Papaya

 The Papaya is getting ready. That means the birds are sitting on the roof planning their attacks.  >.<

 So I was thinking how to put up a bird net. At 1st I was thinking wire - like a coat hanger. But but that would rust/corrode. 

 Then it hit me. The piping from our drip system. it's small and it curls nicely in a circle. So I cut a small piece, added a single stopper to attach the ends. But not before weaving the bird netting around it.

I'm not worried about the smaller green ones up top.

 the bottom part was open and long enough to catch children and small dogs. so I added some string and tied the bottom. 

 

 Now the bird netting is all black and kind of hard to see. Diane let me borrow some cloth and I tied streamers to the netting 

 Hopefully now we will see it and not get snagged up in it as we walk around the garden.  :)

and for my hard work this morning. Diane made some cinnamon bread!!

Grass

 We finally have very small blades of grass poking through the mud in the back yard! I tried taking some photos but couldn't get a good shot. Maybe in a few days it'll turn out better... Or what I think is grass turns out to be weeds. >.<

 The not-so-hot-peppers are producing, as well as our 4th of July tomatoes. The Salasa garden is working out just nicely. Hopefully the tomatillos will fruit soon and Diane can make her yummy salsa. Although - I think she's eyeing the ghost peppers as an ingredient. 😱

 

 This weekend will be spent cleaning up from last weekend. Tons of muddy tracks around. 

/Random Garden Shots

    Mint

 Basil after Diane clipped it

Basil Flowering

Diane's Rose

 Habenero

 Eggplant 

   Papaya ... almost ready 

 

   Diane's Agapanthus blooming

Bugs n Things

Everytime I look around in the garden... I see new bugs. After being in the islands... '30'+ years... I'm always surprised to see something new. Now take a look at this Apple leaf as an example.

    I think I see aphids, ants and a big 'what-the-heck-is-THAT!?' 

 These grubs were found when we were recycling the seedlings that didn't grow... And now I know why. They were in a total of three small pots. The adult seen at the bottom - was found in the garden shed in a bowl - killed by his own wing. As he couldn't get out. The Bastid.

 We left the grubs in a bowl out in the sun all day on Saturday. They were squirming in the heat trying to escape the light and then over night it rained and drowned them. I hastily buried them in an unmarked mass grave somewhere in the back. 😊

 Trash day was today. Moved the grey bin and whoa... get a room you nasty things. The yard is gonna be covered in Sluggo bait tonight!

and a baby Dragonfly drying it's wings after a down pouring of rain last night on Diane's flowers this morning.

 

Memorial Weekend Projects

So many projects - so little time...

Our French gutter was getting leaves and even a grapefruit stuck on the top if the pipe. any smaller and it'd have fallen down. yikes!

Lowes had a bunch of options for gutter covers. Flat vynal or metal covers for about $2.50-$3 each and we'd have to buy a bunch of them - or this roll up version that was $4 for the whole roll. 

    sold!

so it just rolled out and you bend it slightly to make a rounded bump over the gutter. Don't know if it'll last or for how long - but for now it'll keep the gutter and drain clear.

 the yard on the back side of the house was covered with wedelia. We had cut down as much as possible with a weed whacker then placed contractor bags over them and secured the bags with garden staples. 

 That was about a month or so ago. Last night we had a lot of rain come down so we're working on removing the rest of the plants today.

    looks like a mushroom farm!

I know Diane wants to get her Grrr! on out here, so I'm leaving the second half for her. it's a bit of work - but much easier than what we've done before when trying to remove these nasty plants. 

 While the removal of weidelia is going on. Our stone path is baking in the sun. 

 A few bags of concrete and empty HD shipping boxes covered in cut up garden soil or shopping bags - concrete doesn't stick to plastic - and we have small stepping stones for the back yard. 

so far we can make 12 stones a day - 6 in the mornin and 6 in the evening. they are slightly wet when taken out. so we've gently placed them on the ground and out in the sun to dry out. 

 the plan is to place them in the back yard, spaced out slightly so the grass will grow in between them. One day the mud will disappear and our slippers won't pack on the mud inch by inch. 

oh. we bought pumpkin and lettuce seeds yesterday. the've been seeded last night. Hoping the pumpkins get large for Halloween. Trying to grow then now to see what needs to be done. it takes about 3+ months for the whole process.

Gardening Hacks

We subscribe to The Old Farmer's Almanac, just the email hints and tips, not the online gardening tool that they offer - as it takes $$ for a subscription. 

 Today they had an email and video about Gardening Hacks:

Growing your own food successfully is a constant process of learning which techniques work best for you and your plants. Often simple bits of advice from other gardeners can help provide shortcuts to achieving success in your garden.

In this video we demonstrate ten quick tips handed down from experienced gardeners which save time, increase your growing space and reduce costs:

We already have a Gardening Hack that we use - Me! Hahaha.  : p

Sunflower seeds

 All  the seeds were pulled from the mammoth sunflower head, and then we made a salt water bath for them - 2 quarts water and 1/2c salt (Pink mediteranian salt). That was all placed in a gallon sized ziplock bag an left over night.

 This morning, Diane roasted them. She placed them on a pan, and into the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. We 'tested' a few shells. They are salty, slightly, easily break apart - but not all shells have seeds?! 

My girl

My little girl having her first freshly pulled carrot today, and her flowers have grown along the string and has now started along the chain link fence. 

Time for Sunflowers

Diane had fun this weekend pulling the seeds from the mammoth sunflower we grew. Gotta remember to save a few seeds for replanting. 

tonight we'll be giving the seeds a salt bath and roasting them.

Ladybugs

Touring the garden this morning - I was thinking of spraying for aphids but decided against it as we have a ladybug in the garden! She (he?) was working in the Apple tree.

The rest of the garden looks great. the plants are doing well and growing day by day. The tomatoes are producing as well as our cucumbers and green peppers. 

   Newly planted Waltermelon

Kinsey's Reduce Reuse and Recycle Project

It's amazing how a 1.5 minute video can take so long to create! Well done Kinsey!

Mother's Day

We had a very relaxing time this weekend. We spent time in the garden just weeding, and looking over the plants. Still waiting on the glass corn and other seeds to pop up out of the soil that we planted last week.

Some watermelon was replanted, and it looks like the corn is getting a bit wind blown. Diane picked a few cucumbers and had a strawberry from the garden.

The new flowers that we ordered  - the seeds are so small, it would be difficult to seed and then transplant. so they were scattered around in the back yard. I'm hoping they take and we get a beautiful bed of flowers.

Animoto (video app)

 I saw a new app come down thru the store yesterday. I had a few photos on my tablet and decided to try it out. It's called Animoto and it has preset templates that you can use.

I used the Super 8 settings to create a quick movie:


Welcome to our Jungle

 So, still playing around with the settings. they have a 'pro' version, not sure what the cost is on that or even what they offer for it. right now... free is good   :)

*update
  Here's the pricing for the animo to app - from $5 per month to $39 per month.

Sunflower

We finally did it... We beheadded the giant sunflower in the circle garden...

The seeds looked to be fully developed. So in reading a few web sites. They recommend to cut the head off and store it upside down in a paper bag (loose seeds).

So we hung the sunflower in the garden shed, and we'll check every 2 days to see how it's doing. Now to google how to prepare the seeds...

The squash is getting much bigger now, and we finally have two that are not rotting on the plant. Diane says it's almost ready. :)

We threw fertilizer down on Sunday, and today the crushed eggshells and worm castings were placed on all the plants that are fruiting.