Thursday, June 27, 2013

An Early Morning at Crest Avenue

Baxter and I were up early this morning.  Well, actually, Baxter was up early which, consequently meant that I was up early.  He wanted breakfast and he wanted it now.  "Get up daddy!  Get up daddy!  GET UP DADDY!  I'm hungry!"  So I put him down on the floor and he took off like a bullet.  He looked like the Roadrunner from the cartoons.  He had breakfast on his plate and then it was time to go outside.  I grabbed the camera and got a few shots while it was still nice and cool.


Here is Elephant Ear number one.


And Elephant Ear number two.  Remember these are the Black Elephant Ears that I planted early in the spring.  Their growth over the past couple weeks has been amazing.  They look very healthy and happy in this semi-shaded spot next to one of the Sweet Gum trees.  They prefer a shaded area.  I also planted twenty Caladium in this area at the same time I planted the Elephant Ears and I have seen nothing.  I don't know what is going on.  It may be that we won't see them until next year.


A little further back in the yard, I found a nest in one of the crepe myrtle trees.  We talked about the crepe myrtles yesterday, so I went back this morning to see if there were any blooms that I could share with you.  There were not, but I found this nest.  I wonder what kind of bird has made their home here.  We'll have to watch closely and see if we can find out.



Over at the tomato garden, I was pleasantly surprised to find very healthy vines loaded with fruit.  I looks like we will have a good harvest this year.



This is my second tomato for this season.  It was a little sad looking.  The first one was beautifully shaped.  I pulled this and had it for breakfast.  When the skin splits on a tomato while still on the vine, it does not effect the flavor.  It is caused by inconsistent watering, which cannot always be avoided.  Tomato plants should be watered every 2 or 3 days in the summer.  They should be watered at ground level.  If you have waited a couple days and then a big summer storm comes through and drops a lot of rain, the inside of the tomato grows at a faster rate than the skin and that is what causes them to split.  So, all we can do is do our best and keep the watering as consistent as possible.  If you end up with some tomato that split, so be it.  It's not the end of the world.  Just bring them in, wash them off and slice them and enjoy.

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