Eye Spy

There is no better place to play a game of hide and seek than in the garden.  However, mostly with a garden it is just a game of seek.  If Waldo were a vegetable, chances are we would never find him until he was 10 times his normal size and way past ripe.  Such is the nature of gardens.  They keep their secrets hidden.

Take today's gardening venture.  It is late April and everything is just taking off in growth.  It is lush and green.  Looking at the larger view, the grand vista if you would, does not reveal all the hidden treasure that lies just beyond sight.  Here are some examples:

Here we have the bush bean bed.  These plants are really loving this location and also quite happy with the little cylindrical cages I have made for them.  These cages started out as just a way to thwart the roving Border Collie, but have become one of those 'great ideas' I will later claim to have done on purpose.  The bushy plants are kept upright which makes the beans easier to harvest.  But wait what beans am I talking about?  There aren't any beans in this photo?

It is not until you dive into the center of the planty mass that you will find these wonderful green beans.  And you need to find them because they are really producing right now.  Each day  I harvest between a half pound to a pound of them.  

Here is the wildly growing cucumber bed.  The vines are still at the stage where they would rather sprawl than climb so I have to keep wresting them onto the trellis.  Plenty of leaves, but it must be too early to harvest any cucumbers right?  After all, none are visible in this picture.

The thing about cucumbers is that they start out very small...

...and in a couple of days they become rather large.  This one is ready to go and if I leave it another day it will almost double in size.  Even though I am doing my best to find each of these wonderful cuces as they ripen they are doing their best to elude me.  I am sure that at some point this season I will discover a vegetable baseball bat.

Here is another plant that likes to grow.  This is butternut squash and the vines will probably reach outwards about 25 feet from this bed by the end of their growing season.  They are already close to ten feet in length and are menacing the beds around them.  From this view you can see that although there are vines there are not any squash- right?

Aha!  There is an actual squash hidden in the center of the bed.  There are lots and lots of female blooms right now with the potential to make little squash babies, but many don't actually get fertilized.  I was quite surprised to find this one at such a large size because I have been scouring this plant every few days to see if any fruit had set.  By the looks of it this squash is probably a couple of weeks old - and crafty, very sneaky...

Now tomatoes are definitely a case of hidden treasure.  Just look at this jumble of tomato vine branches obscuring any clear view.

However, tomato fruits can be rather large and sometimes very obvious...

...But even with them it pays to look more closely because what you thought was just a few tomatoes turns into a whole heaping gob of tomatoes...

...some of which are downright huge!  This is one of the Creole tomatoes and I am just anxious with anticipation of this whopper ripening.  Anxious to get a taste of this incredible jewel, but also worried.  Will some form of garden pest snatch it away from me or will they just put a big old hole in it.  The suspense is killing me.

Today though, there was something else besides luscious fruit hanging out on the tomato plants.  Eye spy with my little eye...

...an adorable baby cardinal.  This little chick was peeping and hopping around in this tomato plant and was very unafraid of me.  She was able to fly, but not very well and was trying to attract the attention of her mom.  Momma bird would fly close, but never seemed to hone in on where baby was located.

However, another female was quite honed in on the baby.  Lucky for baby bird she was in the dog proof fence area and I was very careful not to do anything to bring her closer to the 'dog zone'. 

This little drama played itself out for several hours this afternoon.  Baby would peep and hop about.  Mama bird would inexplicably fail to locate the baby and then leave for many minutes.  The Border Collie would focus intently and try to think of some way to sneak into the no dog area.  Hours passed like this and I was concerned because it was hot and humid and the baby bird was panting.  I could not think of any way to get it water without startling it or putting it in greater risk.

Finally the Mama bird found the baby and began to lure it out of our yard.  We put the dogs up to make sure this enchanting act of nature did not take on any 'circle of life' kind of drama.  Baby bird fluttered and hopped her way to our back fence where she disappeared with her mom.

On the one hand I am happy because the mom and baby are together.  On the other hand I am worried because baby birds at this stage are like a mobile buffet.  But mostly I am very happy that whatever happens, it is no longer happening in my yard.  God speed little birdie.

The Westie Rules

The Westie 10 Commandments:

1.  I am the Westie, the only Westie and there are no other dogs before me.  In fact the Westie is not a dog; He is the King and all others are His subjects.  You are here to do His bidding.

His royal Highness.

2.  There shall be no closed doors between Mommy and the Westie.  And yes, this includes the bathroom door and He doesn't care if she wants privacy because He must be near her at all times.  No, this does not mean He wants to be in the shower with her, He is just fine out there on the bathmat, thank you very much.  Mommy is not to go outside without the Westie or if He is outside she is not to go inside without Him and if she forgets this for even a moment it is only her fault that He must bite her feet.

Westie eye view.

