After collecting the leaves I needed for my recipe (Thai Chicken Basil uses at least three cups of fresh basil), I took the branches that still had leaves out to the chickens. My chickens really like basil.
I shove the thick stems into a hole in their chicken swing, which holds it secure so the hens can rip off leaves.
It doesn’t take long for the flock to strip off all the leaves!
The melon vines have produced a continuous harvest of ripe fruit, and the basil is growing nicely. I collected a ripe melon, and a large amount of basil! Since those are the only things I seem to be able to grow, that is all I planted this year. The new stock tank garden is doing better than the small multiple container garden from last year. The addition of the frog army (attracted by adding a standing water dish), has helped yields as well.
My mint and strawberry patch fell to a field of grass. It was watered regularly, but maybe it was the heat, or that the trees over grew the area and there is more shade than I thought. Either way, I finally decided to pull the grass in the “cool” of the morning (if you can call 80 degrees at 7am cool). The water bowls I put out in the sprinkler area were doing well providing wildlife and cats with water, so I put another bowl with rocks out (so the frogs and bees have landing areas), and turned over a few terra cotta pots to provide moist frog cover. It isn’t any kind of work of art (yet), but it is functional and has potential.
We have two more melons! I’ve been checking the melons every day as I pass by to check the chickens, and these two turned yellow rather quickly. One day one had some yellowing, then the next day they were both yellow and coming away from the vine. One was in a sling, one was not. It took a little effort to remove them from the vine, but I didn’t need tools. Since these are small, And I check them daily, I don’t think I need to sling them. Which will make the frogs happy.
While we were on our trip, I did not ask anyone to spray the Hardy Hibiscus, and it stopped flowering due to thrips. I started spraying again when we got home, then noticed something new all over the hibiscus: tiny white flying things.
These seemed to not care about my spray, and were all over. I submitted a photo to iNaturalist and received an answer: white flies. Hm. The description of the white flies says they live on the underside of the leaves, so I looked on my hibiscus, and sure enough, full of flies and eggs.
Internet knowledge said the white flies can be rinsed off with water. So I gave my plant a good rinse, let it dry, then in the morning gave it a good spray with Neem oil, peppermint oil, and castor soap solution. It flowers despite the white flies, so that is something.
Critters and Craft 