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 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.
Posted on August 11, 2021August 11, 2021Signs of life Okra one Okra two A baby Madhu Ras melon! Excited for cantaloupe season. A skipper, to be identified. Three skippers on ironweed! The right two are female (middle) and male (right most) Sachems. Frogfruit is really taking off! There were at least two skippers like this so it might be a different individual than the first picture. Good helper.
Posted on August 8, 2021August 11, 2021More from today After their 30 days of cold stratification in the fridge, three butterfly milkweed are sprouting. Female Sachem skipper on ironweed. Briar is bored by garden examination. She likes the buffalograss to lay on though. Bigger view of ironweed. Briar was warm after the midday walk so I gave her an ice cube. I pulled some Euphorbia from driveway and have put it in potato bag dirt over cardboard. See if it could work as a ground cover since it seems to be native.
Posted on August 6, 2021August 6, 2021Last night new helper friend!! And other things yesterday A fine Toad hanging out in the raised beds! Eat those earwigs please!! (May already be doing so as I have not seen many lately.) Tomatillos Verdes doing well, I think I have enough now to make salsa verde enough to can. Took garden cucumber to work today for a snack with ranch dressing. Not entirely sure but I think a Bombus impatiens bumblebee on a loofah gourd flower. There were at least two of these bumbles around. Helper!
Posted on August 5, 2021August 5, 2021Shelling the cowpeas Gram helps. Tobacco hornworm on tomatillo.
Posted on August 4, 2021August 4, 2021Foods Garden green beans (blue lake bush) with tonight’s dinner. Rice to go with tacos on weekend. Garden tomatoes. Refried beans to go with tacos Refried beans before any frying. Mostly black teparies, a few vaqueros. All the remaining from last year’s harvest.
Posted on July 18, 2021July 18, 2021Assorted non-bee news (mostly) Roundup is starting to take effect on Bermuda grass. I can’t plant the buffalograss until I get that nasty invader out. A different bumblebee (or maybe robber fly mimic?? It flew different I thought) came to get water while I watered rainbow garden beds. Saturday morning dog. She is four years old as of Friday! Ironweed buds! Looking forward to the purple! Briar helping me garden on her birthday. Buffalograss corner of prairie is a good laying spot! I trimmed all the dying dill and cilantro out of the herb bed so I could see what’s going on with parsley, sage, and oregano better.