3. The Westie's back is made for scratching and you, His subjects, are supposed to do this whenever He wants it for as long as He wants it.  It doesn't matter if it is 3am, damn it, scratch His back. This is why combs have been invented and you should be combing Him right now.

Like the wind.

4. The Border Collie is just a dog and beneath the Westie in every way, so she needs to stop towering over Him.  She needs to stop biting His neck and she especially needs to stop straddling the top of Him and walking when He walks so that the only part of Him that is visible is His royal head.  This is not okay and it is definitely not funny.  She is to be meek and submissive to His will, especially those times when He finds her to be sexy.

Never again!

5. There is no food better than cheese except for bacon so you should not feed the Westie anything else.  And for the record, when He wants to eat inside instead of out on the back porch you should immediately bring His bowl inside, being sure to leave the Border Collie outside.  He doesn't care if He makes a mess on the kitchen floor.  He is the King - He does what He wants!

Mandarin oranges are good too...

6. The Westie shall not be touched while He sleeps.  This rule especially applies to the Border Collie.  If you touch Him while He sleeps then it is your own fault if He startles you with his loud RAURRGHHHH! and snaps at you.  And if this happens you are to be very afraid and not laugh or smirk or fuss at the King.  And you are especially to never touch Him again really quickly and then run away gaily as some Border Collies are known to do.

Submit!

7. All vermin belong to the Westie to be chased at His whim.  He is the one who decides what is vermin which includes all mice, rats, opossums, bugs in the house, other dogs, cats and squirrels... especially squirrels.  The Westie is not to be admonished in any way for chasing, barking at, attacking, harassing or otherwise dispatching any vermin.  He is also not able to hear you when He is focused on vermin so why even waste your breath?

All in a night's work.

8. The Westie will roll in whatever He wants to roll in which includes bird poop, slugs, rotten fruit, crushed grubs, snails and especially opossum poop.  If He has rolled in something He is not to be admonished in any way and certainly He is not to be bathed.

It might be a squirrel.

9. Do not touch the Westie's nails and in fact, leave His feet alone.

They aren't toe nails, they are tools.

10. The Westie is full of love for you and wants you to be happy doing His will.

Westie kisses are better than gold.

The Whole Dramatic Story and Hot Action Photos!

Little was I expecting this morning when I awoke that by the end of the day I would be dealing with "GARDEN DRAMA" ... cue the intense music.

The weather reports talked about a front moving through and quite frankly I was looking forward to a little more rain and cooler weather.  'How nice,' I was thinking, 'a little more spring before the hot weather settles in.'  How naive of me.  Nature is nothing but an opportunistic drama queen looking for a stage.

Was I worried when I heard the weather report stating that there would be 'thunderstorms' and 'wind' and possibly 'dime sized hail' - pfft - of course not.  Am I not a veteran of 'weather'?  Have I not lived my life in southern coastal Texas where weather is an action verb.  I have been 'weathering' storms all my life so I was not about to raise an eyebrow at something as simple as a spring front blowing through.

So okay, it was a little dramatic when the storm hit and immediately blew the transformers at my office.  And yes, okay, I did step away from the windows for a few seconds when the bushes outside the windows looked like they were trying to come inside.  Yep, the wind looked a little whippy and the sky a little greeny and I did the prudent thing and moved a little more inside the building I was in.  No sense tempting the tempest to throw a branch through a window.

What fronts typically do in Texas...

But hey, being the cool nonchalant weather hardened person that I am I quickly returned to the window area.  After all the front had hit and that meant the worst of the storm was essentially over.

Did I spare a thought for the garden - no.  

Well, while I was working in darkness my husband was observing the storm on the home front.  He described it as at first just rain and wind then he thought he heard a couple of hard sounds... like hail.  Then he heard more hail and went out on the back porch to find it was hailing pea sized ice.  Then it was garbanzo bean sized and finally it was maybe dime sized.  For about three minutes.

What dime sized hail looks like on a patio.

When he told me this after I got home my first thought was 'goodbye garden' because three minutes of dime sized hail might not be much to your roof or your car, but it can be vegetable murder to a garden.

I went out with much trepidation to check out the damage...

The bush beans were tussled and some of their cages had been knocked over as if a very rude bunch of air had sat on top of them.  The were disgruntled but okay.  The okra plants looked stunned but otherwise none the worse for wear.  Same for the cucumbers, the squash, the collard greens, the onions, the other cucumbers... it all looked okay.

But then...


NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  Bunny Tomato!!!!!!!!

Bunny Tomato prior to the storm...

Bunny Tomato after the storm... sniff...

Yes, Bunny lost a major limb and two pounds of fruit.  Shudder!  I broke the news to the dogs and this was their reaction:

The Westie was stunned.

I know it might look like he is just relaxing on the kitchen floor, but I tell you he was stunned!  Just look at his eyes:

You can see it all in his little beady eyes...  the horror, the horror...

