Why Not?

There are a lot of volunteer tomatoes coming up from the Black Cherry container. I grabbed the 3 maturest-looking seedlings and planted them in the yard by the fence. Why not?

Autumn is on the way. The Beautyberries know...

The candy roaster squash is starting to display its vine-ing characteristics. They're looking much healthier than the summer squash ever did. Here's hoping.

 I need to harvest the Serranos in the next day or two. And the purple bells are making a few nice peppers now. I need to check it for blooms, and otherwise harvest and re-use the soil.

Starla is happy the leaves are starting to fall. Easier to see squirrels.

 
 

Nevermind

I removed the hoops and fabric from the candy roaster squash. It didn't work like I wanted, was hard to water, and I couldn't see what was going on. The plants are fine and wanting to grow outward, so they can go to town now. Hopefully the bad bugs will leave them alone. I guess I could have used more fabric and anchored it to the ground farther from the main stems to give the plants more room, but I'll see how they do without for now.

Bye Beans

The beans are waning now. They may have continued awhile if I had kept them watered, but it was supposed to rain many times last week and didn't. Despite hopeful weather forecasts, this summer has been very dry.

Yes

So once the bloom bud starts to split open, the flower will indeed fully open by the next day. Love this plant, even if the blooms only last one day.

Three Butterflies

Giant Swallowtail, Gulf Fritillary, and Cloudless Sulphur visiting my yard, specifically the Penta blooms.

I did get the hoops and fabric assembled over the container squash. I'm not too happy with the fabric. It's supposed to not interfere with watering, but it blocked the water I tried to add. I ended up ripping a small hole so I could insert the watering spout/hose.  I'm guessing it will block a lot of rain, too, so I will have to babysit these plants.  Or give up on the fabric... I'll see how it goes.

The squash in the yard... probably leaf buds now that I look closer, not bloom buds.

I'm glad I checked the most-developed bloom bud on my hibiscus. Will it open tomorrow? Or Saturday?

 

Hoopsville City

I'm going to try to get the little hoops I bought installed for the candy roaster squash in the tub so I can get the fabric cover all set.  I'm hoping this will prevent vine borers.  No sign of them yet.  I'm keeping the two plants I planted directly in the yard uncovered so I can compare.  All the squash plants seem to be starting little blooms already.

The Thai long bean vines are dying here and there. Might be from lack of water, although they should have had enough lately with the rain and manual watering.  It may just be time for them to wane.

I pulled two hornworms off the two remaining tomato plants.

I think I'm done with the plants in the raised beds, except maybe the thai beans... I might start ripping out plants and adding back some soil this weekend, depending on funds and weather.  I will probably harvest my Serrano peppers as well. I may let the purple bell pepper go a bit longer as it has 3-4 fruits still ripening.  The bell peppers are smaller this late in the season.

I'd like to try starting the seeds my native hibiscus made, too.  The seeds need to be filed/cut a bit to germinate.  Meanwhile, the parent plant has two developing bloom buds.

Rain Almost Enough

It's been raining a little more finally. The plants usually get an inch or so each week.

The candy roaster squash is coming along. The two in the metal tub have healthy-looking stems and leaves.  I still need to cover them with fabric as a vine borer preventative, but so far there's no sign of bad bugs.  I still had two seedlings growing in starter pots today, so I just plopped them in the yard by the porch. *shrug* Maybe they will cover the yard and I won't have to mow, haha.

The pepper plants are still going. Even the lunchbox pepper plant snuck its first fruit while I wasn't looking.

sneaky

Will probably chop & freeze some Serranos.

And the crazy Thai long beans...

still crazy

Thin Them Out

The Brassicas had a nice seed success rate.  Here they are before & after I thinned them.

I still have them indoors, but they probably need to move outside onto the porch soon so they can get more sunlight while still being sheltered. The heat may be an issue.

Monarch

The Brassicas I planted 3-4 days ago are sprouting. I noticed the collards first, then the broccoli, and finally this evening, the cabbages are moving the soil a little.

The two candy roaster squash in the tub are growing quickly (go, go, the clock is ticking!).  I am hoping to get them covered in lightweight garden fabric in the next week or so to help keep off pests.  I still have two more cr squash seedlings that I may plant in containers.  I would have to get more containers and soil though, and I already need soil for planting carrots and to replenish the raised beds when I give up on the plants already in them. Gardening seems to be a never-ending need for soil.

