Pumpkins Are Sprouting!

Finally sitting down at the end of a nice, warm weekend to catch up on some posting. Starting with the most exciting news, the giant pumpkins are already showing life! Check out the photo below: the baby leaves are pushing through the dirt and I'm amazed at how big the sprout is coming out. I placed a quarter next to it for scale. It's huge! You can also see some growth in the cup adjacent, but this first plant is clearly eager to start growing!

Last night we couldn't wait for the newly installed landscape lighting to click on. But once they did, wow! We're so happy with how the lights accent the house and plants, and I'm especially pleased with the three lights running along the side of the house. Here's a photo of the lights at dusk just after they turned on for the first time.

In news undocumented by photography, I planted some bamboo in the backyard near the back fence. All you gardeners out there probably shuddered at the mention of planting such an invasive species. Well, at the urging of friends and Leighann, I did my due diligence and first put in a bamboo barrier. And let me tell you, it was back breaking. The barrier is a thick plastic sheet that I joined into a circle that's 4' in diameter and is 30" tall. Which meant that I had to dig a circle trench 4' in diameter and 30" deep in the dirt. Wow. I used a post hole digger because it's much more accurate that using a shovel, but imagine digging 360 degrees of posts along a 13' circumference. That's a long of post holes. 

I finished the digging this evening and dropped the barrier into the round trench and filled the excess dirt back into to hold the barrier in place. The bamboo is in, contained and ready to proliferate.

Good to hear that the 3D photos are working for you. I'll continue to take more of those in the future so you can get the full effect of our endeavors. Thanks for all the comments readers, it's great to hear your thoughts, insights and experiences.