It’s been a two-fisted tequila kind of week around here, with my primary desktop lunching itself on the crappy end, and the boychild finally getting his 6th grade shit together on the hurrah end.   So, I do what I always do when I want to kick a hole through someone, grab the camera and head out into the garden.  Please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright and locked positions, it’s going to be a loooong ride.

We knew the new daylily garden out front was going to be all sorts of excellent, and we were right.  This is last year’s Ming Toy:
 

The mystery lily:
 

And the Louisiana Yellow Flag iris (oops, not a daylily):
 

The cannas have all awoken from their fall naps and are ready for their closeups.  This is my favorite, Lucifer:

The 9 foot tall hollyhocks survived the astonishing wind earlier this week, and continue their mad blooming:
 

The I-wish-I-could-remember-its-name is being invaded by last year’s gladiolus:
 

The Mariposa Skies bearded iris has decided to bloom.  Again.  From the very same spots on the stalks it bloomed previously:
 

I’ve never grown irises…I presume this is normal?

The Batik bearded iris has decided to get in on the action:

My beloved Mahogany Midget coreopsis is in full swing, and has nicely propagated itself all throughout the scarlet verbena behind it:
 

These Cape Daisies (started from seed in January) have gone MAD in the landscape:
 

That eye looks black but in direct sunlight is a gorgeous iridescent blue.

Out back the roses are doing beautifully, thanks to Husband’s ministrations, and despite the depredations of those *%$#@%^$#$%^$ black beetles who are back in force.  This is the Hot Cocoa:
 

The gorgeous Don Juan climber:
 

On the veggie side of the spectrum, this Carbon tomato is simply astonishing in growth-rate.  It was started from seed in January and I estimate I’ll be harvesting the largest of these in a few weeks:
 

The Cucumber from Outer Space (Crystal Apple var.) actually got a haircut yesterday.  There’s two other cuke varieties in that box that need a little growing space, hoss:
 

Though peek through the leaves on this monster and see what rewards await:
 

I have never seen that many blooms on a cucumber.  Ever.

The corn is doing wonderfully thusfar, as are the leeks and the bebe trees:
 

The herbs (weeds with benefits) do best with indifferent care, which is surely what they get around here with so much else in need of attendance.  This is horehound and mustard:
 

Creeping Thyme, Rosemary, Marjoram, and Thyme:
 

Mal wants to know if we’re done yet:
 

I was trying to coax him over to the pumpkin leaves for a scale picture, but I think they scare him a little bit.  Me too, honestly, they’re the size of manhole covers.

Planted all the beans on Tuesday, and of course they’ve sprouted already.  These are the red rice beans:
 

The Anasazi bush beans:
 

The Jacob’s Cattle pinto beans are nearly a foot tall:
 

All the peppers are blooming and fruit setting.  This is a Paprika pepper:

The soybeans are blooming already, at about 8 inches tall:
 

The key lime is covered in blooms:
 

The rest of the tomatoes are fruiting their green asses off, even the sickly plants, though my theory about the latter is they’re just trying to propagate before they DIE.  This is the Ropreco Paste tomato:
 

The Principe Borghese:
 

The Black Cherry:
 

And the Black Plum tomato, which I’m actually growing OUTSIDE the pool enclosure, trying out with this gadget called a Tomato Crater:
 

This is supposed to accomplish three things: 

1. Prevent hornworm infestations, as the lime green bastards hatch in the soil around the roots, then climb up to wreak havoc.
2. Evenly water around the base of the plant.
3. The red color is supposed to reflect back the light frequency that tomatoes like the most, making for a better harvest.

3 of the things were to be had for about $20 so we’re giving them a field test.  Sincerely hope they work because my devotion to farming does not quite extend to manually plucking big fat-ass green worms off my plants and then squishing them.  Bleh.