On that note, I purchased a tumbling composter for the back corner of the yard.  It should arrive next week.  Besides making use of kitchen scraps, I'll have a good use for all the leaves that will blanket my yard soon.

I finally spotted a Monarch visitor today.

It's a boy!

I don't think anything has enjoyed the garden more than the local lizards.

"Where is it??"

Butterfly Weed

The butterfly weed seems to be doing okay.  It's certainly put out a lot of new blooms.  I wish I had more sun in the native garden area, but my choices were limited.

Speaking of too much shade, the raised bed tomatoes are trying...

Brassicas

Today, I squashed a horn worm on my raised bed tomatoes, harvested a handful of Thai long beans (they never end), and started some seeds indoors:

Waltham Broccoli
Georgia Green Collards
Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage

Thinking of Autumn

The butterfly activity in the yard is picking up.  A Gulf Fritillary was pretty pushy about visiting the zinnias while I was trying to water them.

I got one of the metal tubs drilled for drainage, filled with soil and a bit of fertilizer, soaked with water, and planted with two of the candy roaster squash.  This is a pretty unlikely-to-succeed experiment to see if these can produce before it turns too cold.  But I have more seeds saved for spring.

The garden's looking pretty crazy now.  That Thai basil needs to go soon, but the butterflies are enjoying the blooms.  The Thai long beans are just producing like crazy. Every time I turn around, I find big beans I have missed picking, some of them only good for seeds.  I need to try a variety that isn't the same color as the vine so I can see them easier.  Honestly, after growing these, I don't know if I will try a standard pole or bush bean again.  These were the most productive plants in my garden, and the least susceptible to pests.

My native hibiscus is happy enough that it's putting a few more bloom buds out.  Can't wait to see it bloom again!

And finally, the beautyberry fruit is quickly turning purple now.  Both plants are full of berries again.  They are the happiest natives in my yard, not suffering from the month+ without (almost any) rain.  Neither of them needed any extra water from me.

I'm planning to get some seeds started for fall veggies this week.  I'll keep them inside so they'll be cooler until they germinate.

OK, 4

4 candy roaster squash seedlings now. Oh boy.

And Then There Were Three

Well, now I have too many squash seedlings.

2

A second candy roaster squash seed has sprouted. I need to get the metal tub drilled for drainage so I can plant them.

I am going to have to move my rain catching buckets. Too much lizard traffic. This one was so small, she didn't break the water tension.

Moles & Bugs & Lizards

Starla killed this mole.  They certainly tear up my yard.  They've been especially busy in my native garden.

I've seen a lot of bright orange leaf-footed bug nymphs all over my bean plants. I generally ignore them, although they are plant pests.  They are neat-looking stilt-y bugs.

Also in abundance amongst the garden plants are baby Anoles.

Last of the Dog Days

I checked the three candy roaster squash seeds that haven't come up. Seeds showed no activity, so I went ahead and planted 3 new seeds.  The one seedling that came up has its first true leaf.  I ordered some lightweight fabric, so I'm waiting for that to come before I prep one of the big metal tubs I bought for planting.

Today, I cut down all the tomatoes in containers.  They had all almost stopped producing fruit.  A few were developing new green growth, but it's time to move on to other plants.  I'll probably plant some cabbage and broccoli in the containers now, once I freshen the soil (and get some more to add to it).

The marigolds were great for the tomatoes!

I finished staking all of the eggplants and peppers in the raised bed.  I trimmed the peppers up a bit, too, removing some excess foliage, especially near the bottom. Leaves that touch the ground are just easy access for pests or rot.  The peppers are blooming, and I'm hoping the eggplants will start blooming soon.  Next year, I'd like to try Rosita, Rosa Bianca, or Listada eggplants rather than Asian eggplants.

The serrano and purple bell in containers are producing another wave of fruit. I love both of these plants.

I also had some stakes free from removing the container tomatoes, so I tall staked my two roma tomatoes in the raised bed. The striped roma hasn't bloomed yet, but the Pompeii has made 4-5 edible tomatoes (after a short bit of blossom end rot) and is blooming more.

The Thai basil plants are blooming like crazy. I thought about ripping them up, but I saw a hummingbird visiting the blooms a few days ago, so I will keep watering them, I suppose.  :)  They do make pretty blooms.

And finally, the native hibiscus bloom is long gone, but it's making a big seed pod. Curious to see how it develops.

We were under a flash flood watch for all weekend, but the storms didn't develop fully. It did rain quite a bit Friday night, but the washed-out weekend was mostly dry.