Sprouting and preserving

The sterile wheatgrass cover crop is sprouting!
You can see the slower germinating buffalograss seed hanging out.
I have especially put a lot in the narrow places where the water runs off from the raised beds.
The grass with the red zinnias.
Both chimayó and jalapeño peppers. Neither super hot.
Everything from the garden except for garlic!
Yum! Salsa verde complete!
Picked green beans for dinner while waiting for salsa to finish simmering down.
The Chef takes over for canning, my department is just vegetables, thank goodness.

Harvest and pruning

Surprise! A loofah gourd I didn’t plant has already reached the top of the trellis.
Chard, mini bell peppers, and Chimayó peppers.
The Chef found a cutworm in the chard.
I found a big beautiful banana spider (Argiope) in the tomatoes while I harvested! I made sure not to bother her more.
I finally determined the zucchini plant was a total loss to squash vine borers. I also made an executive decision to not let the very thriving white currant tomato plant shade out the moon and stars watermelon or the salvia or the rosemary. There’s only one plant and it’s a monster! I got over 900 g this evening alone.
All tidy now. I hope the watermelon will do better now.
I came inside to find this beautiful meal prepared by the Chef. Greens are chard from the garden and the bell pepper topping is mini bell peppers sliced. Yum. Nice and cool after working in the heat and humidity.

Chosen!! A tale of bumbling

I am very honored to announce I have received one of the highest endorsements of my garden I can think of: we have a bumblebee nest!

They are in the wren house, in the abandoned nesting material.
They look so much less round here than when out pollinating flowers, so much so that I tried to get closer for a confirmation photo.

So! That last picture, the bumblebee flying? Yes, well, I have found their limit is about a meter or so. Keep scrolling to see three of my four stings and one unlucky bumblebee that clung to me into the house and got squished in a panic, sadly. Content warning if you keep scrolling down: squished bee, reddish stings, puffy knuckle. No blood.

Briar was interested in an ice cube abandoned after Wes got out the more useful bag of frozen peas n carrots for me. Last chance to turn back from sad bee and sting pics!!!!
Sting above knuckle on ring finger.
Left arm sting
Right arm sting. This was the unlucky and persistent bee we squished in house. I feel bad about that.
We kept the dead bee for identification. Tentative identification by several people is American Bumblebee, Bombus pennsylvanicus.
Front view
Another above shot. Pattern of yellow and black seems to be how they are identified.
This morning my two arm and one neck stings not too bad. Last night the arm ones hurt when bounced (ie when I took dog on her bike ride) and the knuckle hurt to flex. This morning the ring finger knuckle is very puffy and definitely hurts more to flex.
Note how the affected knuckle doesn’t wrinkle up like all the others.
Unaffected left ring knuckle for comparison.
We’ve been walking by here all summer with no problems, but I decided to put a chair out for safety for now. Finger pointing at bees.
You can see it’s on the way to the door to the garage. I think it should bee fine but for a few days at least I am going to go around!

Rainbow garden ready for rain

The marigolds for yellow have started to sprout!
Zinnias continue to sprout.
This picture shows a broader view of the zinnias.
Break time in the backyard. Fun native grass.
I like the yellow near the middle of this red moss rose.
An interesting fly.
Alright back to rainbow garden! These are the recently arrived plants in the clever box. They even put finger holds to help you get the pots out without dumping them out!
Ready for planting.
In the front, two pineapple sage and ‘Jacob Kline’ beebalm, all red.
Looking the other way from purple. Here I added three ‘Diane’ purple Salvia greggii.
Once I got the plants in, I worked on the back trapezoidal bed. I got the general shape of it and the forecast rain over the next few days should let me get it smoother afterwards.

Assorted day off activities and observations

Several strawberry runners took root so I snipped the runners.
I set out a tray of dirt to try to capture more strawberry runners.
The Chef helped me cut down the yaupon holly that was planted in a bad spot. It kept hitting the garage roof and gutter. Nine of ten water barrels are now in place for use!
Dinner… I made it this time. It includes a few of the new tomatoes (as well as a store tomato) and fresh garden basil and oregano.
Got mail!!
Drying coriander (the cilantro seeds) for later harvest!
Tepary beans reaching up!
Wild poinsettia (A volunteer).
The prairie and its rain barrel.
Rudbeckia is looking great.
A true bug.
Standing cypress about to bloom!

Progress on new beds

Excess dirt from our new geothermal HVAC installation is becoming a series of raised beds. I am shaping them for 20-50 min each evening while trying not to overheat.
In the previous photo you might have noticed the dwarf peach tree’s support stick. The tree was very unhappy in its temporary bucket so I prioritized its island and planted it this evening.
A parent robin was stocking up on food in the freshly moved dirt. I know it was a parent because it kept adding food instead of eating it immediately.

Little things growing

Some of tepary beans have started to climb!
Salvia coccinea seedlings emerge in an earwig-free environment.
Likewise, maybe the baby basil will have more luck away from earwigs.

Harvesting onions and hilling potatoes

6 kg of yellow granex onions.
4.5 kg white granex onions.
Briar smiles over the bounty. The Chef is going to chop and dehydrate the stems/leaves for green onions. About 1.6 kg of green onion from both varieties.
Put the last tub of city compost on the potatoes to “hill” them so they put out more roots. All the bags are fully opened up now.
Zucchini begins.

Basil and oregano pizza

Basil on top of cheese and oregano is hiding below cheese. Salad is the big Boston lettuce that is heading right now.
Basil outside hasn’t come up yet so I’m still nursing along the window basil. I’m hoping this harvesting will encourage them to get bushier and more leaves. The red rubin in particular are spindly. The mammolo basil (the green ones) have bigger leaves but not very many.

BEAN CENTRAL HERE WE COME

A very kind friend came over this evening and helped us attach a 100 ft roll of welded steel fence to our new wooden backyard fence. Now all I have to do is clear more of the non-bean plants near the fence base, and wait a few weeks for the soil to warm up sufficiently for tepary beans. I might start some runner beans in the shadier areas so they stay cool longer.