Category: FRIENDS

Posted on

Primary colors!

The rainbow bed has blue, yellow, and red blooming now. The iris is helping but is not part of the actual beds.
Paula’s plant lounge.
A big bird grasshopper!
Love our banana spiders. I know we have at least three big ones around the garden in the front yard. This one has used the loofah gourd tendrils for its web anchors. Or the gourd is using the web as a support. Who knows!
The zinnia has opened!
Looking from the red end of the rainbow towards the street.
Posted on

Evening rounds

Back in the AC shelling purple hulled pink-eyed cowpea. The not quite dry ones maybe look a little pink on eyes??
They do have magnificently purple hulls.
These two cowpea pods are still working on getting that consistent purple.
I think this is the “fluttermill” seed pod beginning to develop on the Missouri fluttermill primrose.
Lacinato kale is getting a bit overshadowed by the Fordham giant Swiss chard. We’ll have to have a salad to help it out.
One marigold! Unfortunately it’s orange in the yellow section?? I thought the mix looked mostly yellow so hopefully at a distance we can pretend it’s golden. 🤣
Big banana spider on the north side of tomatoes.
A slightly smaller one on the south side.
Last night when I mowed the yard, I put the grass trimmings on the rainbow beds as a mulch. Hopefully that keeps the plants happier. You can see Judy’s yellow iris looking lovely in front.
Posted on

Moving day

The two black swallowtail cats I moved to parsley from my carrots seem to be settling in after an hour.
So I moved the third. Here it is very angry still on carrots. Its orange “horns” are defense with a foul smelling liquid. Smelled sort of like a rotten orange to me but I have a bad sense of smell.
Posted on

Corn on the cob, third time’s the charm?

Yesterday morning I picked half a dozen sweet corns and Wes buttered them up and roasted them in foil. The front one we threw out because of too few kernels from incomplete pollination.
Steak and corn.
While taking the husks out to the compost pile, I was relieved to see that my mysteriously dying frostweed is resprouting at the base.
Steak, a roll, a baked potato, and corn. Very classic.
Everything buttered up extra. It was pretty good but nothing to write home about. First year I picked way too late (hard and rubbery), last year didn’t pollinate, so I’m counting this as a win.
After dinner, the Chef found this fine friend on the porch.
The stealthy bagworm (a moth caterpillar). So invisible in its natural habitat of Rubbermaid tub lid!
Here it was walking so you can see its head.
Posted on

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.