A New Tick Species in Maine

Geez, another species of tick has made it's way to Maine. We have too many tick borne diseases as it is! UMaine Extension Tick Lab identified the Asian Longhorn Tick.

Mums the word!

We went to Mid-Coast Growers and bought 4 gorgeous mums. There are oodles of mums and asters to choose from! I put two pink mums (with yellow centers) in Toby's Memorial Garden.

One of the yellow mums was put into a ceramic pot near the geraniums. Such a gorgeous corner of the front deck!

The second yellow mum is at the other end of the deck. So lovely... We will undoubtedly go back for the purple asters next.

Garden fresh veggies for tonight's soup

Even though our vegetable garden is not at its best this summer, I was able to happily pick a few veggies to add to our vegetable soup for dinner. From left to right: Carrot, eggplants, patty pan squash below the eggplants, zucchini, Arat parsley root. I generally wait until late September to pick carrots, but I was excited to pull one today. I gave it to my carrot connoisseur, Drew, to eat and he said it was delightful! As I haven't grown Arat parsley root before, I decided to pull one with lush greenery to see how big the root was. It was tinier than expected and I will not pull anymore of them until late September/early October.

We Got Rain!!!

We are in a drought. We received only about 1" of rain total in June and none in July. As you can see in the photo, the ground is crispy dry.

Well, surprise, surprise...A fast moving thunderstorm roared through and dropped 0.739" of rain in the span of about 30 minutes. Then, another storm moved through and we got a bit more rain to bring the total of this storm up to 0.81". This rain will not end the drought, but at least the plants got a sip of much needed water today.

Rain barrel #1 was filled to 3/4, and rain barrel #2 was filled to 1/2. Since we are not due for any rain until maybe next Sunday, this will allow me to water the plants at the end of next week.

And, it looks like this storm pushed out the heat and we will be back to our normal Maine summer temperatures for the foreseeable future! Yay!

Just chillin' in the veggie garden

I look forward to the summer days that are on the cooler side so that I can commune with my vegetable garden plants. I love hanging out with them and giving them encouragement and positive energy...And, I love the buzzing of the bees, the fluttering of the butterflies, and the humming of the hummingbirds that zip hither and yon!