Heatwave

We have been having a heatwave with the heat index around 106 or more some days. The second day into the heatwave my 12 inch comet in my 150 gallon pond died. The water was like a hot bath temp......poor fish. The heat saps your energy

The rain has been sporadic and arbitrary......pouring in one section.....bone dry in another. Sometimes on the opposite side of the street. It has been weird weather so far this year.

The heat is literally cooking the plants, so the garden itself is not making much progress, but I am making progress on getting a grip on the grass.

One plant that has not been in the least bit fazed by this heat is the passion vine. It glories in it. Growing like the weed it has turned out to be but with oh such fragrant and beautiful flowers. The gulf fritilary butterflies and the zebra longwings are having a field day. Caterpillars everywhere.

I have started severely cutting back on it so that it doesn't choke all the other plants.

Today I also saw several caterpillars of the black swallowtail on the fennel, they are so beautiful but feisty. When you touch them they give off an odor that is supposed to scare you away. The giant swallowtail is flitting around as well as the sulfurs and other butterflies. Butterflies everywhere.

Oh, my meyer lemon has a few small fruit on as well as the calamondin tree. Pineapples are progressing and it looks like my papayas are trying to make a comeback. Can't wait for it to cool down so that I can put in some veggies.

My Garden Album

How Much Space makes It A Garden?

Many people will say "I cannot have a garden, I don't have the space"..... Are you sure? A garden can be any space you have available. A windowsill, an end table that gets good light, your porch or deck......even a closet that is well lit.

There are many ways of gardening, conventional...that is, planted in the ground, in rows, in self watering containers, raised beds. Square foot gardening, aquaculture.....there is a method for everyone. Container and vertical gardening..... You can have gardens within gardens.

Your container may be an egg carton, a storage box, an old dresser drawer or an expensive earthbox. It is up to you, your creativity and your pocket. Gardening can be expensive but if you are serious, with a little creativity, you can cut your costs drastically.

So, tell me about your garden...............

Can You See The Spider

Earlier today I decided to take some photos of the garden and as usual ended up at my little pond in motion (because it is not quite finished although happily inhabited).

I took a few photos with my little digital camera of my fish visiting with me. You can clearly see the mosquito fishes in this one and also some of my koi. What I thought was ripples in the water in in fact .... a spiderweb. Can you see the spider? So here is another mosquito and bug predator.

Update: my raspberry experiment, the plant has now begun to ramble through the hibiscus plants that are close to it. Still waiting to see if I will get any fruit from it this year. My carrots that survived the ant raid are doing well. My beans have taken off since we had some rain.

My taro is showing promise, my yams have sprouted, and the sweet potatoes are making a comeback. My pineapples have fruit, so I should be eating pineapples IF I beat the two legged predators and the raccoons to them.

I am restructuring the garden because of the big losses suffered this past winter and I am moving my more tropical plants to the south side hoping that if we get as cold this coming winter my survival rate will be better. Continuing work on my edging of the beds. Need lots of mulch and composted manure to give a good start to the beds. The grass is as virulent as ever growing oh so much faster than my plants. Digging away as always................

Asian Tigers Are Back!

And the rains came. Very quickly, it made its presence known. You do know that I am not speaking of real tigers or fighter jets? No, I speak of that little black and white striped devil, the mosquito. The one that doesn't sleep. It is present twenty four hours a day. (And please pray that one does not make it inside your house for they will not stop feeding on you or your pets)

But, even with all the rain and the presence of so much water, the numbers seem to be less. Could it be that natural predator/prey relationship is working? Remember, I do not use chemicals. So, my loyal troupe of predators are doing a wonderful job.

Kudos to:

My earthbound crew: the tons of lizards, green and brown anole, the six stripe lizard (at least that's what I call them), and a variety of frogs.

My aerial crew: the birds (martins/swallows/swifts, wrens), dragonflies, bats and any others that participate in the continued decimation of the mosquito swarms.

My waterbound crew: mosquito fish, goldfish, and koi, who patrol the three ponds and the open rainwater barrel.

My appreciation to all of the above. I would otherwise be housebound at this time, or resemble a sieve with the number of bumps from the bites. HURRAY for mother nature!

An Example To Follow

Path To Freedom chronicles the Dervaes Family's Urban Homestead in Pasadena California.

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Garden visitors

Almost every day I see new visitors to my garden. This shows that an ecosystem is being developed within the framework of the garden, predators and prey and sometimes, just a passerby.

Another visitor that I missed getting a photo of was the larra wasp. Now I think I know why some of my plants don't make it. Where there are larra wasps, there are mole crickets. Predator/prey.

Some of my regulars are frogs, lizards and racer snakes . Ran into a very big frog the other day and missed getting his photo too. Beautiful creature with his green patterned markings. A week ago I almost stepped on a very large rat snake. Beautiful fella or gal also got away, so I missed another kodak moment. I need to have a camera strapped around my neck.

The butterflies are back in abundance, several different varieties, including the zebra swallowtail and the zebra longwing. Oh, if only I could attract the hummingbirds.......but I will plant their garden and hopefully they will come!