It's almost fall!
The sun is shining, it's 72° and breezy, the little ones are playing in the back yard, and I'm dreaming about the yard work I want to get done this fall.

We're planning to build a privacy fence, a three-seciton compost bin, a tool shed with a potting porch on it, and put up a decent clothes line. It's ambitious, I know, but this weather makes me feel like I can accomplish anything! I also have two pieces of furniture I need to refinish, and I've been waiting for cooler weather so I can do it on the carport and not broil in the heat.

Of the dozen blueberry bushes we planted this spring, it appears that all but two have died. I guess we didn't water them enough - they are all brown and shriveled. The blueberry bed is in the front yard and we also planted roses, confederate jasmine, blue salvia, lamb's ears, sage, French lavender, lemon verbena, and a clematis there. These other plants are all doing well, except for the clematis, which never came up. I've never planted one before, so I don't know what I did wrong. Next spring I'm going to add some more herbs to the bed: chamomile, lavender officianalis, and oregano. Maybe parsley, too.

The vegetable garden is in the back yard and is still going strong. Our tomatoes are still producing prolificly, we have plenty of peppers, and we even have a volunteer watermelon coming up beside the compost! It has one fruit on it, about 8" long and 3" across. I hope it has time to ripen before it gets cold here in November or December. I've never grown watermelon before, so I don't know how long they take. The squash plants have all shriveled up and died. I guess they couldn't take the 103° weather we had last month!

The kids have gotten out the water hose and are flooding the patio, so I'd better scoot!