Skink

Well, this is one downside to collecting rain water in open buckets. Luckily the water wasn't very deep and the lizard wasn't in there long.

Popping Up

One of the Candy Roaster squash seeds is germinating.

Here are the new herbs I potted on Saturday (Rosemary, 2 Sage, Thyme).

The Serrano peppers are indeed putting out a new round of blooms and fruit as the last mature fruit fully ripens.  But what is wrong with my bell peppers? I decided to give them some fertilizer to see what that does.  I fertilized the eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes in the raised bed, too.

Herbs

I bought a few herb starts to replace what died. My orange bergamot mint plant was eaten by something, and I still have trouble keeping thyme alive (soil holds too much moisture?). I have also been wanting a rosemary plant.  The online farmers market had a pack of 4 starter herbs, so I bought that.  So now I  have a new thyme plant, an extra parsley, a rosemary plant in a separate pot, and for some nice reason, they included two sage plants (only paid for one).

Still alive from previous planting is lavender, parsley, and Thai basil. The Thai basil is blooming, but I couldn't make myself pull it up yet. The leaves might be a bit astringent at this stage. The Thai basil has been the best herb I have tried. Will definitely get again. I also want to buy Thai mint next year.

Butterfly

This Giant Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes) was not enthused to share the garden with me today. She was enjoying the penta blooms and flew around my head several times as I got closer, trying to figure me out. I finished watering the garden and left her to the penta blooms.

Beans Keep Growing

The Thai long beans keep producing. I have noticed that ants gather at the top of the beans, so the vines have ants here and there that I have to watch for when picking beans. Not sure if they are getting flower nectar or some sort of food from the plant just above the bean.

Some of the tomato plants are putting out new green growth. I'm not sure if I should water them and encourage this (will the produce more tomatoes?) or if it is a waste of time and water.  Along with that, the serrano is blooming more and making peppers. I will definitely encourage that.

Still no eggplant blooms. Raised bed peppers are growing/blooming. The one okra plant is also looking more interested in life.

Candy Roaster

I soaked 4 candy roaster squash seeds in water for 12 hours and planted them in starter containers today.  Planning to get some garden fabric to keep pest insects out.  They should have time to develop before any sort of cold weather, but if not, I have plenty more seeds to try next spring.

Somehow, the black cherry tomato plant is putting out a few blooms, so I am keeping it watered. The peppers and eggplants in the raised bed are starting to take off.

One Day Wonder

Looks like the swamp hibiscus bloom was indeed only for one day.  By noon, it had not re-opened.

Good Morning

The swamp hibiscus is in bloom. I think the blooms only last one day.

Still no sign of the Queen caterpillar. It may have wandered off to make its chrysalis, but I can't find it on anything within a 5 ft radius.

More from the backyard:

Goodbye, friend.

Hello, friend.

How Long?

The native swamp hibiscus bloom is just starting to open. This is a very beautiful plant all around. The leaves are deeply lobed, the stems are healthy and a little gangly, and I can't wait to see mine bloom. The blooms are fairly simple for a hibiscus, but the deep red color is stunning.

 

The Pompeii Roma tomato plant in the raised bed finally has a perfect ripe tomato, with more on the way.

Here's a beneficial bug... an adult Assassin Bug.  They kill many garden pests including flies, mosquitoes, beetles, and large caterpillars.

  

Speaking of which, the Queen caterpillar has disappeared.  Not sure if she wandered off from the milkweeds (unlikely) or was eaten by a predator.  Even poisonous and assumedly bad tasting, I'm sure a number are still eaten.

Starla likes to "go garden" if for no other reason than to hunt for anoles.

The giant Thai long bean pod I was letting grow got to about 22 inches long before it dried out and started rotting in one spot, so I picked it off the vine and removed the seeds to save.  I got 15 seeds from that one pod.  I've also got some candy roaster squash seeds and purple bell pepper seeds that have dried and need putting away.

The purple pole beans seem to be trying to make a comeback, putting out new growth towards the edge of the Thai long beans.  There are even a few blooms and developing beans, so maybe I will have another mouthful of those.

Well, I just watered everything good, and now it is thundering. More rain is a good thing though, so hopefully it will rain.  I have my buckets ready to catch whatever falls.

Queenie

The Queen caterpillar is growing pretty quickly.

Mow Day

Today was a mow day. It's difficult to mow around all the container plants. Mostly I just do what I can without moving anything, and then I can trim closer every few months w/ the weed-eater or pull weeds/grass by hand if I really need to.

