some stuff

I was going to call this post "all the squirmy wormies" but then started writing about more than just the worms, so. 

I realized that along with a bit of houseplant and fish tank neglect, I had been ignoring my worms lately, too. Had not fed them in a long while. Which actually made emptying the bin easier- they had been comsuming their bedding so really there was only a layer of carboard chips on the top to remove, the rest was mostly finished vermicompost. I didn't sort out the worms and unfinished bits by shaking through a handmade sifter like usual- the bottom two-thirds of the bin was too damp, and very compacted. 

Instead I loosened it up by hand and then picked out the bits of still-recognizable cardboard, and the individual worms that hadn't been in the first handfuls out of the feeding corner, or off the top layer. It was just a few hours, over two days, spent sitting by the bin carefully going through it. I didn't see any worm eggs. but there were plenty of tiny baby worms, so they've been breeding not so long ago. Worms in my hand.

Some are yellowish, but not too many. None of the worms felt tacky, they all had good moisture and most are healthy pink. I did notice lately it had been drier, so at that point I had sprinkled in some water, and started feeding them again hoping they'd all move to that corner. It never works completely, there's always more worms to pick out of the rest of the bin. I'm sure if I just kept the ones scooped out of the top layer and food area, that's plenty to keep the population going. But I still feel like "rescuing" as many as I can, knowing those that get thrown out with the vermicompost to fertilize the lawn and garden, will just die overwinter.

These tiny millipedes were in the bin. More than I've ever seen before, and I found a pile of dried-up ones off to one side behind the bin- has a spider been eating them there? They curl up in little silvery spirals. Picking worms individually out of the bin allowed me to leave behind most of the millipedes to get tossed out into the yard. I hope.

Then I started trying to get some plants in better shape. Groomed a bunch of houseplants, and those on the deck. Trimmed back some of the geraniums that had got leggy, and replanted the cut stems.

Sprayed with soapy water/oil the ones that seem to still have bug problems: chocolate mint, ginger mint, stevia, the cuban oregano- 

whose leaves are all so small right now I feel it must be suffering

I went to pick out this dead leaf that had drifted into my basil plant- and noticed somebody was on it

a little mantis!

This plant that's still new to me, the self-heal, is starting to bloom-

Another pic of my fish today- I think I should add to his name: Tucker Firetail

the edge

I'm working on two main things in the yard right now. One is to re-straighten all bricks that edge my garden beds, which have started leaning. I did one side of bed 1, and it looks so much better! and then to press stones with flat edges into the soil between them, to start 'paving' the paths (tired of trimming grass and pulling weeds there). This is a long-term project because I'm stubborn with my repurposing- it was costly enough just to buy those bricks and prep them for the beds edging, I'm fine to wait until I get hold of pavers and bricks that are leftovers of others' projects, or rock castoffs from my husband's collecting forays, to make the paths. It will be all mismatched but I don't care. More pics on that later. 

The other, is to clean up and tidy the outline of the perennial bed that is main side of the back lawn. There's still large bumpy roots that come out from the old tree stump, that I have to maneuver the lawn mower over/around, which is a pain. Grass and weeds creep in, and bugleweed (ajuga) creeps out, so the edge gets indistinct. So I've been painstakingly pulling out grass from between the bugleweed, and pulling some bugleweed out of the lawn to replant into the bed. And breaking up/removing the roots which are exposed, to make it flat lawn area, and edging the whole thing with irregular rocks. Not done- I'm going to realign that edge so it's got a nicer even curve, or is straight, undecided still. But this is about halfway there.

I can't quite remember the name of this little shrub. I think it's a dwarf cypress? I planted it at the request of my older kid- who's gone off to college now. I wasn't too fond of it when we first got it- but now it's kind of growing on me.

Yesterday I did a bit more transplanting- dug all the catmint out of bed 8. Put the smallest ones in pots, and replanted the larger ones around the yard. Three went to the left of that yellowish dwarf shrub, in a row in front of the pannicle hydrangea that's gotten so eaten back by the deer this year. I'm not sure if the scent of the catmint will keep the deer from approaching- but it's worth a try!

