Mother Nature... Putting the "Early" in Early Blight

Do you see what I see?

How 'bout now?

Another bed looks okay, right?

Here's the backside:

On the other side of the yard we have wind damage

Please hurry, you might be the only tomatoes this year for me...

This is shaping up to be an awful year weather wise, and I guess I knew the effects would show in the garden, but I still had high hopes.  Don't we always?  Gardening in the south is not for the faint of heart.  We have had thunderstorms for close to 14 straight days now, and then comes the heat just to make double sure the insects and diseases are kept warm, wet and happy. UGH!!!!  There will be no treatment this year, I've tried them all and have the empty bank account to prove it.  Nothing truly works for blight and I could have spent all that money I spent on ridiculous treatments and put it towards finding the nearest farmer selling tomatoes by the bushel.  Hang on, I need a scream moment...  At least last year the blight came at a normal blight-ish time of year and I was actually able to put away quite a bit before the bitter end.

At least some things do spectacularly well here...the honeybees, bumbles and hummingbirds are going wild for the Butterfly Weed, Sage and Verbena that are in full bloom.

Maybe I'll take next year off to solarize the beds and just do beekeeping...

Yes, you heard right... beekeeping, yay!  Lochlann is the newest member of the 4-H Jr. Beekeepers Club!  His bee suit is on the way and he will be working in the 4-H Bee Yard progressing towards earning his own hive.  Of course we will all be joining the Beekeeper's Association and getting in on the fun.  I tried to end on a good note, did it work or are you scrolling back up to the top and getting sick to your stomach?  :)  Chin up, gardeners... it can't be this bad everywhere, right?

Oh surprise, surprise... it's thundering again.

Father/Son Campout

It has been raining, thunder storming and high winds for over a week now, so nothing much to report on the garden. Too squishy out there to do much, and I'm sure the tomatoes are now freely spreading on the ground since there has been so much wind I'm sure they are no longer secured to their trellis system.

I know we need the rain, but it's putting a damper on a lot of my plans.  I've had a "Mother's Day Marshmallow Roast" planned for my Cub Scouts for over 2 weeks now and we have to keep canceling due to the weather.  

The weather didn't stop our church's Father/Son Campout, however!  Although there were high winds, the rain stayed away for them.  They went up to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  For those unfamiliar, it's a trip across the 13 mile engineering wonder of the world Chesapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel  :)  It's actually only a 30 minute or so trip to the other side but it's like another world over there, very rural, seaside agriculture and fishing and not too much else.  Some may only know of the area as the spit of land where the Chincoteague Ponies swim, but that's the general geographical area.

I had to entrust the photography to hubby and sent him off with my camera with instructions to "make sure you don't just take pictures of crap, make sure there are people's faces in them!!"  Well, he gave the camera to Loch for the weekend, so we get what we get and we don't throw a fit, right?

Dads setting up tents 

One of the boys' friends, (and one of my Cub Scouts) hamming it up...

Whittling... this is why I made sure I threw a first aid kit in the car LOL

My child sent into what was probably a Water Moccasin infested field... this wouldn't happen if moms were there, ha!

Oh great, a snake hunt?  One of the dads said after returning from the trip that they were sent to look for the elusive Wheat Cobra, LOL!  But hey, I'm still stuck on the whole real, native snakes we have...yikes!

Finn surveying 

Love the bullhorn... this is on my wish list!

Lots of dads, lots of sons...

Campfire shot, I think Loch took this one

Finnegan

Breakfast time!

I love these tired morning faces! (also my Cub Scouts!)

How did this one get in here?  LOL, was too cute not to post, this is the latest instrument to take up residence in my house.  Finn is dreaming of South Pacific seas...

What was I doing all this time?  I had dreams of reading a book, gardening, etc but after getting all their stuff packed for them and sending them off, I found myself stricken by creativity and made this little cake-pop garden for one of the gals at church that needed sweets for a teen dance.  It was so fun making them but it takes so long!  After that I was so tired I just watched a chick flick LOL.

More thunderstorms today... my poor garden, I haven't been out there in a week!