The Border Collie was not much better:

Oh sure, she might look happy and smiling, but really underneath it all she is mortified.

See?  See the mortification in her eyes?

We will get through it all right.  Bunny Tomato is sure to rally with her other limbs and devote even more resources to the remaining dozen or so tomatoes she has set.  I am sure in time the dogs will get over their emotional upset.   No doubt a serving of fried green tomatoes will help us all.

Garden Check In

April has been bringing showers this year, which is a very welcome thing considering how badly nature treated us last year.  In fact it has been raining so much it really has made it difficult for me to install the rest of my watering system.  In the meantime of course my garden has been growing by leaps and bounds which made it a virtual flora wrestling match to install the last few soaker hoses.  Finally though the last one went in with a bunch of huffing and puffing and sweating on my part.  All that rain makes the low 80 degree weather seem like a sauna. 

I finally got the camera out this evening and decided to take you on a tour of the garden as I saw it today.

First stop is my newest bit of yard art.  I present to you Garden Koi.  He is lurking in the Herbie bed right now, but I will probably move him to a shadier spot to prevent him fading out from the sun.

Now here we are in the second of the ceder fence beds in what I am calling the Leeky-Creole bed.  Here are three of about a dozen Creole tomatoes growing on this plant.  This is my first year with this variety which is touted as being able to set fruit in hot humid weather.  I have only love for this plant - these tomatoes are huge!

Next door to Leeky-Creole is the Big Boy tomato who has some sort of tomato unhappiness going on.  Some of its leaves have died back and the stems look a little purplish as if there is a nutritional issue.  It has plenty of fruit but they are much smaller than the Creole.  Might just be a variety thing, but I swear if this plant pulls a late blight swan dive on me I will yank it from the garden faster than the Border Collie can tear up a new stuffed toy (30 seconds is her new record).  I am already removing the dead leaves as if they are a potential contaminate to my other plants and I use surgical gloves when I handle it in order not to spread any potential gunk. 

It's Bunny!  Lovely BN444 is neck and neck with the Creoles for humongous fruit.  But on a sadder note, Bunny's first fruit went boots up for some unknown reason.  I found it all withered like a tomato raisin on the vine.  No other problems though.  The fruit was so advanced in decay I could not tell what befell it, but I think it must have been some sort of fruit injury.

Here is the other Creole in the Corny-Creole bed.  It also is adorned with bunches of these clusters and barring the descent of tomato poaching insects we should have a great tomato harvest beginning soon.

Here is a representative of the pepper clan from the six plants in the first four beds.  This is a Gypsy variety and all of the peppers are already loaded with fruit.  One more day and we will pick these and many others.  That is one thing for sure about the peppers.  Harvest often or they will get to thinking that their work is done.  We are already in a race against the night time temperatures.  As soon as they climb into the high 70s our peppers will no longer be able to set fruit.

Here are the leeks from the Leeky-Creole bed.  They are a lovely blue-green color which contrasts nicely with the other greens.  Nobody is big enough to harvest yet, but with the rain and warm weather there should be some big stalks coming.

This is the best looking of all six cabbage.  We have had some issues with I guess cabbage worms.  I have found those little guys down in the leaves of the other plants and when I find them I evict them into the dog area.  The resident Border Collie makes quick work of them and then the Westie rolls on them.  A hardy one/two punch in pest control.

Not only is this picture showing you the fence trellis I finally erected today for these burpless hybrid cucumbers, it also is showing you the pathway that I finally finished between the beds.  Okay, I lie, I have only finished five of the between bed pathways and have another four to go.  Okay, another lie - they are not actually finished until I get the ceder mulch for between the stones and the black plastic to put down over the dirt so the damn weeds will stop making my life a constant weed pulling mess.  But other than all of that backbreaking labor to come - I am finished.

Why is it the onion bed always seems to need some sort of makeover.  It did have a hard start with the whole being dug up by opossums in its first few hours as a bed and I also disturbed it by putting in the hay mulch and just recently again by putting in the soaker hose - but still does it have to look so apathetic?  Lift up your fronds (stalks?). Have some pride or something.  Ahh well - as long as it continues to onion it does not have to look pretty.

Collard greens are sort of the emperors among greens.  Unlike turnip or mustard greens, collards have to have a lot of space between each plant.  They are robust and I am sure if they were not tied down by their roots they would be setting off on all sorts of vegetable adventures involving mountains and grizzly bears. 

This started out as just a photo of a sun blasted squash blossom but on further review it revealed one of the bug friends of the garden.  This is an assassin bug and he or she is on the lookout for other bugs.  What you don't see in this photo is the long saber like snout on this thing that it gleefully stabs into other bugs in order to suck out the sweet, sweet bug nectar.  I am very glad they are only about a half an inch long because I shudder to think of having to live in a world if these were Border Collie sized.