The others went onto the larger sunny sideyard, in a row on the outside edge at the top of the bed, and then curving around behind the patch of gladiolas. Which look nice and straight, btw- even though the ones on the smaller sideyard are flopping all over (I tied a ropeline to prop them up a bit). I don't have any pictures because my camera battery died at that point.

heat wave

End of summer, beginning of fall, leaves starting to change colors- and we're suddenly getting a hundred and one temps at the height of the day. I take a walk after dark because it's so hot. My yard is parched- the grass yellow and brown, the younger hydrangeas severely wilted, the little maple hybrid on the sideyard leaves turning crispy. I water what I'm able to, with fishwater from the tank cleaning, and dishwater from the kitchen. Still prefer to recycle that, rather than turn on the hose. Red-hot poker is getting priority treatment- I deadheaded and it sprouted a new flower stalk!- plus all the potted plants. Most of the rest is just left to survive if it can. 

Some things are doing great in the heat- sedums in the front yard, celosia around the mailbox, canna lilies (still no flowers though) and the cardinal climber has begun to bloom all over the place- 

so I get glimpses of the hummingbird more often, and have to go out trim off the reaching vine tendrils every other day, or it will take over. 

And here my sad (empty) garden has given me a nice surprise: that vine was a butternut squash!

I wasn't absolutely sure until I cut it open: yes.

Roasted it with some brussels sprouts for dinner- and it tasted good. There's two, I'm saving the other for a later day. Still baffled how it grew in my garden- my best guess is still that a squirrel put the seed there. I sure didn't plant it. Rabbit or deer has eaten all the leaves off by now- and even chomped on my 'kiwi fern' coleus nearby! but it doesn't matter, I got my squash.

They (deer) had also mostly chomped the flower buds off my turtlehead and the gladiolas on the larger sideyard- I never saw them eat glads buds until this year. But now I do have some turtlehead blooming, from further back in the patch against the fence, on one side of the yard. Where I guess the deer don't bother to reach. So there's that. 

I might get a picture, but it's too hot to bother going outside again now.

I have still

not been out in the garden much. Pulled some weeds around the front walk and the front bed, that's about it. Here's a small report: my milkweeds are still tall and untouched. I did see one swallowtail in the yard the other day, and a goldfinch on the echinacea. The joe pye on the smaller sideyard are towering tall and lovely, but I haven't noticed any of those blue-winged wasps. My cardinal climber is pretty all over the deck railings, and I have to pinch off new runners daily to keep it tidy- but there's very few flowers. Because I planted it so late? I have not seen the hummingbird much (though it did come a few times to the geraniums outside the kitchen window, which was delightful. I hear the cicadas- they're not nearly as loud and annoying as previous years- but haven't found one up close for a picture yet. Borage came and went around the mailbox spot with only some aphid damage, I never saw a single japanese beetle- though I did find one on the catmint in the backyard. Only one! (Promptly squished). I pulled out all the fading stems to let the self-seeded celosia there grow in- but again, late in the season so I doubt there will be any spectacular flowers. Likewise my cana lilies are getting bigger! but I don't see any sign of bloom. 

I'm still quite pleased with the late boneset in the rear by the camellia, really want to get an earlier-blooming common one too. There's two butternut squash getting fat and tan in garden bed nine, I can't think what else they might be. Weeds are getting ahead of me in the lawn and fallow beds, all I have done is make sure to put the catcher bag on the mower when I see them seeding. I did some work on the smaller sideyard to pull out mock strawberry and vinca runners, and some weeding in the bed where the panicle hydrangeas are, and got most of the creeping jenny out too. 

On the deck, most things are doing okay, though my basil and chocolate mint are more bothered by aphids than usual. (I haven't been throwing soapy water over them as often as I should). The fenugreek was lovely for a while, especially the scent when I ran my fingers up it- but now it is faded and gone.

Thyme got big enough to eat a few times (in lentils, on fish, in chili and soups etc) 

Dill is all gone to seed and I pulled out most of the dried stalks. Scattered some randomly into the garden beds because I didn't feel like walking out to the compost bin, and now there's dill seedlings popping up all over. Which I like. I've cut summery savory to dry, and next will be tarragon. We've eaten more of the sculpit but that wasn't the best idea- the flavor was very strong (not quite bitter) and it caused some digestive upset. I think because of the heat, too far gone in the season and already flowering. So now I am just cutting it back to keep from encroaching into space of the tarragon, winter savory and lemon balm.

