Backyard non-brag!
Yikes! Here I am gearing up to be a hot beach-babe-Bahama-mama, and what happens? I get attacked by ants! Actually it was just my right foot that got bit, but still - those tiny little bites left some nasty-looking damage. This was a week ago and my skin is still super-irritated!
I was innocently picking green beans, when the next thing I knew I felt a couple of stings. What was I thinking wearing sandals outside, anyway? Well, it was 100 degrees -- oh. At least the mosquitoes didn't get me!
My heroic husband immediately jumped up and grabbed a can of outdoor bug spray and really let 'er rip. I haven't seen the ants since, but now I put on socks and tennis shoes before I go out there, and I take the spray just in case.
God bless those green bean plants! Even in this miserable heat they are making beans every day and they are so delicious (especially with Chef Paul's Vegetable Magic Seasoning). Alas for the tomatoes, however. One has about burnt up completely (I think it had a blight anyway), several look nice but make no tomatoes, and the one gorgeous, beautiful producer is under constant attack by mockingbirds! If I don't pick the tomatoes as soon as they start to show the slightest hint of orange, the birds just gobble them up right off the branches.
And the peppers! I didn't know green peppers could turn such mean shades of red! I bravely chopped up a poblano the other day that had turned the most amazing red-orange color, figuring I would regret it, but it was not too hot at all! I made fajitas out of some leftover T-bone steak, sauteed in olive oil with some thinly sliced onion and a regular green pepper (also from my little garden) and they were deeeelish! My husband had grilled the steak with mesquite chips, so with that flavor dominating, the only other seasoning needed is garlic, oregano, and a little salt and pepper -- try it yourself with leftover grilled steak or chicken, too!
We have so many peppers we'll never eat them all, so I better start chopping them up and freezing them. Same with the basil before they want to go to seed. Everything else just looks wilt-y and sad, wishing for some rain. Well, except for the grass in the garden. And if it ever cools down a few degrees, I will get out there and pull it out!
Hope your gardens are doing better than mine -- feel free to "garden brag" in the comments...