Sunflowers

Coneflower

This single plant can be divided in another year.  It's put up 8-10 bloom stalks this year.

The Toad and The Caterpillar

This toad had made a little home in my metal planter.  Shortly after I took a photo, I needed to water the plants, so it hopped away to hide.  Hopefully it will return.

Meanwhile, the Black Swallowtail caterpillar has grown.  I believe this is the 3rd instar stage?  It flashed its osmeterium at me while I was moving the dill plant around a bit.  It also eats parsley, so it should actually be all set up to enjoy my herb garden.

The Penstemon is in full bloom now, and the Butterflyweed blooms have opened.  If only a Monarch or Queen would find the Butterflyweed.

Finally, I have my first ever female squash bloom.  Have I (so far) beaten the vine borers?!?!

Harvest

5/27 harvest and even more cucumber blooms...

Slug

A good slug.

Made by Susan Frisbee

Happenings

The cucumbers are blooming.

My stalk of dill has a Black Swallowtail caterpillar. Might need more dill for it????

Pollination

Teddy Bear Sunflowers are beginning to bloom.

Tomato plant doing poorly, but Zinnias going crazy.

It's getting bigger.

Serrano!

Jalapeno!

Tabasco!

Non-native Coreopsis that eluded the lawnmower.

Should I Pick It?

Penstemon

Aphids Eradicated

I used my little pump sprayer to apply some homemade spray to the beans to kill the aphids. They are mostly dead as of the next day.

Aphid Destroying Spray

1 tsp dish soap (used Mrs. Meyer's)
3 drops lavender essential oil
3 drops rosemary essential oil
1/2 gallon water

Mix and apply to leaves (above and below) and stems of afflicted plants. Best to apply when plants are shaded or at beginning/end of the day.  Aphids should be dead withing 24 hours and can be brushed or rinsed off the plants if desired.

First Harvest

The Tomatoes

Here are some of the developing tomatoes. 

Pink Berkley Tie Dye

Black Cherries close to ripe.

Cherokee Purple changing colors.

Rainy Friday

Finally getting some much-needed rain today. 

Purple Coneflower keeps putting out blooms.

Dragon Tongue Beans are developing.

The purslane looks super bright on a gloomy day.

The first eggplant fruit.

Baby Beans

The Dragon Tongue beans planted with the squash are starting to produce beans.  Nothing big enough to pick, but probably in a few days!  The squash is blooming but I can't tell if it's doing very well beyond that. 

I set up a net for the cucumbers to grow across between their planter and the dry herbs planter.  Hopefully that works.

The Black Prince tomato plant is dying.  I'm waiting on the last two tomatoes on it to ripen.  Might have been the individual plant, but not thrilled with it.  Meanwhile the Black Cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen and look nice and healthy.  Everything needs some water.  It's been a cloudy/rainy week but it's only rained maybe 5 minutes per day... not enough to put a dent in things.

The beans in the raised bed have aphids, so I need to mix up something to spray on them. You know, if it ever stops trying to rain.  Can't spray if it's gonna go wash it off immediately.

The eggplants are definitely fruiting.  I can just see the bottom of the first fruit emerging from the bloom. 

Spring Continues Into Summer

Yeah, it's spring still, but it's basically summer in north FL.

Although the Black Prince tomato plant had ripe fruit first, it's looking like the Black Cherry tomato plants are going to produce the most.  I love roasting cherry tomatoes and smashing them into crust bread.  Good for a snack or a meal.

The cucumbers are coming along nicely.  Soon they will need some trellising to grow along.  I'm planning to have it span across to the dry herb garden since it is also in an elevated planter.  I'll need to move the planters around and figure out how to set that up.

So far the squash seems OK.  I have been dusting with Bt after every watering, and last watering I used Bt spray.  If this doesn't keep the vine borers away, I don't know if I will plant squash again.  I'm hoping that by having them elevated, treated with Bt, and surrounded by Dragon Tongue beans (hoping they hide the squash plant and they also help hold even more Bt), they'll be OK.  Speaking of the Dragon Tongue beans, they are starting to bloom a lot.

I am seriously wondering where Calendula has been all my life.  I love their blooms.

And finally, the native garden blooming continues to progress.  The second coneflower bloom has opened, the Lanceleaf Coreopsis blooms are opening, the beardtongue is working towards blooming, and the milkweed is going to bloom soon.  Meanwhile, the Coral Honeysuckle and Columbine are fading as Spring advances with temps reaching 90.

Butterflyweed (Milkweed) about to bloom.

Digging My Potato

The potato leaves wilted to the ground over the past week weeks, so today was potato digging day.  I'm pretty satisfied with the results. 

The bigger potatoes are pretty big.

Purple Coneflower

The purple coneflower is starting to bloom. This is the first bloom it's had. I planted it last year.

Grasshoppers

This may become a problem, but for now, it's just cute.  I found these baby grasshoppers on my zinnias this morning.

And towards evening, they're still hanging around...

At least they don't appear to be eating anything at the moment.

Honeysuckle & Hummingbirds

The coral honeysuckle continues to burst with blooms.  There have been at least two hummingbirds fighting over the feeder, and I finally saw one combing over every blossom on the honeysuckle vine this morning.  Coral Honeysuckle is especially adapted to hummingbirds.  It's a great example of exactly what a native plant is all about.