My little experiment with kidney beans is a fail. We have not yet got the fence built, and the deer eat every leaf off the plants. If I remember to scatter hair and/or irish spring soap shavings, they stay away for a few days but then come right back. Or maybe they are staying away until the plant regrows enough leaves to feed them again. 

I've been cutting back and pulling out yellow salvia from under the panicle hydrangeas, that bed just looks too cluttered and untidy now. And I'd rather see the pink turtleheads (deer are eating the buds off those too) and wild chrysanthemum- which grew much thicker this year and even has a few little offshoots. I'm thinking of digging up and replanting some of that into the front bed. The deer don't seem to touch it, whereas they've eaten the heads off most of my 'autumn joy' sedum this year. This chrysanthemum will bloom late in the year when not much else is . . . 

So that's very rambling but I will try to get more active in the garden, and keep up with posting here too. I'm starting to finally get my energy back and do more than just the bare minimum of housework and my usual tasks indoors- need to do some outdoors now too!

against the carpenter bees

I should feel glad this was successful, but it makes me sad too. Few years ago (after realized the paper bag trick failed) I bought these jar things to trap carpenter bees.

They work, somewhat. Each one now has at least one dead bee- maybe two in the one by the garden.

There's one been persistently flying around my deck every day, of course not deterred by my squirting water at it (bee veers away around the house, comes back within half an hour, over and over) or swatting at it with a handtowel (the idea was to knock it on the ground). 

I finally took my makeshift insect net and nabbed it when it was slowing down to aim at a hole in one of the deck railings. Brought swiftly to the ground and ended with my shoe. I feel bad about it, but I can't have them riddling my deck structure with holes (yes, we do need to paint it).

On the other hand, I don't mind the wasps- there's mud dauber nests under my back awning and I just leave them alone. I don't mind the other bees, either- the smaller ones that use already-existing holes. It was amusing to see one hovering around the holes in my smaller compost bin under the deck, that's made of an old metal trash can with holes in the sides.

Just don't want the carpenter bees. 

some final harvest

And small. Pulled all the beets- they were small, and didn't taste good. Cleaned up my pots of carrots, pulled some- they look okay, if on the small side! Probably because I didn't water often enough, and there was whitefly and swallowtail caterpillars (which I moved to the rue or lovage plant when I found them).

Well, there are still yellow summer squash to eat, and collard greens. The chard is getting hit pretty hard by leafhoppers again. I think I'm going to cut it all to the ground and eat what grows back (now that it's cooler weather, should taste better). Tomatoes are a loss. Stink bugs and something else have spread disease among them. Still eating a bit of amaranth greens, and herbs from the deck containers though!

I've picked almost enough cowpeas as small pods to eat like green beans (enough for one serving). There's quite a few pods matured and dried to collect for good black-eyed peas. But I feel the same about this plant that I did last year- love how lush it grows, mostly untroubled by bugs. Disappointed that I get tons of vines and foliage, and it seems very few pods for all that growth!

things got eaten

By the bugs! My favorite, amaranth 'calaloo', I have totally been unable to keep ahead of the beetles by hand-picking them every morning like I used too. Every morning far more are riddled with so many holes and spoiled by frass, not usable. I've finally sprayed with insecticidal soap (second dose today) but don't know if the plants will recover enough to be worth picking from again. Half them got pulled and tossed already.

Here's the beet and turnip-rutabaga bed in the foreground- not much better shape. Most of the beet foliage ruined- I think from whitefly or leaf hoppers. 

Turnip-rutabagas are definitely getting damaged by whitefly. I've sprayed them, too. The roots are all still quite edible, though- but I miss not being able to use the greens, and I'm sure I'd have bigger, healthier beets and rutabagas without the damage.

My collards have also been swarming with whitefly, and harlequin bugs (took me a while to find those culprits). And all are getting munched by slugs too, I think.

All the actual turnips rotted. I had to empty most of that bed and throw them away. 

But the cowpeas on the other end of the bed are doing grand, I just hope they actually give me some beans to eat (planted out kinda late this year)

And in the next bed over, the yellow summer squash is amazing! I took this picture several weeks ago, it's now sprawled large enough I can't walk through the aisle between the beds. Getting one or two nice-sized squash per week out of there. Very little sign of disease, no bug damage I can see!

