Hot salsa

My neighbor gave me a packet of this salsa mix for canning -- cheating I know, but my kids won't eat my fresh uncooked salsa and a little "fast food" processing (and packing it into old salsa jars might just trick them into thinking it's from the store. I didn't strain out the seeds though, so I don't know how tricky I'm actually being. It didn't yield enough to worry about hot water processing, so I just stuck it in the fridge.

The weather has been gorgeous - and not too humid - so I've spent no few hours in the garden over the past couple of days pulling wheelbarrow loads of weed out of beds and pathways. It looks almost passable now. I'm thinking about breaking out the Mantis and tilling some newly empty beds to replant for fall -- I still have enough good weather left and God knows I have enough seeds.
I've also been pouring over my stock of old garden magazines and books looking for ideas for next year. I'd like to make some major changes, but it seems like so much work -- and expense. I suppose I could launch a major nursery operation for the perennials I would need. and put down layers of newspaper and mulch to kill off the grass by spring. Patience is also my problem. It's hard to envision the end product while making due with tiny plants and piecemeal design. Well, I'm going to try to actually develop an overall plan before digging in. I spent a lot of time planning the layout of my herb/veg garden, but not so much its placement. I plopped it in the middle of the yard -- just extending the old veg patch the previous owners left. With the result being that it visually cuts off the yard, making it seem much smaller. I do want to break up the yard, but in a way that keeps pulling the eye back. Maybe I'll start with clearing out the brush growth along the creek -- I'd really love to be able to see the natural limestone/sandstone walls that edge the creek and that would do a lot to visually extend our space -- we do own the land to about 20 feet beyond the far bank of the creek. Here's a little slide show that walks your through the yard - from the view from the deck, back behind the garden, down to and in the creek and up toward the house from the far side of the garden. All my wasted spaces crying out for love (and cash and labor).