Posted on September 8, 2021September 8, 2021Little babies Free seed packet – chijimisai greens, another Brassica. Bok choy! Mizuna!
Posted on September 5, 2021September 5, 2021How are the baby cacti Two cacti on the middle level of the three-tier planter. There were 7+ of these last year on the top tier, but only one has survived. The third tier had one baby cactus that did not make it.
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 14, 2021August 14, 2021A day off for errands Bisbee cowpeas flowering more I liked the contrast on this one. “Stubby” variety of okra. An okra flower with a little sweat bee flying by! This is the first okra flower I’ve seen in person here since they seem to keep banker’s hours. A little green-striped cushaw squash! Leaf of the squash is looking a bit rough. Found another Madhu Ras melon! This one is bigger. Salvia greggii “Diane” purple cultivar has bloomed! Now only waiting on the orange part of rainbow garden to bloom. Whoa. I did not realize this cushaw squash was here! A male Sachem on a Peruvian ground cherry. There is a flower in the background so I hope it’ll start producing soon. Two immature fruits on Amish Paste tomato. I think this is one of my stratification butterfly milkweed that I planted directly! Very excited! A doodlebug (also known as an ant lion) trap waiting for some little critter to walk by! I feel very good about the predators in the garden right now, keeping plant-eaters in check, as I also saw a little brown snake slither away. We had a Dekay’s Brown Snake last year so it was probably that. May it be fat and happy on earwigs! One of the rosemary bushes is blooming!
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 July 29, 2021July 29, 2021Seedling surprise The seed packets said Texas mallow and it grew a very fine leopard frog!!!
Posted on July 22, 2021July 22, 2021Getting there on post-geothermal landscaping and other Wednesday news You can see where I plan to put Peruvian ground cherries (the tomato cages) and honeyberries (white flags) on the last raised bed in the side yard. Those four plants were dug up when the geothermal HVAC was put in. Ready to be planted! The buckwheat seeds I planted around them. I’ll take another pic in a day or two as it got too dark by the time I got done planting and watering them. Earlier in the day I noticed the bisbee gray cowpeas are producing nicely in backyard. One lone seedling of a Texas mallow is coming up! A native cucurbit with a very tiny gourd. Not edible or at least not good according to various sources. But it’s an adorable vine and quite pretty when a bunch grows in one spot.
Posted on June 28, 2021June 28, 2021Quarter Gram = 1.76 kg I left this zucchini too long and it was 1.76 kg (about 3.9 pounds). Gram the cat weighs about 14 pounds last we weighed him. Paula’s moss rose has a lovely flower! Briar yawns. Photography of plants is borrrriiiiing. Several inches of rain is settling down dirt over geothermal pipes nicely. Once it’s not slippery mud, I’ll go spread it out more and continue leveling and shaping. You can see seedling ‘Will Rogers’ variety red zinnias on the right, and harder to see are ‘burning embers’ Linnaeus marigold seedlings near the peach tree, for quick orange. Briar looks over green and yellow bed. A triangle of Fordham giant chard with lacinato kale in the middle. The two scraggly plants are coreopsis recovering from being potted up for a month. Around it are dwarf marigold seedlings for more quick yellow. ‘Country gentleman’ sweet corn is flowering. Supervisor exhausted by his earlier brush with the monster zucchini. Book “Bean by Bean: a cookbook” by Crescent Dragonwagon. Lent by the Bean Queen herself, thanks Heather! Lots of interesting bean trivia. More focused on cooking than bean varieties (ie differences among Lima, green, cowpeas, lentils, etc, not varieties within those).
Posted on June 23, 2021June 23, 2021The green part of rainbow Seedlings of Fordham giant Swiss Chard!!! It was only 4 days.
Posted on June 9, 2021June 9, 2021Little 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.