uncskainch's Xanga

Garden Friends

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:56:32 GMT

The caterpillars continue to get bigger and bigger:

The thyme is growing well:

Ladybugs are feasting on aphids (on a raspberry plant in this photo):

And tiny baby toads (this one could sit on a quarter, I think, to give you a sense of scale -- the macro lens really makes it hard to tell how big things are if you didn't see them in real life!) are hopping about in the garden. Toads eat a LOT of insects, so I'm thrilled to have so many of them calling our garden home this year!

Last week, I planted about nine varieties of sunflowers up along the road, so we'll see what does well. I also started more native perennials from seed after the wild success of black-eyed susans and seashore mallow from last year. This weekend, the beets will be harvested, pie pumpkins will be planted, and we might get a few more ripe cherry tomatoes (we had one this week already!).

Molt

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:41:28 GMT

This caterpillar had just recently molted -- you can still see the darker skin down lower on the parsley stem.

Caterpillar & Garden Update

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:37:50 GMT

The caterpillars keep growing -- there are probably five or six in the parsley right now. This one appears to be the smallest:

Here's a mid-sized one:

And this one recently molted into the tiger stripes that they get before they become green:

In the main garden, squash plants are thriving:

As are the cucumbers:
The cherry tomatoes aren't ripening yet, but the first flush of them is looking good:

It's almost time to harvest the beets and we harvested a bunch of garlic today -- it was on the small side, so next year I'll get it in the ground a little earlier, but it's tasty and plentiful. We also picked carrots this week (Little Finger variety, which produces small carrots that are great for snacking) and pulled up the lettuce, which was bolting. So later in the week, we'll put in green beans where the lettuce was and put in a hill of pumpkins and maybe another hill or two of squash and melons to replace the garlic and beets.

Up by the road, we are planting a small flower garden -- last year, I got seeds for some native NC perennials from the botanical garden nearby and planted them in long windowbox planters. They didn't really take off in that first year, but then perennials often don't. THIS year, however, we have a riot of black-eyed susans. Here's one:

And here's a closeup of the critter on the petal at 10:00:

You know I can't resist the bug shots!

Caterpillar Update

Sat, 30 May 2009 22:54:50 GMT

I never did find any evidence of that first group of caterpillars, but another couple of rounds have hatched. I found four individual caterpillars representing what I'm guessing is three or perhaps four distinct stages of development in the parsley planter at the same time:

In the garden, I planted okra, jalapeño peppers, serrano peppers, cayenne peppers, Corno di Toro (sweet bull's horn shaped red) peppers, and basil. We have little green tomatoes on the tomato plants, we're harvesting carrots and are about to harvest beets, and it's time to pull the last of the lettuce and put in some green beans.

In the garden...

Mon, 11 May 2009 16:17:15 GMT

I finally planted the tomatoes this weekend! I put in Sungold cherry tomatoes, another orange/yellow cherry tomato variety, Cherokee Purples, Brandywines, a small orange slicing tomato, and Pink Girls this year. I also planted:

a hill of zucchini
a hill of yellow crookneck squash
a hill of baby watermelons
a short row of slicing cucumbers
Asian yard-long beans on a garden tipi-style trellis
basil
sunflowers

When the carrots, garlic, and beets are done in the spring garden, I'll plant some more summery stuff (hot peppers, Italian frying sweet peppers, and okra, plus maybe some more squash). And when we harvest the remaining lettuce (this week) I'll plant some bush beans.

I couldn't find the caterpillars yesterday, but we had just had a big thunderstorm the night before (which knocked out our power for 24 hours) and they may have been seeking shelter deeper in the pot of parsley. I'll try to get some more pics when things dry out (it's raining again today), assuming I can find them!

And now they are caterpillars!

Sat, 02 May 2009 22:54:15 GMT

The caterpillars have hatched! For now they are TINY, but they will grow quickly for the next couple of weeks!

Caterpillar Eggs

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:25:08 GMT

The butterfly eggs have started to darken a little bit -- they get fully brown right before the little caterpillars emerge:

Also, it is azalea time!

An Annual Event!

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:49:17 GMT

The parsley is growing well...

And this afternoon, an Eastern Black Swallowtail paid a visit:

And left a bunch of these:

Stayed tuned for the 2009 installment of the Caterpillar Chronicles!

Seeds!

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:10:48 GMT

My summer garden seeds have arrived and my tomato plants (bought from a friend who is a local farmer) are ready to go in the ground. More pics this weekend!

Springtime

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:23:18 GMT

In the garden, the greens are getting bigger:

And the daffodils are blooming in shady spots:

In the woods, the trees are leafing out:

And some are putting out flowers:

And all of nature's creatures are coming out of winter hiding and showing themselves. (Some, it seems, are finding their homes covered with pine pollen, too!):

Happy Spring, y'all!