Swiss chard

and leaf-beet chard are faring okay. Some leaf hoppers spreading disease, but when I start to notice symptoms, I cut out what I can eat and cut the rest down to the ground, bundling most of insects away with all the anemic foliage to the trash. The chard grows back quickly if watered heavy again, gets kind of a fresh start for another week or so.

Tomatoes- eh. They don't look great. The cherry and purple cherokee tomatoes are discolored, the larger varieties small sized and lots of leaves look unhealthy. It didn't seem like aphids, probably some kind of virus causing wilt- I cut out a lot of sickly foliage again and redid the mulch.

Kind of a blah year, aside from the squash, and the herbs which mostly seem unbothered. I'm wondering if next year I should grow more new varieties of things (as the yellow squash and cowpeas have done so much better than zucchini and green beans for me), or just scrap the garden altogether and do a solarization to kill pathogens in the soil . . . 

garden update

But again, without pictures. I have not been out there enough- almost six weeks of very minimal garden work and it's all overgrown, shabby, full of bugs. Whitefly, aphids, leaf hoppers, striped beetles galore. At least I'm pleased to see the birds, skinks, spiders and dragonflies frequently- I'm sure they're eating some pests! Haven't spotted a preying mantis yet, but I was pleased a week ago to see a snake in the grass- and even more so today when trimming some grass away from the garden edges, I found two baby snakes! They were no thicker than a pencil, in fact at first glance I mistook them for a worm- but not as shiny, very dark, and when I looked close I could see the minute perfect scales, the shape of the head. I really wanted to gently catch one and take inside to briefly show my family members- but the first one quickly darted into a gap under a brick, and the second one I found disappeared when I stepped aside to pick up dry leaf and a container. Oh well.

We have been eating beets, collards, swiss and leaf beet chard, blue kale, turnips, amaranth greens, turnip-rutabagas, the occasional tomato, plenty of herbs. I have not yet tried pulling any carrots, though some look ready enough and they could stand thinning. No green beans or cowpeas yet, though the plants are growing. Last week I cut summer savory to dry for winter- it was prolific again this year. My fenugreek grew lovely tall and I kept it by the door to enjoy its scent, but now it is dead (insects?). My figs are doing alright. The other day I pulled the largest turnip-rutabaga- it was 2.5 pounds! Made enough "baked turnip whip" dish it fed my family for four days (the kids get tired of it but my husband likes it a lot). I was surprised but glad that in spite of its large size, this turnip-rutabaga still had tender flesh, and I cooked the leaves like most greens, they were good too.

Today I finally pulled the garlics. None had very large bulbs, though altogether it more than quadrupled the amount of cloves I started with. They are curing on a mesh chair seat under the deck in breezy shade, will show a picture after I've rubbed off the dirt next week. The hardnecks seemed to do better than the softnecks, so probably I will grow just those next year, though I haven't tried the flavor yet. That bed is mostly empty now except for the leeks- I lost a few but still have enough.

Also the tomato bed is a mess. I wasn't out there doing garden work for so long, the plants started to fall over because I hadn't tied them up to the stakes again, and they fell and dragged the supports over too. Haven't yet made the effort to go straighten it all up yet. Difficult to get out much because the heat hits hard once it's past 10am.

I did tidy up some of the yard today in preparation for my husband to mow- he doesn't always know where the edges of perennial or garden beds are because it got so messy. So I trimmed edges by hand, picked up sticks fallen from the wind, laid down a few as boundary markers. Dismayed to find the deer have eaten all my hostas again (I didn't get out to scatter irish spring soap, dang it) plus the solomon's seal and disappointingly my newest azaleas which we had bought from friends of my husband (they have a very extensive azalea garden it was a so lovely to visit and I was so happy to have these striking azaleas- one the salmon-colored flowers are shaped a lot like daylilies). The deer also knocked over some of the protective wire fencing I'd circled new baby trees with- I lost three redbuds and the persimmon. Glad they didn't get the pawpaw yet, and the spicebushes are okay too.

