Beneficial insect or can I kill it?
This bug crept up on me while I was sitting on my deck! Ack! Scared the daylights out of me! I don't believe I've ever seen this bug before in my entire life of living in the same area. Can anyone identify what this is? It was about the length of my thumb. I prodded it with a cup and it stood up sort of like a praying mantis, and it had long fang-like protrusions coming from its head! It had no wings. It was gray or steel in color. It looked like some creation from a Burton movie. If it's not beneficial---I'M GOING TO KILL IT THE NEXT TIME I SEE IT!
Labels: beneficial insects, bug ID, gardening
Melons and Cucumbers in Earthboxes
This is a side view of my melons and cucumbers planted in the original Earthboxes. I bought 3 of them out of curiosity after making my own. My plants do 100% better in these self-watering containers than anything else.
In these Earthboxes I have Baby Golden Midget watermelons (Baker's Creek), hybrid Little Baby Flower watermelons (Johnny's), and hybrid French Charentais melons (Baker's & Johnny's). The cucumbers are from a local vendor. I chose these types of melons because they were made for containers and the melons are smaller but still with good taste (or so I read). Any comments on the taste of these?
Labels: container gardening, cucumbers, Earthboxes, gardening, melons, sustainable gardening, welf-watering containers
Change comes quickly...
Adding wisteria and a grapevine to the gardenI know this picture looks the same as the ones below from the other day but this time there is a wisteria vine in the picture. I'm planting wisteria on one side and another grapevine on the other side of the arbor.
My Berkey Light Water Purifier
I thought I'd throw this in the mix of pictures. I haven't actually done anything with it yet. I am going to test it first! Since I've always been kind of a "yuck!" person, I'm planning on getting some river water, purifying through the purifier, and then I'm going to take it over to my soil & water conservation place to have them test it and see if it really does what it says it does! Sorry--I have to do this before I feel comfortable using it in an emergent situation where I'd have to use something like waste-laden river water!
Labels: Berkey Light, peak oil prep, water purifier
The Beginnings of my Secret Garden
This shot I took this morning has changed even since then! I bought a wisteria vine and a grape vine to wrap around the arbor. Oh, and the reason I have nothing growing in the right raised bed is because the rabbits have successfully eaten down everyone of my sunflowers I planted there. I was intending to grow them for seeds and beauty....didn't happen. I ended up plopping some of my veggies in containers on top of the raised bed for now where they'll get better sun. The sunflowers I picked out looked like they would've been really pretty. The sunflower in the picture was nothing but a wild sunflower seed that grew where it fell from the bird feeder! I just let it grow amongst the bell peppers I planted.
I'm in the process of tacking up 12" chicken wire around the base of my fencing. I am using garden staples hammered into the ground to keep the critters from getting into the fenced in garden area. I'll take a picture when I'm done to show you what I'm talking about.
Nevertheless, I am experiencing a wonderful view from my deck. Sometimes it looks like a jungle with all the wildlife that is thriving from my plantings.Birds, rabbits, butterflies, and bees are all gladly pollinating my veggies!
Labels: gardening, raised bed gardening, sustainable gardening
Gardener's Mistake #23: Impulse Buying
That's right. I'm guilty of impulse buying when it comes to plants now. I just couldn't let the artemesia wilt away in the clearance aisle at Home Depot! Calendula was named the "Herb of the Year for 2008", so I couldn't pass that one up, either. A woman at the Farmer's Market was selling herbs, and she had the calendula and a feverfew plant. I couldn't leave the feverfew go by because of it's reputation of medicinal qualities that have little tiny white flowers similar to chammomile. The lily was sitting beside the artemesia plant in the clearance aisle for $1.50! Now all I have to do is figure out where to put them....hmmm....(before they die on me!)...
(L to R: calendula, feverfew, lily, artemesia)Labels: herbs, perennials, sustainable gardening
I Have Peaches!
I'm finally getting peaches this year!
My Rain Barrels Arrived in June!
My rain barrels arrived before expected in June! So here they are! The first weekend after I installed them, mother nature brought a storm and filled them to the brims! Since then, I've had more than enough water to water my plants without the water bills! I llloooovvee 'em!
Labels: rain barrels, sustainable gardening, water catchment
Adding wisteria and a grapevine to the garden
(L to R: calendula, feverfew, lily, artemesia)
