How Does My Garden Grow?

Well, I would have to say, pretty darn well! :D

All of my herbs are flourishing (even the BASIL!!!!) in all this sunshine and heat, although I do have to be careful about watering them every day so they don't get droopy and sad looking.  The only one I barely pay attention to is the basil.  It almost never needs to be watered and likes it that way thank you very much!  So, after 4 years of horrible basil death, I have finally been able to get 1, just one, measly plant to survive and do well.  But, I'll take it!  We used our first harvest of the herbs in some burgers and meatloaf this wek, so I think it's safe to say that my victory is complete...

Come to think of it, I've been able to harvest quite a lot from all of my lovely plants so far, with the exception of my tomatoes.  Don't get me wrong, they are doing just fine.  It's just that the cherries haven't quite ripened yet and the larger ones (I have no idea what they are called) are still in the growing stages and haven't even started turning anything resembling reddish in color.  

 

My cute cherry tomatoes just after a watering.  This plant has been producing so many flowers and then fruit, it's just amazing!  I think there are over 20 little guys developing right now and it just keeps growing!

These are my big fellas.  I have two plants of these and while there aren't as many of them in process, they look very healthy and started producing fruit much later than the cherry plant.  I have 3-4 clusters of 2-3 tomatoes each on these plants.

While it is getting late in the season for my lilies, I have been able to take some nice pictures of the two varieties I have.  I love this ivory one especially.  The other one, picture below, oddly enough matches a yarn I made for Tour de Fleece almost exactly.  Strange huh?

Speaking of Tour de Fleece, I was actually not so good about it this year.  I did make some nice yarns, but I kind of got bored and moved on to other things for the last two weeks of the tour.  I'm ok with that and I did get some nice yarn spun up in the first couple weeks, so while I wasn't a real competitor, I did participate and I think the two weeks has really helped my spinning skills.  I even learned to long draw during the tour, which is one of the methods of drafting fiber that I had never done before.  

Long draw basically means allowing the wheel and the twist you are putting into the yarn to draft out the fibers for you rather than strictly controlling the supply of fiber by using both hands and pinching the fiber at the point where the twist comes into it.  Long draw generally makes less dense yarns because there is more air trapped in between then fibers.  It's still not easy for me, but I CAN do it with some concentration now, so I've very happy about that.  The video below is a good demo of what long draw or woolen spinning looks like.  As an added bonus, the music is pretty good too :)

And finally, the hyper rose has slowed down pushing out its usual riot of pink flowers.  So, the whole plant looks pretty boring right now.  But, I did see a few new flowers and buds poking out, so maybe we're in store for yet another set of blooms.