The pretty mixed-parentage japanese maple is doing fine on the sideyard, even though the fencing doesn't extend high enough to prevent deer from nibbling the branches, they haven't touched it. My tithonias over there are kinda pathetic, not very large yet, but I hope they grow enough to give some blooms. Milkweed has sprung back better than ever, but I see no caterpillars (though on the carrots, dill and rue I've found plenty of swallowtail caterpillars, and the other day saw a swallowtail butterfly in the yard!)

Also happy to see goldfinches visiting to check out my echinacea patch again. The echinacea plants look better than ever this year, I'd like to hope it's because I removed (by hand) the mealy bugs two years in a row.

The wren, cardinals and catbirds frequently come up on the deck, and I think I saw a fledgling last week too. I am sad the hummingbird has not come back again. My black-and-blue salvia isn't as large this year and not flowering yet; the cardinal climber vine is growing up its supports but hasn't flowered yet either. 

What else to say? I need very much to get out and clean up the other sideyard where joe pye weed is gloriously battling with gladiolas for space, falling all over the lambs-ears and the swamp milkweed is getting choked out by grass, dandelions and sprawling vinca. Just haven't felt the energy yet. It was enough to do a bit of cleanup and weeding today, see the state of things. 

it's been a while

I kind of lost interest in keeping this blog going- I don't seem to have many readers, and nobody to talk about plants with. Didn't feel the need to track when things get started for the right timing to go in the ground and such (as reminders to myself) anymore. And then I had a setback, minor car accident, sprained ankle, on crutches for three weeks- so things got shoddy out there. Overgrown, neglected. 

However today I finally was able to go out again (my ankle strapped, I'm allowed to do "light walking" now) And there are things to note.

First, here's a picture from months ago. After our spring heat wave, it cooled off again and I actually got a decent amount of lettuce. We had fresh salads for weeks, plus I gave some away. The heads were beautiful thick green rosettes in the garden.

Where the lettuces came out, I planted the tomatoes. They had waited too long, some lower leaves were wilting so I pulled those off. And then remembering a tip from a gardener I read, removed more lower leaf petioles, planted the tomatoes deeply, burying half the stem. Watered on planting, then left them alone for ten days. This encourages stronger root system and what do you know, I think it worked. I have only been out to water once since (due to being laid up) and the rain has been enough- the tomaoto plants look fantastic. I tied them up once to some poles, they are sturdier than usual too. Either the deep planting and witholding water at the start helped, or the soil was richer than usual.

My turnips are also doing great. We've been eating them- made a new dish just last night. Turnips simmered until tender, mashed with onions and a bit of sugar, stirred w/eggs and baked in the oven. Surprisingly good. It's the first year I've actually had good turnips- not dry or tough. Even the bigger ones I pull are tender when I slice them up, almost buttery. And they're still not bothered by much, out in the garden!

Can't say the same for other things. I went out to cut greens for dinner and instead cut and heaped most of the entire bed of chard into the compost pile. It was all mottled pale sickly from leaf hoppers. (Why are such aggravating pests so darn cute? This year they're dark grayish purple with bright blue or red eyes). I could only keep the youngest unblemished leaves to cook with, but hope that a lot of the leaf hoppers got removed with the mass of chard foliage, smothered under leaf mulch and grass clippings in the hot compost pile!

My beets are swarming with whitefly. I cleaned up the worst pale and dead foliage, doused them with soapy water, but need to go get some actual insecticide. In the next bed over, garlics have all fallen over, and scapes are reaching tall. But I don't think they're ready to pull yet. Not enough watering? Too much heat? 

I removed all the pea plants- saving some for next year's seed. Of the shelling peas, there was only enough for one meal. However, they were really good! Into those empty beds today I planted out the cowpeas (to grow up the trellis), bush beans (only two, the rest succumbed to heat and neglect while still in pots), two yellow summer squash, and a third of the amaranth 'calaloo' seedlings. The rest are still too small for transplanting. 

Then planted out on the sunny sideyard my few tithonias for the year. And I only have three cardinal climbers, which is sad. A few weeks ago my husband saw a hummingbird come by and scout around the deck. But my cardinal climbers weren't planted out, and I think the black and blue salvia isn't flowering yet either, so there was nothing here for it.

It is nice to still see the wrens, robins, sparrows, cardinals, blackbirds and grey catbirds busy around the yard and garden. And the skinks! They come upon the deck. I only have one cucumber plant that survived the period of neglect, it's in a deck pot. My carrots aren't doing too great in pots, they keep drying out if I am not able to get out and water. My sweet peas died. 

