Three of my tomato plants have wilted. The first one, Sungold, I though perhaps it needed more water due to a string of 90 degree days. After two days of  watering, the plant was completely limp. After some research on the internet, I decided to take the plant out. I cut the stems and looked for telltale signs of bacterial wilt but did not find any. I kept the tomatoes that were beginning to ripen and tossed the rest. More research brought me to the conclusion my bales were waterlogged. This week, two more plants show wilt. They perk up in the morning and night, but once the sun hits them they look like the following picture. Of course on the second day of not watering we had two inches of rain. Today I am hoping the breeze will help dry out the bales. 

We have had a lot of rain and a couple of the straw bales are bowing out in the middle. I know the best practice is to have all bales faced the long way going down my slight incline, but I wanted easy access to the bales. I shored them up with some boards and all is well. 

The tomatoes are growing nicely and all the plants are setting fruit. 

I am pleasantly surprised how easy it is to keep the straw bales watered.  The plants are growing very well. This first shot was taken on May 25. 

The photo below was taken June 3.  The tomatoes are really taking off and beginning to flower. 

I can almost hear the plants growing as I admire my garden. This shot was taken June 13. 

The chard is very happy growing in the straw bales.  Weeding is super easy, any small seeds that blew in pull right out. 

The zucchini  is setting flower buds. This is the first year I have grown zucchini and yellow summer squash. 

Mushrooms sprout in the straw bales every time it rains.  This means the bales are composting and sending nutrients into my plants. By evening the mushrooms have wilted and disappear by the next day. 
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I planted Swiss Chard and covered it with bird netting to keep out the bunnies!
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Betterboy Tomato 5-22-16

Chocolate Sprinkles Tomato 5-22-16

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Sungold Tomato 5-22-16

Patio Tomato 5-22-16

 Our plumber arrived on Monday, week 11 of our kitchen remodel, to install the sink, stove and dishwasher. We are finally finished and are moved back in! My kitchen looks and feels so different, I think I am in a new house. Was it worth it? You bet! The project cost a few thousand dollars more than when we began, but there was no question we needed replace the floor and our city required that a certified plumber bring the water and gas lines up to code. Total cost was around $21,000.00 (2012.) The cabinets including install cost about $18,000.00, the floor and trim $2000.00, and the plumber $1000.00.  The design team at Home Depot spent over 10 hours providing expert advice and guidance. They were our face-of-the-company go-to for questions and went above and beyond to ensure our satisfaction from beginning to end. (Thanks Anne and team!) We did the demolition, electric work, painting, bought the hardware, arranged for the dumpster and hired our own plumber. We did not replace any appliances, lighting or the window blinds. Home Depot and Crew 2 installed the floor, trim-work and InnerMost cabinets. 
Ready for the pictures?  Click on the images for a larger view.

I was able to move my entire pantry, which consisted of eight Rubbermaid and Sterilite bins stored in the basement, into the upper shelves and extra space in the new office center. I love the deep drawers and full extension of the silverware drawers!

  The counter tops arrived on Wednesday, week 10 of our kitchen remodel. They look stunning! The crew did a great job inching these heavy sheets into place. The back-splash is 4 inches tall and fits right up to the window. Now we can start filling up our drawers and move the fridge and counter top appliances back to the kitchen. On Friday the carpenters came back for the final installation of the cabinet towers and shelf. We notice that the granite is way harder than the old counter - I will have to remember to set china or glass down carefully or they may chip. We also notice the new counter is a bit taller than the old one from 1961 and there is about one inch more room between the uppers and lowers. This is all standard to todays kitchen designs. It looks grand!

The carpenters arrived and installed the replacement InnerMost cabinet for the one that was dropped. They did a nice job leveling and the drawers look great. They also installed factory trim around the base cabinets and brought me the shelf pins that were missing.

Here is the nifty tilt-out tray installed into the sink base. 

The trim turned out nicely. We used oak with cherry stain for both the window trim and the baseboard. Now I can put the coat closet back together! The kids back-packs are buried in those storage boxes and we will need them soon.

They added counter cleats to support the granite counter top. We are scheduled for install next Wednesday, week 10 of our kitchen remodel. We will then move the fridge back and I hope to schedule the plumber to connect the sink, dishwasher and stove by the end of the week. Our kitchen is almost done!