A garden diet

In Seattle, the DOT will sometimes reduce busy four-lane avenues down to just two lanes, usually to appease the bike riders.  The odd euphemism they use for this is "street diet."

This giant flower bed is going on a "diet" because the far side is impossible to keep weeded and watered.  All week I've been working in the smoke and heat, poor me.  Of course I could wait until fall, but it involves a lot of digging and the plants pop right out of the dusty soil.  Plus I get obsessed with finishing projects.

(By the way, today is a record. We've gone 51 days without measurable rain in Seattle. The nasty smoke is hanging around until the end of the week.) 

I've run up against a big clump of iris with no place to transplant them. Or neighbors willing to adopt such problem children.  Iris! Talk about a love-hate relationship.  In May they break your heart for two weeks, then turn ugly as sin for the rest of the year and hog up so much real estate in the garden.

Anyway, when I finally got this bed narrowed down and grass planted, it will be one of the prettier spots in the yard.  And my lawn mower can get through without being clawed on the head by trees.

The first giant water bill of the season arrived. What do we have to show for it?  Along with beautiful useless flowers, some very expensive peppers and tomatoes, if you consider the amount of water dumped on them.

John brought two spindly pepper plants home from Home Depot on Mother's Day as a joke. Then I showed him a thing or two about growing peppers in pots.  Now he is looking forward to homemade chiles rellenos with these beautiful Anaheims.  A major cooking project, but oh so delicious and nothing like the sloppy platters they serve up in Mexican restaurants.