The Queen caterpillar continues to enjoy the milkweed.  I'm not sure what stage it's at in its development... it's about 1.25 or 1.5 inches long.

The native Scarlet Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) that I bought from Native Nurseries a few months ago has one bloom bud.  I'm eager to see the plant bloom, as I've seen them in bloom at the nursery.  It's currently in a fair-sized pot, but I could see up-potting or maybe planting it at some point. I worry about it having enough water in the native soil.

Here's what I picked in the garden today:

Thai long beans, tomatoes, bell pepper, Serrano peppers, parsley, Vietnamese cilantro.

Milkweed

I bought two butterfly weed plants (Asclepias tuberosa) from Native Nurseries almost a week ago.  They were sitting on the porch for two days, and then I moved them out to get some sun in the yard.  I finally planted them today in the native garden.

This is the second time I've planted butterfly weed.  Third if you count the seeds I scattered not long after I moved in.  The plants I added last year bloomed and died, hopefully just from lack of water.  I'm being more vigilant with watering this year, hoping to keep all my natives alive and blooming next year.  Besides the two previous butterfly weeds, I lost my Piedmont Azalea.  So my goal is to keep the Florida Flame Azalea watered enough to bloom in the spring (it didn't this past spring).

While planting the butterfly weeds, I noticed one already has a Queen caterpillar on it.  I'm not sure if it found its way to the plant from my yard somehow, or if (more likely) it was on the plant when I bought it.

This site explains the difference between Queens (above) and Monarchs.

Hopefully, this one will enjoy the buffet, but not invite too many friends. I want to get these plants established before they get mauled. 

In the garden, my experiment to see how big one of the Thai Long Beans will get continues...

20 inches so far.

Slow Down

My eggplants are behind, mostly due to being in a shadier spot.  I staked and tied 3 of them today, along with a pepper plant. The peppers in the raised bed are also behind.  The saddest of the bunch is the purple bell.

Meanwhile, the Serrano in a container is done producing fruit.  The rest of what it has is continuing to ripen. I really loved the Serranos-- they've been great for cooking with as they have a very clean flavor.  The plant, which I bought from Native Nurseries, produced quite a lot of peppers, so one plant is definitely enough for me (and a bit of sharing).

The purple bell pepper in the container is still producing some blooms and fruit.  There are 3 nearly mature peppers on it now (I've already picked 3-4), and I am waiting for them to get a bit bigger.  I saved some seeds from this plant for next year.  This has the best bell pepper flavor I've tried. Very good in stir-fry.

The summer squash are completely dead. I will work that area of the bed soon for planting.

The thai beans are definitely picking up production. I picked 4 beans today (enough to go in stir-fry), leaving the rest to mature more.  I left a huge bean just to see what it will do, with the potential of seed-collecting.

I picked half or more of the remaining tomatoes.  All tomatoes in containers have stopped producing blooms & fruit, and are starting to die.  The fruit that's still ripening is showing signs of over-watering (splitting) so now I am watering them less.  Still waiting for the 2 roma plants in the raised bed to produce ripe fruit.  One plant has a handful of green fruit.

The one okra plant I have is completely shaded out by the bean trellis.  I will have to plan that better next year.

Let's Find Out...

How long will this Thai long bean get?

There are 14+ beans developing now instead of 1-2 at a time, so I will have plenty more soon. These plants have taken over the trellis. I will have to keep them separate from the pole beans next time.  I will definitely grown these again. They are delicious in stir-fry.  They seem to grow 2 to a bloom-end (are there two blooms there?), but sometimes instead of a pair, only one develops, like this one.

Planning for Fall/Winter

The autumn/winter seeds I ordered a few days ago:

The Candy Roaster Squash

I didn't grow this, but I was inspired to save the seeds.  This is a candy roaster squash (N. Georgia variety, as there are apparently different squashes with that name).

It roasted up to over 2 lbs of squash puree, half of which I used to make a tart/pie (and I froze the other half).

Compare to Starla's shape & size:

I bought some metal utility tubs at Tractor Suppy, on sale for $18 each. They should be big enough to grow these.  I had such trouble with my summer squash though that I plant to get some kind of bug netting/fabric to keep out the borers, which I think were the cause of my other squashs' failure.

Thai

That Thai long bean is 16 inches. I LOVE THEM.