Sweet Gardenia Blooms

My small plant produced 5 blooms this year.  I think all but one has opened.  Although it's not a native plant, it's pretty traditional to have one of these somewhere in your yard.  My plant is from the plant my parents' have in their yard.  Mine blooms a little late because it gets more shade.

Upkeep

The garden is doing fairly well.  A couple of the tomatoes fell partly over from the weight of the fruit, so I had to re-tie them.  It's been a battle to keep everything watered, so I set up the timed sprinklers again.  Not the best solution since it sprays lots of the foliage with water, but it's easier.

That eggplant.

 Today, I added straw mulch to the raised bed beans and installed the trellis for the long beans.  I need to string up some support for the dragon tongue beans in there, too.

The native hibiscus is really going to put on a show soon. I've counted 8 bloom buds... 5 on this stem and 3 on a smaller one not shown.  Last year I had 3 blooms and one got bent over before it could open.

There's a caterpillar (probably moth) nibbling the hibiscus' leaves that I need to identify. 

I also found the first cucumber for harvest on the vines. It was pretty hidden and was large enough that I should have noticed it sooner, but it was the perfect size when I discovered it.  No harm done.  I'll have to keep a closer eye on them since they are going to hang down below the netting.

I had some more beans, a few carrots from the market, and garlic from my dad, so I made another pint of quick pickled veggies with the cucumber.  I added two Serranos that seem pretty spicy this early in the season. 

I Like to Call Them Pre-Pickles

As the cucumbers continue to grow, I've had to extend the netting for them. 

 The plants have been blooming quite a bit, and baby cucumbers are developing.

The plants are wilting a little bit each day from the heat of the sun and from the unprotected soil drying out, so shortly after taking the above photos, I added a thick layer of straw to the top of the planter.  It's helped to keep the soil cooler and more moist longer.  The mulching has definitely helped the peppers and eggplants in the raised bed, so it seems to do a lot to keep moisture in the soil and temperatures down.  The cucumber leaves still get warm enough to wilt a bit, but they recover quickly as long as their roots are happy.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar Update 2

The dill has been stripped of foliage, and the caterpillar has moved on to the parsley.  :)

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar Update

The caterpillar is growing at a rapid rate.  It looks slightly different each day, just as it grows and becomes more yellow/white than black.  It likes to stay near the bottom of the dill plant during the daytime to hide from predators and have some shelter from the sun.

The dill is chomped at the top, but there are a few more limbs it can eat, and there's plenty of parsley nearby.

Here's a wider shot of the area.  Although not visible due to the basil, the parsley is within easy reach.