Dog Days of Summer

Oliver!

It is officially the dog days of summer and the weather is brutally hot and humid. Our dogs are doing a good job keeping our rabbit population under control, much to the horror of our animal lover daughter.

Tomato vine

 We have been lucky it has  stormed every few days to help out with the daily watering chore. Our vegetable garden is growing, and growing and growing! The solo zucchini plant is huge and producing more squash than I can cook or bake with, the tomatoes are ripening nicely and the guinea pigs eat fresh lettuce everyday! We also have a cucumber vine growing from the bottom of the compost bin!

cucumber vine

morning glory

The morning glory seeds I planted to disguise the wooden posts have climbed up those posts as well as any available tomato plant nearby! I cut back those eager vines daily before they choke out every plant in the garden.  Our crepe myrtle tree is blooming and it's arch providing a beautiful floral entry to our garden.

our "secret garden"

Check out the brown-eyed susans ! They are in full flower and are attracting hummingbirds as well as bees. They are ridiculously easy to grow and thrive in the hottest, driest conditions.

brown-eyed susans

I couldn't resist sneaking in a photo of this hummingbird perched comfortably on the feeder. We have about 3 or4 hummers around everyday. They swoop and fly backwards and forwards staking a claim on the feeders. I rarely see them feeding at the same feeder simultaneously.

female hummingbird