July Veggie Update

On the 20th of each month Tina of In The Garden posts her monthly vegetable garden update and invites others to join her. I'm glad to be able to participate once again, as the vegetables here are starting to mature. But first, since I missed this month's Garden Muse Day on the 1st of July, here's a little poem to inspire you:

Seedlings

Weedling seedlings
sprout at night,

at dawn, at noon

in broad daylight.

Weedling seedlings

of all kinds

crabgrass, vetch,

and tangling vines.

Weedling seedlings

choking out

pea-lings, bean-lings

as they sprout.

Weedling seedlings,

sneak attack.

Yank them out,

but they'll be back.

--Juanita Havel from I Heard It From Alice Zucchini

Despite the sentiment of the poem, my vegetable garden is looking much better this year than last, thanks to the newspapers and mulch put down early in the season. That being said, please ignore any weeds you might see in the following pictures.

The big news this month is that I picked my first green beans a week ago on July 12. All the rain we've had has been good for the beans, and they seemed to grow an inch or more overnight. I should be able to pick more by mid-week. Other than the radishes and some volunteer lettuce, the beans are the first vegetable harvest of the year.

Trying to get a photograph of all the bean blossoms, which didn't work, I found these two nasty creatures on one bean leaf. I've never seen Japanese beetles on green beans before; I'm hoping they had just strayed from nearby hollyhocks.

This is what happens if you forget to pull all the radishes as soon as they're ready. The radish seed was planted to mark the row of carrots, and few were actually eaten. Assuming this one was way too hot for consumption, I added it to the compost pile.

New to the garden this year are a few beets which appear to be doing well despite the fact that I didn't thin them properly.

Also new this year is one plant of chives. I keep forgetting to cut some for cooking, but I just like the way they look in the garden.

The fennel is growing by leaps and bounds. This is another plant not really intended for human consumption, but rather for the butterflies. No sign of caterpillars, however, so I may have to find some recipes using fennel after all.

The vegetables that will be sure to be eaten, though, are the tomatoes. All are looking very healthy and putting out lots of blooms. Even Mr. Procrastinor himself checks their progress regularly; he has been known to eat the first ripe tomato in the garden before I even have a chance to pick it.

As you can see, he won't have too much longer to wait.

Last year I wrote down all the varieties of tomatoes I planted and exactly where they were planted. This year I stuck the plant tags in the ground beside each grouping when I planted them, but I think they've all disappeared through the mulching and weeding. So much for comparison of varieties for planning next year's garden.I'm not sure what type of tomatoes these are--at first I thought they were a grape tomato, but now I'm thinking they're Romas. It should be obvious soon enough if they get much bigger.

Also growing in the garden are carrots, onions, parsley and green peppers. The spinach and lettuce were pulled out to make way for zucchini and summer squash. The summer squash never appeared--I think the seed was too old--but the lone zucchini plant is doing well and, barring any squash beetles, should produce more than enough for us. I'm looking forward to next month's report when there should be more vegetables ripe and ready to pick!

The last photo has nothing to do with the vegetable garden, but I had to add it after complaining on my last post that the butterflies have been conspicuously absent this year. The evening after I posted my Bloom Day post, I had a visitor . . .

. . . a Painted Lady came to enjoy the coneflowers! I welcomed her and told her I have been preparing a feast of blooms for her. I'm hoping she invites all her friends and relatives to join her!

ABC Wednesday: Mantis Invasion

I is for...

Insect!

If you have been reading some of my earlier posts, you know that one of the changes in myself I've noticed since I began reading gardening blogs is an appreciation for insects. I've shown many insects from my garden in the last few months including an assassin bug, a mysterious beetle, cicadas, grasshoppers, and lots of bees. I've learned that insects aren't something you automatically squish with your shoe because they're "icky," but that most of them serve an important role in our ecosystem--well, maybe not Japanese beetles; they deserve to be squished!

This summer I have noticed in particular a large number of praying mantises. Normally, I might see one or two all summer, but this year I have seen at least a couple dozen in shades of brown or green and of all sizes. The fellow in the top photo appeared on my patio door yesterday. Stretched out as he was, he was at least six inches long! (And yes, if you think the photo is sideways--it is. The computer is in the shop, and I still haven't figured out a photo editing program on this computer that takes less than an hour to load!)