Here is a female bloom of the butternut squash.  It will be a couple of days before we know if this fruit set or not.  Meanwhile the rest of the plant is plotting the eventual take over of the entire garden.  I put in six of these into this bed and they are now moving into both beds next to them, the pathways and also eyeing the dog proof fence.  I think butternut squash may be the Kudzu of the squash kingdom.  I will let you know when it has covered our house.

Okay so these pickling cucumbers are looking a little upset and I must admit it is my fault.  They were perfectly happy and beautiful before I went and put in their soaker hose.  This involved me whipping the vines back and forth like some sort of slow vegetable monster rock dance.  I also put in their trellis fence and insisted they use it.  They haven't gotten over it yet.

Stepping out of the ceder fence garden we are met with the promise of things yet to come.  Here is the fig tree displaying three of what will be about a billion figs this year.  The abundant rain is making the fig growth lush and since we didn't trim the tree last year it means I will be doing advanced gymnastics atop the ladder this year in my quest to get my share of the figs from the birds and squirrels.  Stay tuned.

Another up and comer is the Meyer lemon.  This tree is the one I call Lazarus because we found it languishing in a pot that got buried within an enormous hedge of shrimp plant for about two years and was never watered.  Somehow even though it never grew through the pot it managed to survive.  We now have it in a place of honor in the garden and it has shown its thanks by tripling in size.  I always admire the plants I can't kill. 

It is a slow year in okra land, mostly because I decided to start them from saved seeds from last year.  This is Clemson Spinless and it is doing just fine although most are somewhat worm bitten.   No worries they will shake it off and in a couple of weeks they will put out their adult leaves and grow about six inches a day for a while.  This will soon be an okra forest.  On another note, next to this bed I put in about a half dozen Emerald Velvet okra which are supposed to be great.  I now have three of those plants remaining because something was biting the tops off the plants.  Now due to last years okra problems I vowed to blame the dogs for any okra problems this year.  I have done that officially, but just between you and me, it would be a little hard to get a doggie snout past my okra barriers.  I am almost certain this was the work of some little whiskered pest.  Specifically I am talking rodent especially because next to this bed I sprouted some cantaloupe seeds and each morning their tops had been eaten clean off.  I put the seed tray up on a table and yet again the tops were mowed off.  It seems some little critter was ecstatic that I was providing it with an abundant source of fresh sprouts.

Here is the outlier tomato known as Top gun.  He sounds all tough and stuff and I must admit he is sprouting a lot of fruit and has some rather attractive foliage, but just between you and me he doesn't hold a candle to the Creole twins in the ceder fence garden.  But who knows - this guy is supposed to handle the hot weather too, so he might just win the productivity game yet.

Now this plucky little guy is one of several tomato volunteers that applied to be the tomatoes for the Westie this year.  If it looks like it is behind bars that is because it is.  Although these are for the Westie, we must protect them from Big Foot the Border Collie who can make short work of any plant.

This is a view into the grapefruit garden and this is the single yellow squash plant that decided to come up from seed this year.  I do not have high hopes for it because you can almost hear the rumbling of the squash vine borers as they are about to pounce.  Just as soon as this plant sets fruit and that fruit almost gets ripe they will attack and that will be the end of this plant.  So far other than burying the vines I have found no cost effective organic solution to this pest.

Here we have the garden bed name-sake.  This is the first grapefruit that has set this year.  The tree is covered with fruit so far, but it remains to be seen if it will be able to bring any to ripeness.  The tree is still very young, but it is encouraging to see it trying this year.  Last year I don't even recall if it bloomed.

These are bush beans and they are loving life right now.  This year I gave them circular cages like I made for the okra and they are overjoyed. 

Their joy is my joy as is evidenced by the 15 or so incredible beans in my hand.  I had already picked about a dozen of the bush beans earlier this week which makes this enough for the first bean meal this garden season.  Yum.

Here we are at the strictly ornamental bed with the last of the amaryllis that have bloomed this year.  I am not sure of the type because these bulbs were given to me from someone who forces the blooms each year.  I consider all of the amaryllis to be nomadic because every year I move them thinking that this will be the best place for them.  So that is what I am telling them now -  this will be the best place for them...

This is a scented geranium that I managed to grow from cutting taken from one of the wildly abundant tribe growing in the ornamental garden.  These were the only successful ones I managed to grow from about a dozen clippings.  They probably all would have made it if I had managed to water them more.  They also had to survive a couple of freezes.  You need to be tough if you are going to survive in my potted plant area.

Here is a pink Pintas that managed to survive last years horrific drought.  I really love it when a plant not only survives natural disaster but also my on again, off again desire to water it.

And last but not least, another volunteer, this time a weed.  This is a wild morning glory along with  sorrelvine and snailseed.  What is not to love about April.  Even the weeds try harder.