patio 2.0

It took a full weekend of sweaty work, but the patio has gone from this...

to this:

And soon, the grill will go too (it broke last summer).







Otherwise in the garden...

The tomatoes are doing great this year -- much better than last year, by a mile. Other things are coming along a little slower, like the basil and lemon cucumbers. I think they'll catch up now that it's averaging 80 or 90 degrees every day.

I picked up some new flowers at the farmers market this weekend -- marigolds for the side yard tomatoes, and some blue astria ("balloon flower," a perennial). The begonias are flowering like crazy and the nasturtiums I planted from seed are growing up strong ... soon to join my lunchtime salads.