I decided he was better off amongst the plants, so I carefully removed him and placed him on the container of lantana near the door. He wasn't too happy with the stick I used to dislodge him with, but was happy with his new resting place.

He makes this guy on the sedum look like a 98 pound weakling by comparison. Whatever their size or color, they are all welcome in my garden as they eat unwanted pests. However, my friend Beckie reported that she saw one yesterday devouring a butterfly in her garden--not so nice! And I have yet to see one try to eat a Japanese beetle. I guess they're not perfect. The mantis above apparently prefers smaller prey because he was sitting on the same plant as the lovely butterfly below.

My favorite insect of all--the butterfly!

More ABC Wednesday posts can be found at Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

Two special notes:

Today is the birthday of a special person, the best friend a girl could have. Drop over at Dragonflycorner and wish Beckie a happy birthday!

And tomorrow marks the 27th anniversary of the arrival of our third bundle of joy, our first daughter. Always energetic and smiling as a baby, she grew into a beautiful, talented and wonderful young lady who has made her parents very proud. Happy Birthday, dear Daughter!

Baring My Soul (and Garden)

Now that summer is almost over, I have decided it's time for true confessions. Yes, I finally have gotten the courage to show you my "garden." First, let me say I never meant to mislead anyone: my header states that I am a "beginning gardener," and I have mentioned here and in comments that my "garden" should more accurately be described as a few flowerbeds. Even though I have been encouraged by others to show these flowerbeds before, I have hestitated for two reasons:

1. I have been waiting for the perfect photo op to show them at their best.
   
2. After seeing some of your beautiful and extensive gardens, I am afraid that you will throw down your mouse in disgust and proclaim, " She calls herself a gardener??"

But after much soul-searching and inner debate, I realized that 1) There is no perfect bloom time for a garden. If all your flowers bloomed at the same time, then that would also mean there would be long periods of no blooms at all. And, 2.) I have found all of you to be the kindest, least judgmental people around--no matter what you might think of these flowerbeds, I realized you are not going to throw me out of the "Garden Bloggers Club."

So I sit here feeling as exposed as Jamie Curtis when she posed in her underwear without the benefit of airbrushing for a magazine spread some time ago. But here goes . . .

First, let me show you what I have to work with. This is the view from my small front porch where I enjoy my morning coffee watching the birds--especially the hummingbirds, who love to visit as long as I don't have a camera in hand:)

I am blessed with many lovely trees, but when we moved here four years ago there were just the trees and a few shrubs, not a flower in sight. The first area I planned to tackle was this triangular area along the sidewalk leading from the driveway to the front door. I wish I had "before" pictures to show you, but I don't, so you'll just have to take my word for how much work I had to do to create this flowerbed. You may notice a familiar sight reminiscent of Mr. McGregor's Daughter's "green moustache"--the overgrown yews at the back of this area. I thought I had convinced Husband, aka Mr. Procrastinator, to pull them out the first spring, but he backed down. I'm tempted to take a chainsaw to them myself, if I wasn't afraid of lopping off a few fingers in the process.

But these green monsters were not my first concern. This area was completely covered with landscape rock, so the first order of business was to remove all the rock. I removed many shovelfuls in the fall and then started again in the spring. After removing the top layer of rock, I discovered that underneath was even more rock! I am not exaggerating when I say the rock was at least 6 inches deep. I shoveled, picked, and sifted through the rock and soil until I got down to the clay underneath. As the first of May grew near, I finally broke down and asked my husband for help; he used a loader on a small tractor to scrape up most of the remaining rock--along with some soil and the tulips I had planted the previous fall. Finally, I could prepare this bed for planting--it took 1800 pounds of topsoil to completely cover it!



That first spring I started with a design for part of the flowerbed: Russian sage in the back, the Knockout roses I had been given as a gift the previous summer and transplanted hastily in the rocky soil when we moved, "Autumn Joy" sedum in front of those, and the salvias "May Night" and "East Friesland" in front of the sedum. I put this antique buggy seat which belonged to my mother-in-law and two containers for annuals in the middle of the bed as a focal point--and to fill up some space! I remember planting some daisies and a few other small perennials that lasted only the first season. I added quite a few annuals, but I still had quite a bit of empty space.




