The Painters Have Arrived...

Our home is in a little disarray. Ok...a lot in disarray! 

But, it's a good mess because in a few days it's going to look gorgeous! If you follow diy Design Fanatic on Facebook, I posted  these two photos on my wall. 

I'm so excited that our Family Room, Foyer and two hallways are being painted that I couldn't wait to show everyone.

The last little bit of yellow paint has now been covered.   : )  : )  : )  I'm loving the new color and can't wait to get started on some new projects that the new paint color will inspire.

 In the meantime, Thought I'd share with you what's going on in the garden...

Lettuce doesn't do well in the hot Southern sun and humidity and we've had to cover the lettuce with some screens for shade. As an experiment, I let a couple of lettuce plants bolt(go to seed) They are now about 4 feet tall and full of flowers.

When the pretty flowers fade I will put bags over them to catch the seeds. 

I've just planted more lettuce seeds on the North Side of our house by the chimney. I should have done this last month, but this is only my 2nd year of growing veggies and I'm learning something new EVERY day. I've read that many people grow  lettuce in the shade in hot climates, so I'm giving it a try. Since this spot near the chimney is pretty bare and in the shade(except for 2 hours in the morning), it was a good space for my experiment.

The area was prepped by first removing the mulch, terracing the slope and spreading some organic garden mix. After that I planted the tiny lettuce seeds. 

I was amazed that the lettuce sprouted after only three days. 

The tomatoes are producing well and the we should have a whole bunch  more in the next couple of days. (this photo was taken a couple of days ago) Guess we'll be canning some salsa this weekend!

The zucchini and cucumbers are producing madly, but with all the rain we've been having, the leaves are getting powdery mildew. I've sprayed them with neem, but I think I'm losing the battle and planted two more seeds in the north bed, (just in case) so that we can continue to have zucchini until Fall.

Mr. Fanatic's favorite Butternut squash are growing slowly and are doing well.

Anyone know what this is???

It looks like Queen Anne's Lace, but they're actually the flowers from two carrots I planted.  Queen Anne's Lace is a wild carrot.

I planted 4 rows of carrots, but this is the only plant that flowered. The other carrots have all been harvested, but I'm letting this one go to seed.We didn't have any black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars munching on the carrots like we did last year. You can read about our butterfly adventure here if you missed it.

Pretty.

 Well, now you're up to date on what's happening at Casa Fanatic ~both inside and out. Hope you are enjoying Summer and are

having a fantastic day.

Pam