I think we'll have a tomato salad tonight.  The Japanese Eggplant is producing one more fine egger, and the regular eggplant plants have doubled in size the last few weeks and I see some humongous things emerging from them.  They are big.  Big big.  <--identify that allusion and you have southern roots.  We have two okra plants giving it a go.  I love to say Okra!  What a fun word.  The cantalope are looking good; I think one melon is almost ready.  I know how to pick them out in the store...but in the garden???  Do I need to get down to its level and sniff it?!  We still haven't had any swiss chard yet.  I think I shall pull a few leaves off tonight to steam along with the one eggplant. 

As far as the herbs go, the chives have developed into a huge bush.  There are not enough baked potatoes or cream cheese on bagels to use all of those chives.  The basil and the mint have grown over the poor dill.  The rosemary bush has started to grow, but one twig is still recoving from the soaker hose laying incident and it doesn't look completely healthy. 

Finally, Dave and John, our neighb, were pruning a tree yesterday and noticed a swarm of caterpillars at the bottom of the trunk.  IT WAS DISGUSTING.  It was like a caterpillar orgy, except as Dave pointed out, they are too young for that.  Hundred of hairy dark worms gathered together and just sitting there: sometimes jostling for space, sometimes just hanging.  Evern weirder was the stream of caterpillars still coming down the tree.  They all paused and stuck one of their ends (head or tail, I couldn't discern) high out into the air.   I thought it was fairly reminiscent of the famous Karate Kid pose, except worms don't have arms.  But they were all in that position....and then all at once, they'd start crawling again down to join the gaggle/pod/swarm of worms.  A quick web search showed that they were Eastern Tent Worms who can defoliate a tree, but are best "dealt with" by their natural predators.  We tried to tell the birds that the worm buffet was open (Free Protein!  Fiber!!), but I'm not sure they understood what the pointing and shouting was about. 

Ok.  Feeling better today about the remodel.  We talked to one reference who had a bad time with our potential architects.  It seemed like more of a personality difference than a quality issue.  We still need to call all the other folks.  It's really a small remodel to the professionals we're dealing with, but it's big to us.

Off to work. 

8:23:23 AM