Forest of the Plains

So I was outside watering the gardens and new tree this morning. As I came around the corner of the house, I was startled to find a skunk eating cat food on the porch. At 10:00 in the morning. And when he saw me, he just went back to eating. I waited a safe-ish distance away (if you can see the skunk are you too close?) and waited for the skunk to leave. I wasn't going to mess with a skunk, especially one that was potentially rabid! Such fun!

Anyway, the garden is doing great. On Sunday I picked the first tomatoes - 3 cherry and 2 pear. Oh, yum! It's been far too long since I last tasted a good tomato! There are more of the small tomatoes ripening and lots of green big tomatoes. One bell pepper and several chilis are growing. I'm very excited about all the little cantaloupes and watermelons! The biggest watermelon is about the size of my fist. Many gardeners around here say their melons rarely turn out, so we'll have to see what happens.

It appears that a deer or some other tallish animal that enjoys plants ate the leaves off the top third of my tomato plants. They left the stems alone, so the leaves are growing back.

And, not that they're in my garden, but we're starting to see sunflower plants along the sides of the roads! Sunflower season is so pretty. I like to just drive along the country roads to see all the wild sunflowers in bloom. But, that's a couple of months away yet.