Category: Garden

Water garden

On By CarynIn Cats, Garden
Mr Tom observing my work

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.

Mr Tom getting a drink from the in-progress water garden

Melon harvest

On By CarynIn Garden
Ripe melon fresh off the vine

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.

White flies

On By CarynIn Garden

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.

New insect on my hibiscus

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.

White fly detritus

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.

Hibiscus bloom

Harvest

On By CarynIn Garden

First melon harvested! The frogs did their job keeping the bugs down. I’ve been monitoring the bottom of this one and noticed a crack. But it was an untouched area, no sign of insect nibbles.

Burst melon

I freed it from the vine and sling and gave it a wash, then sliced it up. So good! It will probably be even better when it isn’t 100 degrees. A few hours in the fridge should do it, but we couldn’t wait to sample. I’m saving the seeds!

Sliced aspire melon

There are several more in various stages of development. Yum.

Melon Guardians

On By CarynIn Garden, Wildlife

We have melons on the vine! And diligent guardians watching out for bugs.

Frog guardians on an Aspire melon
Another frog guardian

After taking the pictures, I did tie up some netting slings, then sprayed the bottom of the netting with Neem oil, where the frogs can’t patrol. Then I found the frog convention.

Frog melon convention
Day two of the convention, I counted 8 attendees

I wonder what they talk about in their conventions. Are there speakers giving fine points on camouflage? Maybe break out groups discussing the merits of earwigs vs slugs?