garden update

My zucchini are flowering..

Marigolds are flourishing

Tomatoes are caged!!

Potatoes are growing!!

Still got some weeding to do, shame...

room for stagger planting. i have a plan this year when those dang squash bugs start to eat up my zucchini, i am going to pull the plants, hopefully vineborers and all, and then start a fresh set. i will start them inside so the dang little bugs don't get into the roots. i read that since i had them last year they are impossible to get rid of unless i use pesticides. which won't work well for my kids to come and help or for my bees to come and pollinate. the other extremes i have read from organic gardeners are just too time consuming, the thought process with this idea is to treat my vines like lettuces and stagger plant. so once i get some fruit and start to see the damage i need to pull the plant bag it and send it to the dump, then replant, i will be without some fruit for a week or two but it is better than the alternative of no fruit all summer.

We saw some beautiful houses now and we are still eyeing the 4 year old home in foreclosure, it is still a favorite. but we are going again this weekend and i have 5 or 6 more homes set up for viewing and we will see what happens. the cool thing about the foreclosure is that it will take a couple of months before we hear back from the bank weather or not they will take our offer, that will work in our favor and help us secure the time we need to get our ducks in a row. then if they deny i have found about a dozen other homes i am interested in and we will be ready to make offers and move then anyway. my oldest is none too happy with this but we have to move forward in our lives and after all we are doing this for her as well. one thing that we are hesitant on in making an offer on this new foreclosure is that we found another foreclosure in t he same neighborhood, the same street, and we looked in it and it was only a ten year old home but we were looking at the walls and up by the ceiling all the drywall screws were popped out. like it was coming apart at the seems? i mean the dry wall screws were still in the walls, but you know how the guy will screw in the screw and then putty over it and then the carpenter will paint? well every spot was popped out like the putty was bad or there was a major earthquake that caused structural damage. i have been in kansas 12 years now and have not had an earthquake. also a room in the basement smelled mildewy and the siding was swollen, swollen siding have you seen this it was like the siding was not treated to resist water and it looked like crap. we were wondering if this is what we are going to expect in the other new house in a few years i mean come on when you buy a brand new home you expect it will be in great shape for what 20- 25 years? is this the type of construction we are getting with the foreclosed home?
Wes is going to call a few people and we asked our realtor to find out if the same people built both houses. ok i need to get to the gym to the garden and to some service work. hope to catch up with you all while i finish my coffee this morning- Guatemala- yumm...