A Little Bit Of Back Yard Gardening

When my household reached six dogs, including a 135 pound Poodle and two active, trouble-making Papillon puppies, I mostly gave up on keeping any form of garden in my back yard. I dug up my many Rose Mallows and gave them away. I mowed over my herb garden. Indeed, the dogs have pretty much overrun the back yard, endangering most plants. But I will not give up my summer tomatoes. Toward that end, I've worked cow manure into a small patch of soil and planted four hybrid tomatoes (I've not been pleased with the heritage varieties I've tried) and placed a small garden fence around them:

It won't surprise you to learn that the dogs find this fenced-off area with the lovely aroma of cow manure a magnetic attraction. I am trying now to teach them to stay the heck OUT of there. In this photo, you can also see the concrete turtle planter with the miniature roses I posted about recently:

And speaking of miniature roses, they're doing just fine - blooming profusely and filling in the pot at a rapid pace:

And the dogs have not been able to hurt my three Kiwi vines, which I've dug up and brought with me for several moves now:

These vines are dioecious, so individual vines are either male or female. I seem to have at least two, if not three females. They produce white and green leaves. The males are supposed to produce white, green and shocking pink leaves. Well, I'll just have to be content with green and white:

My vines are right now producing pink buds which open into white flowers. And later on, they produce small, hard green fruits, not at all like the fuzzy super market fruits:

Will I try to transplant these vines to the farm some day? I may, though the neighbors will miss the shade they provide: