Fruit of the Vines

July 4th is nearly here!
Sure most people will be rushing to the local grocery for hamburgers, hot dogs, grill supplies and such; it's just so inconvenient that in our area it's likely we'll get some rain. We have an 80% chance of precipitation, which doesn't mean we will be hiding from the storms all day necessarily, it just means it makes it more difficult.

Kinguyakkii and Amaruq had a good time at the dog park today (I will be posting pictures soon). Hopefully, they won't be too rambunctious and upset about the rain. (Kingu hates getting her little princess paws all wet.) If it rains all day though, there might not be as many fireworks, which is good for the huskies as that the loud noises make their tails fall between their legs and convinces them to hide in a corner.

However, the rain will be helpful to our vegetable garden, as it seems to need water frequently in our (currently) warm Indiana climate. Our garden consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, green onions, cilantro, various pepper plants (both hot and sweet) and the feared zucchini plants. We are testing one of those latest-craze upside down tomato plants (we bought it pre-planted and it had a few flowers on it), it has two medium sized tomatoes growing on it and is doing surprisingly well. We had bought one that came with seeds you planted yourself, but after 5-6 weeks the plants were doing very poorly and the cats seemed to take a liking to uprooting them and dragging them all over the house. We currently have 15 cucumbers, 9 zucchini, 8 carrots, 20 green onions, 12 tomatoes, 5 peppers and way too much cilantro growing. I need to transfer some more pepper plants outside (yes, I know I need to move them soon before the season is over); a few pepper plants we are going to try to keep alive through the winter since they are able to be grown as perennials. I need to plant the second rounds of carrots, onions and peas, too. The garden is almost like having another pet, it always needs something. We are also trying to grow seedless grapes, one plant really shot up and is has many little vines. The other grape vine is short and has grown a lot, but it isn't growing like the other one. They look very odd in our yard, a very tall plant and a short and stout plant. Yes, I do believe the neighbors sometimes worry about our sanity.

I hope all you out there have a great fourth of July, and happy grilling!