In Year Two of the flowerbed the design I had in mind got tossed out, and I planted what I liked regardless of how they fit in--some coneflowers at the back, a baby's breath plant, a threadleaf coreopsis and a nepeta. And more annuals to fill in the empty spaces . . . By the end of that summer, the perennials were thriving and growing beyond their alloted spaces, and I decided I needed to give some of them more room. So on a warm day in early April of Year Three of the "garden," I dug up most of the original perennials except for the Russian sage, and moved them all forward. The next day, we had a hard freeze, and I was sure I killed them all. Fortunately, they survived, although the one Knockout Rose has never been quite the same . . . That summer I added the asters and a new nepeta to replace the first one which mysteriously died.

This brings us to this year--Year Four of the original flowerbed. This year I added three small Monardas, "Petite Delight," which have yet to bloom, but that was all! I have finally achieved one goal--the whole flowerbed is filled with perennials, except for the container plantings and the alyssum bordering the sidewalk, although some of those were the results of self-seeding last year. It does look like a jungle, though, doesn't it? I keep studying it and thinking what I might remove to make it look more orderly. I haven't decided yet, but there is one important lesson I have learned from this experience:

When the tag on a perennial says to allow 24" for spacing between plants . . . .
Pay attention!!

Here's a photo of a lovely Red Admiral to cleanse your palate . . . Think what you will about my haphazard plantings, this flowerbed has been a haven to bees and butterflies alike this summer.

Now let's move on to what I loosely call "the shade garden."

Oh my, this really looks pathetic . . . In taking these photos I learned an elementary lesson in photography: landscape photos don't show true perception. This flowerbed is really much larger than it appears.

I won't bore you with as many details about this area as with the first, but I do want to give just a little background. This was actually the first flowerbed I dug up, one without any rocks, fortunately! I had just planted a small shady flowerbed at our former house the spring before we moved, and I didn't want to give up those plants, especially the new hydrangeas I had bought. So that fall I hastily dug up a small area near a large evergreen at the front of the house and transplanted as many shade plants as I could. Other than adding a few more plants the last few years I did nothing to this area until last fall. At that time, I dug up more soil, expanding the flowerbed to at least twice its previous size. I've added quite a few hostas, heucheras, and other perennials this year, but there still is plenty of space for additional plantings next spring. I did learn my lesson from the main flowerbed and plan to give these perennials some room to grow. This area is definitely still a work in progress, which explains why there is no edging in front of the bed. My husband is debating about removing the evergreen, which was planted too close to the house. So I may expand this flowerbed to the back, or I may continue digging up more grass in front. We'll see . . .

Finally, the third flowerbed, which I usually refer to as the roadside bed. I've shown you most of the plants in this area before. Two years ago I decided I wanted to plant some flowers in front of these burning bushes near the road where everyone could see them. Again, I started out small, though when you're trying to till up a grassy area with a large tiller, it seems much bigger than it really is! I kept this area simple, with daylilies, coneflowers, and the annual salvia "Victoria Blue."



This area had been pasture for many years before it was left as a lawn, so the soil was wonderfully rich black dirt. All the flowers planted here have thrived, but I still wasn't completely satisfied with this bed, because it seemed too small for the visual effect I wanted. So this spring, I expanded it, too, so that it stretched across in front of all the burning bushes.

Next spring I'll put some finishing touches on it and move some of the daylilies, but I doubt that I will expand it too much--I have to leave enough room for Husband, also aka Mr. Mowerman, to get around it without lopping off any blossoms.

That's it for the main flowerbeds, but I do have some other plantings as well. Above is what I sometimes call "the back forty," which, of course, is nowhere near forty acres. It's a circular yard near the farm buildings where the old farmhouse once stood. Here is where I've planted my vegetable garden (not shown here--I have to draw the line at total humiliation somewhere); the apple trees, a lilac bush, and the hollyhocks also are in this area. This is where I plant a passalong plant when I don't know where else to put it; as a result, there are random plantings of irises, daylilies, and an area of plants known to "spread freely."

I also have quite a few container plantings placed all around the house as well this built-in planter on the front porch, where the sweet potato vine "Marguarite" threatens to engulf anything in its way.