But I am glad that the rosemary and stevia survived the winter, and this year the fenugreek I planted is doing well. I have it by the sliding door to the deck and often bend to catch its scent when going in or out. Summer savory in the deck planters is doing great, and parsley- have been using both. Most of the herbs have come back well- thyme came through the winter indoors, sculpit and tarragon out in the garden have grown, I did plant one new sage because the old two didn't survive the transplant when I added broken rock to the perennial bed. And my green onions all failed. The older ones never regrew this year, I started a few new but they died.

I like the catmint (not same as catnip) in the garden, so this spring when I had to trim it back (sprawling all over into the space where collards grow) I stuck a bunch of cuttings into little water jars to try for new plants. I had over a dozen cuttings, but only three actually grew roots. The rest just got moldy. (I did change the water out, but probably not often enough). Those three got planted today too- two against the fence between the patch of joe pye weed and the row of shiso (which is looking nice). At least I think it's shiso. Maybe this year I'll get brave enough to try eating it. The third one I put also against the fence but in the back, between the yarrow (tall and floweirng now!) and my kinda sad camellia. 

It was nice to see a bright glitter of blue skittering around- the small brilliantly colored wasps that frequent my joe pye weed, and are predators of japanese beetles.

One of my jacob's ladder plants has grown so much, doubled in height! and it had the most beautiful sky-blue/violet flowers. But the other one is overshadowed by yellow salvia spreading out from under the skirts of hydrangea nearby. I thought it had died but found it getting smothered. Pulled out some of the salvia to give it room. I'm going to have to start thinning that stuff more.

That's my update.

more spring stuff

Today pricked out the tomato seedlings into pots. 

Over half my tatsoi got eaten by a slug before I remembered to put out a beer trap. A single slug I think, because I only caught one medium-sized slimer, and the remaining three tatsoi are undamaged now. 

Squirrel is (as always) irritating me by digging in the beds. Where the peas, collards, lettuces and chard are planted it does little damage- I just fill in the holes again.

Where the young beets and turnips are coming up, quite a few have gotten destroyed. I put wire mesh over those beds, held down with rocks- but the squirrel digs through the mesh! Must be very determined to recover whatever nut he remembers hiding in that spot. Grr. I need to finally fence the garden, or build a few frames with chicken wire to cover the beds that are direct-sown more securely. 

My rhubarb is making funky fat flower stalks. Cutting them off to encourage more foliage instead. 

Delighted to find that the wormwood survived winter!

Bed of collard greens, tatsoi and tokyo bekana (although this picture from a week ago, plants are bigger now!)

Pink clematis is blooming!

july garden

I have peppers! These serranos are perfect for flavoring beans or lentils

and the 'yolo wonder' look great, too. My husband ate one fresh- said it was rather spicy, so we're letting them ripen more to be sweet.

They're all still in pots on the deck. Get a lot of sun here, and far from most of the bug war in the garden.

That's what it feels like, down there. We ate all the young chinese cabbage last night, from that scattering I did by accident. Full of bug holes, but tasty nonetheless.

The bed they came out of still has plenty of amaranth greens, though it seems the insects are eating most of it. I sprayed last week an insecticidal soap. It seems to have knocked out most of the whitefly, aphids and cabbage worms (though not the egg-laying white butterflies of course). However I'm daily pinching off these striped beetles I never named but recognize well now, and there's cucumber beetles too.

There's one in there, the flowering kind of amaranth- looks just like the celosia I grow elsewhere. The bugs aren't eating this one.

In that same bed I have two benne (for sesame seed). Looking rather shabby. 

But they're flowering! Trumpet shaped with a lip, quite pretty.

Starting to pick some green beans.

Other side of the garden, zucchini are failing. They don't stay green but turn yellow and rot.

My big tomatoes are still on the vines, and some of the plants are regrowing green leaves. Lots of cherry tomatoes, but many are splitting. 

However this charmed me yesterday, as I was sitting near the garden on my bench with a book. A robin poked through the garden, and then a female blackbird- quite close to me. Then a catbird came, perched on a tomato vine, and jabbed its beak into the split cherry tomato! I don't know if it was getting moisture, eating the seeds or insects from inside?