Update #3

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Late edit: This morning, Jason talked with the neighbor and got the okay to cut down the tree between our front yards. So, more sun for the plum tree!
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Let's start with a couple photos of Aubrey.




And now for the garden. The violas are doing great, and the sweet peas are surpassing them in height. The blue jays are using the basket fibers for their nests.
I saw a bluejay in the basket and I was thinking, what could he possibly be doing in there? Then I saw the fibers strewn around and figured it out.

Here's the squash (foreground) which Jason planted just before the sprouts finally came out of the ground from the seeds we planted for your visit. Beets (background) are 3 inches tall. We haven't thinned out the wildflowers yet.

The clematis is growing like gangbusters.

Here are the pole beans Jason planted by the fence, behind the asparagus.

Speaking of asparagus, 2 of the 3 plants didn't come up this year, at least not yet. The third one produced maybe 7 asparagus. We probably shouldn't have picked the 4 shoots we picked; I just read that you have to wait until the third season, and this is the second. I looked up why the other two plants didn't produce and it could be overwatering or underwatering, which is strange because all three plants got the same amount of water, pretty much. It could also be pests, or stress from surrounding weeds. I think Jason plans to uproot them and check out the roots to see if they look healthy, then maybe plant them somewhere else. In hindsight we should have planted more of them to get a reasonable yield.

The tomato plants are taking off.

As are the hydrangea.

And the lavender.

The shasta daisies are getting ready to bloom.

Jason got two more and planted them on either side of the deck stairs, as you suggested (no photo).

He planted eggplant in front of the chimney.

And I don't have a photo, but the black raspberries are appearing; still green, though. Jason thinks we will get a lot this year.

Update #2

It's been pretty hot the past couple of days so we've been watering a lot. It's supposed to rain tonight, then 80s and no rain for the next week.

The wildflower seedlings bordering the squash/beet garden (photo below) are a few inches tall. Mom said something about thinning these out. How far apart should they be? And can we transplant the extras?


The bishop's weed is flourishing; our neighbor Scott even commented on how this spot is going a little wild. Jason pulled some out closest to the lilies and the other flowers to the right of the lilies, and next to the hypericum bush. But they could be thinned out a lot more.



The plum tree is leafing out and the salvia (purple flowers in the background) is happy.

Hydrangea is leafing out. I may have asked this before, but could we expect blossoms this season? I can't wait to cut them and put them in a vase.

The rhubarb has three leaves now.

Jason replanted the squash garden with squash seedlings since the seeds didn't seem to be coming up, but three days later there are sprouts from the seeds. So this will be a crowded squash garden.

Mint, cilantro, and basil which was planted two days ago.

We wanted pictures of Aubrey with the lilacs before they faded, and we barely missed the deadline.

Speaking of Aubrey, here she is demonstrating her rolling skills today.

Update #1

I finally took pictures of the garden today! Here is a report of its current state. If you are wondering about any plants I failed to mention, feel free to ask about them. To see the photos better, you can click on them to enlarge them.

We need to do some mulching, mowing, and weeding; hopefully this weekend, but my sister Kathy is coming to visit, so if she doesn't feel like gardening, it might not get done.

The lilac bush is nearly in full bloom.

The gnome failed to protect whatever plant he was assigned to protect. A squirrel trampled it or something. I hope it wasn't anything important. Also, I just realized that this gnome looks like my dad.


The clematis has grown and wound itself around the trellis a little, and two new blossoms came up. They are very pretty.

This is the weed that Mom and I discussed that is a tall stalk next to the chimney. It bloomed so I thought I would include a photo. As weeds go, it's not so bad.



The bishops weed is getting pretty high, and starting to crowd out the hypericum (?) bush in the corner, as well as the lilies on the left. Somebody will have to thin it out.



The lavender has grown a tiny bit, but I was excited to see the fern that I transplanted from last year. I wish I had transplanted more of them.




Someone threw the newspaper toward the deck and it landed on the mystery plant that mom planted in the red pot near the hose faucet.




The astilbe is flourishing. The ones I planted last year are starting to bud, which you may not be able to see in the photo.



And the astilbes that mom planted seem to be thinking about blooming soon.




Here's a wider view of the rock garden. Everything seems to be doing okay.

I need to move the bird feeder again because the sunflower shells are falling on one of the astilbes. Incidentally, lots of birds and few squirrels are coming to the feeder. So far I have seen cardinals, black-capped chickadees, house sparrows, plain old sparrows, and a rose-breasted grosbeak. I had never seen a rose-breasted grosbeak before and had to look it up to see what kind of bird it was. Here is a link to a photo: http://photos.somd.com/data/27/RBGB_DSC_5078_2.jpg

The violas are doing great. I've been picking off the dead flowers every day or two.
On the right side of the above photo, it looks like some new sprouts are coming up out of the dirt. I assume this is also viola, but I am surprised that it comes up from the dirt rather than from the plants. So maybe it's a weed? Let me know if I should pull them out.

The shasta daisies wilted so I plucked them; I hope this was the right move. Each plant has at least 2-3 new buds.


The arrowwood/arrowroot bushes are budding.


The squash sprouts seem to be disappearing, and this morning I noticed squirrels digging in this area.
They dug a bunch of holes in the wildflower bed, and messed up a few of the sprouts, but hopefully they have done whatever damage they plan to do.

Here's the tomato/pepper/asparagus garden.

The leaves on the bottom of two tomato plants turned yellow, probably because they were touching the ground and got wet. If you have advice on that front we'd like to hear it. Only four asparagus spears so far, and no new spears have appeared. The rhubarb is struggling but getting bigger. And we have one little pepper so far.







Here's a wider view of the lilac bush.

And it was nice and warm today so Aubrey got to put on a summer dress. As you can see, she is quite pleased with it.

That's all for now! If there is anything else you are curious about, just ask. You can leave a comment below, or just email, call or skype.