A week of firsts!

First cabbage harvested, first peppers and tomatoes appearing, and a surprise first sunflower. They don't normally bloom until late summer!









The lilies are starting to take over the garden:

First lilies of 2010!

And there have been beautiful irises and peonies.








A lovely mini rose:



The flower garden is going to be gorgeous this year!

:(

The death of the Fig Tree That Ate Stafford County, Virginia. :(



The roots were getting into the septic system...a big no-no.



Mom kept some cuttings- hopefully they will become baby fig trees!



2009 was a bad year for FTTASC,V- almost no figs. Some of the branches were dying.

Son of the Fig Tree That Ate Stafford County is alive and well.

More October surprises!

Irises!

Fig tree failure?

The "Fig Tree that Ate Stafford County" has not done well this year. There have only been a handful of ripe figs, and they didn't start to ripen until late September. Mom thought the tree had died. We did have a bad cold snap this spring. That might have caused the delay.

Sad little figs on a branch:

So, no dried figs or fig preserves this year. :(

Surprise!!!

Mom had no luck with the pumpkins she planted this year. But she got a big surprise the other day while weeding- she found these two "volunteers"! Pumkin seeds must have fallen in that part of the garden- through birds or compost. The bugs must not have seen these two growing. They certainly enjoyed feasting on the ones that were planted!




And here's her cute little lemon:

Another batch of veggies!

Mostly peppers of many kinds. :D



The peppers have been good this summer!

Flowers are still pretty, and the veggies are getting ripe!

The biggest harvest yet- peppers of many kinds and Japanese eggplants...



The tomatoes are getting ripe, too, slowly. Mostly it's been cherry and plum tomatoes, but the big ones are turning, too!

More garden goodies!

Tomatoes!





They aren't ready yet. Too much rain, not enough sun. But the weather is getting sunnier and hotter, so these babies should ripen soon!

Give peas a chance:



Lilies still all over the place:





Actually, the lilies are starting to slow down. It's usually mid July that they stop blooming so much. Last year we were lucky. They stuck around until mid August!

Baby vegetables are coming!

Squash, peppers, tomatoes, and broccoli! We've already harvested some lettuce and radishes. They were delicious!











More lilies!



The back garden is just full of the orange day lilies, and there are many more to come...they'll probably last until July like last year.

Beautiful pink lilies:



I love the variety of colors. I really look forward to this time of year.

Roses!

The roses are doing so well this year!

First lilies!

Here they come!







I've spotted about a dozen so far. They'll burst out all over the garden over the next month, probably peaking in late June.

More pretty flowers!

More peonies:



And more irises!





Roses:





I don't remember what this flower is:



The lilies are going to start blooming soon!

Peonies!

Mom has several planted all throughout her garden. They bloom at different times- which is nice, because the blooms don't last long.

Eddie the cat enjoys the spring sunshine:



My newest garden "toys"- hat and gloves designed by Debbie Mumm:



The gloves are already filthy! *laughs*

We've had a lot of rain in the last few weeks. The garden seems to like that!

Baby peppers!

All planted and ready to grow.



More irises: