2026 CW23 - Bouncing Back
I like the idea of opening these posts every week by stepping back and appreciating the yard from afar. I snapped this photograph while sitting on one of our concrete benches nestled between the raised beds and the fence. The variety of plants we host in our backyard really struck me while sitting here. We have Dahlias off to the left, Ground Cherries in the foreground, the remarkable Princess Flower in the large blue planter with its delicate soft foliage, the mature Swiss Chard in the adjacent raised bed, the Red Knockout Rose off the corner of the house, and so much more!
Checking in on Disasters
As readers of this blog know from last week’s post, a series of “Disasters, Destruction, and Doom” befell our property recently, and I wanted to provide some updates on those events. The Deep Ruts left in the front yard (thanks to an ambitious young mail carrier thinking a grassy ditch on a rainy day presented the perfect U-turn opportunity). The yard did dry up enough this week to enable me to fill and level these areas with a combination of Sand and Compost.
Later in the week, the very same tree which assaulted our garage with a large leader falling on the roof decided to lose another major limb! Late Saturday night, with the dogs and cats inside thankfully, I heard a [at this point] all too familiar sound of a crashing tree. I grabbed a flashlight and walked to the backyard to find yet another Water Oak limb down. Fortunately, this was about the only limb left which would not cause further damage to the garage. At the time of writing, insurance has agreed to cover removal, and I should have a tree service here in the next few days to clean up and remove the remainder of the tree.
Heavy-Duty Hardware for Heavy-Duty Nappers
One of the cat’s favorite hangout spots in the backyard is the birdbath which rests under several bird feeders outside our bedroom window. Scout loves curling up in the bowl, and Yoda can often be found perched around the rim. Unfortunately (due in part to Yoda’s not so modest composition) the birdbath was beheaded last week with the bowl being toppled from the base as Yoda leapt up to the edge. Not only does this damage the lawn, but it poses a fatal threat to any cat or dog walking underneath at the time.
Initially, I was planning to simply adhere the bowl to the base with a high-quality construction adhesive. However, upon further consideration, I decided a Mechanical Fastening solution of some kind was in order. As I pursued the aisles of the home improvement store in search of solutions, I happened upon these stainless round Cover Plates with a hole in the center for a fastener. I knew this would be the perfect solution to provide a mechanical connection between the bowl and the base, while leaving the interior of the bowl smooth for Scout’s comfy lounging sessions. I drilled a hole in the base, lathered the interface with construction adhesive, set the bowl in place, and drove a heavy duty Tapcon fastener through the cover plate.
With this solution implemented, the bowl was securely fixed in place with no risk of further decapitation! Yoda and Scout wasted no time putting the newly repaired throne to the test and can be seen here in their usual configuration.
Flourishing Floral Flushes
Around the yard we have Dahlias and Lillies continuing to put on their shows! Rather unintentionally the color Pink has seemingly taken over the yard this year, with many of our favorite blooms coming in blushes of Fuchsia, Magenta, Watermelon and more!
The Orchid Cactus on the back porch has begun sending shoots of [soon to be] blooms from the wrinkles in its stiff foliage. The growth habits of this plant are super fun, and the slow-moving nature of its growth can lead to sudden surprises like this when you become numb to any changes in its size! Around the corner along the fence, more pink blooms flood the beds with a sea of Zinnias.
Next to the Orchid Cactus in an unassuming terracotta strawberry pot, another Orchid Plant (we suspect it to be a Moth Orchid) is further along its blooming journey! This week, a half dozen blooms have sprung into action providing a bright white break in the otherwise overwhelmingly green and brown color palate of our back porch plants right now. As a bonus, we noticed a Grasshopper friend hanging out on a not-yet-opened- bud!
Spicy Abundance!
This week has been filled with appreciation for our continued hearty harvest of peppers, with even more on the way! The week started with harvesting, preparing, and freezing a few bags worth of Bell Peppers. We are to the point in the year where we are overwhelmed with a continuous flow of these universal kitchen staples, and we have a goal this year to store up enough by the end of the season to take us at least through the New Year.
In contrast to the Bell Pepper’s thick hull and sweet demeanor, our Cayenne Pepper plants have begun to reach for the skies and set fruit! This is one of my personal favorites to grow, and we thoroughly enjoy home dried and ground cayenne pepper powder and red pepper flakes. This year marks the first time in two years that we have planted Cayenne Peppers, as we actually overwintered this variety last year.
Providing some stiff competition to the Bell Peppers, the Poblano Pepper plants are already producing some gorgeous specimens. We ended up harvesting three of these over the weekend, charred them on the grill, and had them as a side to complement our Tomatoes (coming up) and some pork chops.
[Soon to be] Gone but not Forgotten
There was one more disaster from last week which I did not follow up on above. As I am sure you recall, our Tomato crop was almost completely irradicated by an onslaught of Bacterial Wilt disease. Fortunately, we have a single surviving Tomato plant which has really picked up the slack! The armful of Tomatoes you see me with here is a result of only a few days’ worth of growth on our Designated Survivor (great show by the way!). We immediately brought these fruits inside to be washed and prepped for dinner that very night!
After washing the tomatoes were sliced thinly (I love the look of these wrinkly Burmese Sour Tomatoes when they are sliced). Sara then used these to fill a stunning Tomato Galette (with some Garden Grown pesto as the base!) which was the perfect complement to our charred Poblano Peppers!