So there you have it--it may not be much, but it keeps me busy! And I have lots of room to dream and grow . . .

ABC Wednesday: Adventures in Gardening

This week we have reached the letter G which is for . . .

. . . A Garden Path !

I wish I could tell you this leads to my garden, but of course it doesn't. This path is located on the University of Illinois campus in an area devoted to various horticultural exhibits. If you would like to know more about this place, read on . . .

If you are a regular reader or have at least read my profile, you know that I retired about a year ago after many years of teaching. Retirement is wonderful and has given me the chance to pursue some interests that I never had time to fully enjoy before. One of my greatest joys this year has to been to take part in many Gardening Adventures with my best friend since childhood, Beckie. Since spring, we have attended two all-day workshops at a local gardening center, taken a Garden Walk sponsored by the local Master Gardeners, gone on many plant shopping expeditions (much better than clothes shopping!), admired each other's gardens, traded some passalong plants, and visited several garden spots. One of our favorites is the local Master Gardeners' Idea Garden located near the path pictured above.

Last week Beckie and I made our third visit to the Idea Garden this year. I've written about this plot before, as has she, so I won't go into all the details again. The Garden has been an educational journey for us as we visited in late March when only a few green shoots were popping through the soil and again in May when the spring bulbs were dying, but the perennials were just beginning to bloom. This time we were curious to see what was still blooming in the dry heat of late August.

It was a beautiful day, and we wisely chose to visit during the late morning before the bright sun made us uncomfortable. This time we parked a little way from the Idea Garden and started by looking at the plantings in an area maintained by the U of I's Horticulture Department.

The sidewalk in the first photo was bordered by coleus, fountain grass, and varieties of cannas, including these variegated ones.

A wide swath of Profusion zinnias provided a border next to the grass. I didn't realize until I wrote an earlier post about zinnias that they were such a butterfuly magnet. A host of different butterflies were swarming all about us as we walked down this path.

After admiring this pathway, we turned to our intended destination, the Idea Garden.

As we walked toward the Idea Garden, it was immediately obvious that there were plenty of flowers still blooming here. It was also apparent that this was the height of insect season as the garden was teeming with bees and butterflies.

Bees were enjoying the zinnias...

. . . and this flower--a phlox? This huge bee has been visiting my garden, too, and I think someone has identified it on one of their posts, but I don't remember its name.

And a buckeye butterfly was kind enough to let me take its photo. I was so focused on him that I didn't even pay attention to what flower he was enjoying.

Like all good display gardens, the Idea Garden has labels staked near each plant clearly identifying each one by its common name, Latin name, and specific variety. However, the plants had grown so much since spring that many of the labels were obscured. Probably most of you more experienced gardeners would easily recognize this plant, but Beckie and I weren't sure what it was.

A good friend not only shares your enthusiasm for common interests, but lends a helping hand when needed. Thanks to Beckie, we discovered this red-bloomed flower was a globe amaranth.

We didn't need to climb through the foliage to find these two tags, though. The smaller plant is a type of sedum, and the pink-tinged grass is called "Purple Love Grass." Since our main interest on this day was to find flowers that bloom in late summer and on into August, I tried to take photos of the tags of plants that interested us. I really like the airy look of this grass, but wish I gotten a close-up of the sedum tag as well.

I made sure, though, to get a photo of this plant's tag-- Verbena Boneriensis "Little One." Several of you have mentioned this plant before and said it really attracted butterflies. I'm curious, though; is this what your verbena looks like? Throughout the garden were some taller plants that I thought might be this variety of verbena, but we could never find a tag. The plants grew on slender single stalks about 3-4" tall with clusters of blooms that looked much like a verbena. They appeared to have been planted in one area, then spread throughout other plantings. Of course, I neglected to take a picture! If anyone can identify this plant by description without a photo, I would be very happy, not to mention impressed!

I didn't need a tag to identify this plant--a cleome. I took this photo purely for myself, to remind me what a cleome is supposed to look like! I was so happy when I found some cleome this spring and bought two potted plants. Apparently they weren't so happy with their new home, because they are both looking near death right now. I wonder if I can sneak some seed from this one later this fall . . .

All I could think of while shading myself under this giant sunflower was the song from "Oklahoma" . . . "Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day...the sunflower's as high as an elephant's eye..."

