July 19th - Red Minor Tetra

Here's a Red Minor Tetra, from my tank. I finally think I figured out how to photograph my fish! :D

Just in case you're interested: I used my macro filters and turned on the flash. I thought they'd freak out about the flash, but, actually more fish came over to investigate, and they seemed to like it! So weird.

Anyway, isn't s/he just a pretty little thing? :)

I was working on borders again (how else am I gonna learn?), and decided circular borders are way tougher than I expected! I'm really just not all that pleased with what I was able to do. So, I went online (google) and found a porthole to put around the little guy, and I think it turned out great!

July 18th - Bean blossom

This is the blossom that is currently on my mystery bean. I call it a mystery bean, because it is from a bag of soup mix that I sprouted for another photo purpose (jelly bean sprout), but we planted this one and still don't know what kind of bean we'll get from it. I actually have four of these bean sprouts growing, and six pea plants, all from the soup mix. I think this one is a pinto bean.

Anyway, I just thought the delicate little flower was so pretty and wanted to share it, plus I'm playing with the borders again, and I really like this one. I know it's a bit similar to yesterday's, but apparently I really like green! :)

I also like how it resembles a snapdragon.

Please leave comments, I am loving that part of this challenge! ;)

July 17th - Spring Mix

I took a picture of my (crowded) pot of spring mix lettuce this morning so I could practice with borders (Thanks, Cap for the ideas!). I really like how this one turned out. :) A good border can make even a blah picture look snazzy.

The real task, though, is going to be trying to thin these out without killing any. My daughter and I put too many seeds in the pot, obviously. :P

July 16th - Planter Boxes

Here are the planter boxes, for those who wanted to see the finished product. My hubby is more into function than form, but I'm very pleased with them! I haven't transplanted all the plants, yet, but I'll finish that up tomorrow. I bought a jasmine plant today (yay!), so I may take pictures of that tomorrow, I'm not sure.

In this photo, you can see why I needed the planters. The gray brick covering the yard runs the entire length of the yard, and we don't have much of a backyard to speak of (it's only a 6 ft wide strip of cement!). In the back you see the brick border with the tiny strip of dirt up against the house, that is the only other place I can plant anything, and it's just not big enough for much. I've got a rose, a jade plant, a fuchsia gooseberry (that's the one you can see, tons of thorns but the flowers are so pretty!), and a cactus in there. There's also some amaryllis bulbs, but they're dormant right now. There's room for more, but it's full of sand, which isn't good to plant in, and it's very narrow. I may do something about the soil problem soon, but now that the planters are in front of it, it will need shade loving plants. Then, if I move the planters in the future, I'd have to move all of those plants, too. Ugh. I put a hyacinth in the planter box in the foreground for now along with a fuchsia. My neighbor gave me cuttings from hers, and I think they'll be happy there. At least for a while. :)

I'm rambling today, so I'll stop now. :) Here's the obligatory: "I'm growing food!"

July 15th - Building planter boxes

Finally, my little plant babies will be getting a home to live in! My husband and I built four planter boxes today, so I could transplant the veggies I'm growing into them, which I will be doing tomorrow. Here is a shot of him cutting some of the wood. The planters turned out really nice, and bigger than I expected (4 ft long x 1 1/2 ft wide x 1 ft deep). I couldn't be happier! :) I'm growing food! ;)

I went with a black and white today, I thought it looked better, as the metal of the saw was awfully blueish.

July 14th - Fly macro

Yet another insect macro. I love the colors on the fly, I hate the fly, but I love the colors! :) Ha, ha, yet another picture of my zucchini plant, too! :)

July 13th - The Love Bug

This is the little love bug I found inside a Daylily today. :) Isn't he just so cute?!?!
I thought he was a spider, but when I got home and was able to see the picture more clearly, I saw the little heart on his back. It's too cool!