Posted on August 28, 2021August 28, 2021Friday dinner of mostly garden tacos Thursday evening, the Chef began preparing spices for meat in slow cooker. Two jalapeños, one chimayó (top). Mmm tacos. Everything except meat, tortillas, cheese, and spices are from garden. Beans are the last of last year’s California black-eyed peas. Potatoes are this year’s kennebec white. After dinner, Paula and I did some garden harvesting. New for the season are Alabama black-eyed butter beans. Also new for the season are slippery silks pole beans. While we picked, the ice cream maker machine worked hard. Vanilla with blackberries from home. Thanks Mom for sending some home with us!
Posted on August 28, 2021August 28, 2021Saturday stuff I froze tiny tomatoes last night and they left funny holes. Two Bombus impatiens (common eastern bumblebee). Trimmed out the dead spots in the middle rosemary. I’m not sure why it’s upset. Paula very wisely suggested trimming the Salvia greggii so we can better access the veggies, plus it’ll make them bloom more again. As an experiment, we also trimmed back one of the Salvia farinacea (mealy blue sage) which are all getting very leggy.
Posted on August 26, 2021August 26, 2021Caught in the act It turns out the mystery vine on the trellis is Clematis terniflora which is invasive and non-native. Gotta go!! That’s valuable bean trellis. The Chef preparing okra for frying. Okra plus breading for frying. Briar and Gram were very intrigued by the smells of dinner.
Posted on August 21, 2021August 21, 2021Almost caught up? The buffalograss in spots with more dirt and grass trimmings over it is sprouting! I pulled up a single sprout from here and it had the seed hull attached, so definitely the right plant. Peruvian ground cherries!! White currant tomatoes on nachos last night. Salsa verde enchiladas intrigue Gram. “ew, loud smell” he didn’t like them but we did!!
Posted on August 21, 2021August 21, 2021Thursday (yesterday) Mom sent us seeds and Gracie hair from home!! Gram wants to know what it’s about. Briar focus on family smells again. Gram prefers dog ear. Dog pleased. Cat interested in dog interest, would like dog food to be served though. A geometrid moth sitting on passionvine leaf. Left to right: New Kuroda, little finger, and Uzbek golden carrots. I picked the tiny one too early but it had a good taste. Paula took her plants home so I decided to see if the basil from the plant window prefers this spot where her houseplants were so happy.
Posted on August 21, 2021August 21, 2021A week ago Saturday Very excited to have a Gulf Fritillary in the yard! I hope it found the passionvine in the back yard. Made more salsa verde. The Chef helpfully cans. Ruff day gardening, need a nap. Mail call!! Fall/winter peas, trying new ones. A wildflower and an herb. Trying again on parsnip this year with fresh seeds. Winter indoor gardening ideas.
Posted on August 18, 2021August 21, 2021Assorted stuff Three hours to harvest and sort all this. First canning tomato variety fruit. I can’t remember which one, I need to look at spreadsheet. The marker is buried in dirt. Update: is Amish Paste tomato. Grass seeds did not wash away in rain. Whew. Intruder alert!! Possibly the frass of the offending hornworm??? Loofah gourd flower disintegrated in rain. A jewel of rain on succulent.
Posted on August 18, 2021August 18, 2021Face bean I think I’ve texted everyone with the tiny face bean but it needs blog documentation. It’s an Inca pea bean. I love it.
Posted on August 14, 2021August 21, 2021Early morning to early afternoon Briar wanted to go out around 4am. I found this nibbled out Bisbee red cowpea flower. A pair of Red-banded Hairstreaks mating. They must have started yesterday as I can’t imagine they were flying at night. Alright actual morning, the chewed up flower still opened! A bit of rain seems to have the Bisbee red cowpeas really blooming! A tepary bean flower! She had a piece of grass on her nose, silly dog. A break indoors. Gram’s really lounging hard. A close up of this hard working kitty cat. A geometrid moth trapped in the shower. I released it outside. Front porch is boring. She sits next to more strawberry runners I’m capturing in dirt for a coworker. A Pearl Crescent sits on moon and stars watermelon leaf which is speckled with “stars”. A different watermelon flowering. I forget which variety. A jumping spider patrolling the cushaw squash vine Briar investigates. An American Bumblebee (Bombus pennsylvanicus) in the loofah gourd flower. The volunteer loofah gourds are really framing the rain barrel nicely. A different loofah individual has made itself a ground cover for one of the apple trees. The whole front garden.