Ok, the kitchen is done, and it's awesome! The only thing that's missing now is a countertop that isn't mauve, but the rest of it looks so good, I can live with the mauve counter for now.

I've pretty much given up on the garden. My tomato plants went into the ground in June, and now they're still less than 12 inches tall. The marigolds are doing fine, but otherwise, the weeds have almost completely taken over. I may get a couple of beets out of the garden, but I think everything else is a lost cause.

I think there may be a couple of factors. The soil probably needs fertilizer, but I think the big problem is that the garden area just plain doesn't get enough sunlight. How I got any tomatoes last year, I don't know. It's almost as if the trees have gotten leafier since last year.

I think a much better place to put a garden bed is going to be along the back fence. That seems to get more sun than most of the backyard. The front yard gets plenty of sun, but I just don't want to put a vegetable garden in the front. I think it's going to be a few years before I'll be able to really do a vegetable garden. I just haven't been able to give it the time it needs, or had the energy for it, between moving and working on the house last summer and recovering from the accident and finding a new job this summer. I may try to clear the weeds and plant some collards and rutabaga, but I don't know now.

When it cools off, I'm going to do the newspaper thing to control the weeds, or maybe use a plastic row-cover, and then in the spring, I'll sow wildflower seeds in that bed. When I'm ready to grow veggies, I think I'll build a wooden bed, and fill it with garden soil and compost, and maybe put stones around it to make it more permanent. Of course, I'm hoping I'll have a little reason to put this off for a couple of years....