June 2012

Garden (B)Art

June 30, 2012

This is Bart. He’s a blessing and a curse. He loves to hang out in the garden with me, but he has no qualms about crushing plants and chewing on my irrigation. Apparently cute and funny trumps mischief!!!

bART

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Papillon

June 29, 2012

I’ve got little miracles happening in the garden. I don’t think the magic of the butterfly life cycle is ever going to get old for me.

I hedged my chances for more butterflies by planting quite a bit of milkweed around my property. It’s paying off because we’ve had two hatchings in the last two days.

That tiny dot is the egg sac of a Monarch butterfly that will develop in a caterpillar	Once the caterpillar matures, it will make a cocoon or chrysalis. Love the gold dots!
Getting ready to hatch….	Welcome to the garden!!!

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I Reap What I Sow

June 28, 2012

Last year I set a goal to harvest something from my yard every day, whether it be veggies or fruits (which usually never made it into the house!), herbs for cooking, or eggs from the Snowflakes. With my hens in hiding, my egg intake has disappeared, which impacted my harvest count dramatically, but I’m still gathering a fair amount from the garden.

Saturday’s lunch was three Honey Delight figs and my first Anna’s apple, supplemented with goat cheese.

I had a smoothie yesterday with a full handful of perfect strawberries.

Next up – TOMATOES!!!

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Mothra

June 27, 2012

So, Mi Esposo and I were relaxing, watching a little TV. The door was open, and a fresh summer breeze was wafting through the family room. I could smell the Angel Trumpets blooming out in the front yard. It was a lovely evening. Then……

Bam! Cats came careening through the door, and the dog was confused by something flying around the room. What was it?! It looked like a hummingbird, but it was out of control. Yikes, it looked evil!

Turns out it was a giant moth, a tomato horn worm moth to be exact, aka a “sphinx”, “hawk”, or “hummingbird” moth. This monster is huge – the wingspan is about 4 to 5 inches. Tomato horn worms are disgusting, but fascinating, and, it turns out, so are the moths! I captured it and released it outside, attempting to restore the family room back to its former relaxing place! (….shudder….)

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Miscellaneous Monday 6-25-2012

June 25, 2012

This is a big threat so I’m going to continue to post info on the Asian Citrus Psyllid: www.CaliforniaCitrusThreat.org

Tomato cages come in many styles. Here’s a helpful list to give you some guidance.

I’m starting to get a good crop of strawberries, but always looking for useful growing tips.

Here’s a great blog. A great suggestion to keep your squash plants contained in tomato cages.

I like to stop and smell the roses whenever I can, but Senior Rosarian Michael Marriott offers pointers on How to Sniff a Rose

I went for a wander through my garden this morning and look what I found.

Happy Monday!

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Today in my garden….

June 21, 2012

Today in my garden: grapes, apples, succulents and flowers

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First Day of Summer!

June 20, 2012

This afternoon at 4:09pm (PDT) summer starts officially. It’s the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. It’s the longest day of the year, with the Sun reaching its most northern point in the sky at noon. After today, the days will start getting shorter.

While we are enjoying the longest day of the year, the southern hemisphere is celebrating its shortest day. The North Pole will have 24 hours of daylight today and the South Pole with stay dark for 24 hours!

A happy sign in the garden!

Seasons of 2012:
SPRING EQUINOX        March 20, 1:14 A.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE    June 20, 7:09 P.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX             September 22, 10:49 A.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE    December 21, 6:12 A.M. EST

Seasons of 2013:
SPRING EQUINOX        March 20, 7:02 A.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE    June 21, 1:04 A.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX             September 22, 4:44 P.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE    December 21, 12:11 P.M. EST

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Miscellaneous Monday 6-18-2012

June 18, 2012

I have a lot of borage blooming now and the little blue flowers are so beautiful. Here’s a great idea – freezing ice cubes with the flowers. How many of these are you already doing? Take the Climate Friendly Garden Pledge. I’ve got moss so I think I might try to make a Moss Terrarium [...]

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Feisty Fennel

June 13, 2012

I planted this bronzed fennel months ago and it has been a beautiful addition to my garden. I love the wispy flow of this plant in the breeze, and I like to crush sprigs to release the fresh scent of anise. I’ve also chopped up sprigs into my salads which has been yummy, but this variety [...]

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Moths & Butterflies

June 12, 2012

I was reading about butterflies and moths the other day, and I learned a few things. Their wings are transparent, but covered with thousands of scales which give color to the wings. As butterflies and moths get older the colors on their scales fade. Butterflies taste with their feet. Moths and butterflies use their antenna [...]

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Spa Time!

June 9, 2012

Last year I posted a gripe I have with price stickers on clay pots. I bought a stack of pots and couldn’t get the stickers off and ended up with a stack of ugly, useless to me, pots. Well, I think I have solved the problem! I bought some more pots recently, and I stacked [...]

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