Another garden update

This'll be a quick update, which is all my gardening warrants these days because it's so piecemeal (moments stolen from my too-precious work time).

Some chickens flew the coop this morning and got at my brand-new purple and yellow bell pepper plants and cucumber hills. I got mad, almost mad enough to pull out the axe and start hacking. And for me that's pretty mad. Instead I swore a holy blue streak, chased the mean ol' rooster around with a big stick, and built up the coop fencing a bit more. They'd BETTER leave my garden alone, or they'll be next winter's chicken stew, all season long. I don't need their eggs that badly.

I picked up four heirloom tomatoes on Tuesday -- they didn't have any of the deep purple or tiger-striped kinds on hand, but these'll do nicely:
-Old German (big, tri-colored streaks, sweet)
-Sugar Lump (very sweet cherry tomatoes that probably won't make it into the kitchen)
-Pink Brandywine (big, smooth but complex flavors)
-Rutgers (deep red, abundant, old-time tomato flavor)

I also bought some lavender plants, which I've put with some established Russian sage plants into what's now a rock garden. Use what you've got, right? Rocks, we got rocks. I managed to refrain from stuffing Mom's CR-V full of plants because I just don't have time to dig, amend, plant, tend. That, and autumn is a much better time to plant perennials. Oh, I picked up some herbs, too, including lemon grass. In California, I stuck a tiny lemon grass plant in my back border and two years later it had become tall, majestic and irresistibly fragrant. I know that won't happen here (and I'll have to mulch the heck out of it and the other herbs if I want them to survive the winter), but it's nice to have some on hand. I was going to create an entire rock herb garden from scratch -- dig the (rock-solid) bed, haul the boulders for the perimeter (15 or so at 50 pounds each... uh-huh), amend the dirt, plant the herbs, and fence it off so the damn chickens won't destroy it -- but, uh, no. Not this week, anyway, so I'll just put the herbs in the final garden bed and be done.

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Tomorrow is Lazarus' third birthday. Three years ago today, we spent a wonderful Sunday with friends, and although I wasn't due for another week, I had a feeling something even better was coming, and soon. But it was scary getting there. If I have time tonight or tomorrow I'll try to write about it.