Veggies, Part Two, Some Gardening, and Some Sewing

We are progressing a little on the veggie enclosure.  My husband needs to build one more fence piece and also the gate.  We added in a few more feed tanks.  This time we went with two 6 x 2 x 2 footers and one 4 x 2 x 2.  I'm planning to put patio blueberries into the 4' tank and veggies and herbs in the 6' tanks.  These are self-watering tanks.  You put a drain spigot in the bottom of the tank.  Then some slotted drain tile, fencing, and weed cloth.  Fill with dirt, and once the tank has water in the reservoir, it requires very little water.

The beans and cucumbers are doing pretty well.  The lettuce is still struggling.  I bought more seeds, but I may not plant them until fall because our summer conditions are not very conducive to lettuce growing.

Our clematis vines are all doing really well this year for the first time.  Last year this one had one spindly, dead-looking vine. It's starting to fade, but  still looks pretty nice.  I need to cut down the irises.

The rabbits have been busy eating all my day lilies and also my Stargazer lily, which has only bloomed once in four years thanks to the them.  The photo below is the Stargazer and the Stella d'Oro lily minus all its buds.  The rabbits eat the buds and leaves from most of the other day lilies.  They've also hit a few of the hostas.

One thing I find really concerning this year is that my milkweed has basically failed.  Usually it's a small shrub by now.  We tried planting milkweed seeds too, and none of those germinated.  I also don't see any in the vacant lot next to us.  It may be a rough year for the monarchs.

The milkweed is in the lower right.  It's not growing this year.  :(

I was laughing last week because a pileated woodpecker was going to town on the new house across the street from us.  Joke's on me, because this morning a smaller woodpecker--a downy or hairy, but couldn't tell because I didn't have my glasses on--was really pecking at the underside of our deck stairs.

In sewing news, I've been catching up on the 365 blocks.  I planned out my Bonnie & Camille barn quilt swap quilt pattern.  (My sketch is in my Instagram feed.)  I feel that it is important to sew for charity and I've talked about sewing for Quilts for Kids and the local NICU before.  Another charity I donate sewing to is Sew Powerful.  Be sure to check out their page--they do great things.  I am presenting the Sew Powerful charity at my quilt guild Friday night, so I made a sample Sew Powerful purse to show.  BTW, the pattern is a free download.  I'm going to try to make another using the other option provided in the pattern, but I'm not convinced I'll get it done in time.  

I am mailing my last birthday swap gift this weekend, so I need to finish that up.  I'll show pictures after she receives it, so that will probably be in two weeks so that I don't ruin the surprise!  I'm also planning to join a quilt-along hosted by Valerie of The Aqua Umbrella.  Find details here.  Because, you know, I need another project!  ha ha ha  But I love the quilt and must make it.  It starts Saturday (June 11) and runs through the summer.  Let me know if you join in too.

I'm off to the quilt store!  Have a great week!