We had a great morning at the Idea Garden and, as always, left with lots of good ideas and even longer plant "wish lists." While Beckie's and my gardens are looking a little droopy right now as summer comes to an end without a raindrop in sight, this garden was a riot of color with not a brown stem to be seen. I must admit to a bit of garden envy every time I visit, but I have to remind myself that this garden is maintained by a group of people, not a single gardener. And there is someone assigned to regularly water the garden as well. So, while my garden will never come close to looking like this one, I can at least take advantage of their successes and create my own little showcase.

ABC Wednesdays are sponsored by Mrs. Nesbitt. You can visit her blog for links to more ABC posts or visit an anthology of many of the posts at ABC Wednesday Anthology.

Visitors Welcome (with a few exceptions)

Last week I realized that I have published over 50 posts and have been blogging for almost 5 months now. Blogging has opened a whole new world to me and introduced me to some wonderful people. One of the benefits of blogging for me has been the way I have changed in looking at some of the smallest things around me. For example, thanks to bloggers like Cheryl, I have a newfound appreciation for insects.

I've never been much of a "bug" person. My main interest in bugs before was in eradicating the pesky ones, although I did have a short-lived interest when my younger daughter was in high school and had to compile an insect collection for an advanced biology class. That year she had just undergone surgery for a torn ACL and was on crutches for a month. That made it rather difficult for her to gather insects, so naturally ever-helpful Mom, as well as other family members, had to help with the project. It wasn't unusual for my mother to drop by with some extra tomatoes from her garden--and a few plastic containers with preserved specimens she'd found for the collection. Even the mother of one of Daughter's volleyball teammates showed up at a ballgame proudly bearing several insects she'd found for her.

Of course, I was the main insect gatherer, though. I scoured trees after dusk with a flashlight looking for cicadas and hopped around the yard with a butterfly net--you think taking photos of a butterfly is difficult, try catching them! The neighbors probably were laughing behind their curtains at me, but I know for sure the volleyball moms thought I was pretty amusing. At one game I attended (even though Daughter had to spend her senior season on the bench) I saw an insect she didn't yet have. Climbing over and under the bleachers, I finally captured it and trapped it in the only container I had--a bag of popcorn. No one asked to share my popcorn after that!

All that is behind me now. There are no more plastic containers in my freezer holding perfectly preserved beetles or moths. Instead I am happy to see them in my garden, pollinating the flowers, eating the insects I don't want, or just providing a little entertainment for me.

My main flowerbed, next to the house, has become quite the bee magnet. Bumblebees are especially attracted to all the purple flowers I have, but they also enjoy the coneflowers. At one time I was frightened of bumblebees, but I've found they ignore me as long as I don't try to pick the flower they're on!



Last week I was trying to take some photos of the few white and cream-colored hollyhocks that have blossomed. I didn't even notice until after I'd taken the photo that this bee had climbed into the bloom. At least I think it was some kind of bee--he was so covered with pollen that I really couldn't tell what kind of insect he was.

I have other kinds of bees as well, but I don't know enough about them to identify them all. The threadleaf coreopsis below attracts swarms of some kind of small bee. This photo was taken in the morning before they come out, but I doubt you would have been able to see the small creatures anyway.

I know a spider is not an insect, but an arachnid, but I often think of it as being in a common category. I know many people, including my son, have phobias about spiders but they're one creature I've never minded, as long as they stay outside my house. I enjoy watching the Daddy-long-legs in particular, and I never disturb them because I know many of them will eat the insects I don't want around.

I have no idea what the insect below is; perhaps someone can identify him. I was trying to photograph a blossom up close when I spotted him--he has the longest anntenae in proportion to his body I've ever seen!

Of course, there are still some insects I don't like and never will. I've yet to see the purpose of flies, mosquitos, or cockroaches. Another species of pests that I've been complaining about the last few weeks is the Japanese beetle. Short of using a pesticide such as Sevin, there is no long-lasting effective measure to eradicate these little monsters. Picking them off by hand in the early morning while they're still drowsy and depositing them into a soapy solution is still the best method. But more will come to replace those you've destroyed.

Here's another unwanted guest I found on my squash plant yesterday morning--the squash beetle. I did buy a bottle of Sevin for these pests and plan to use it before they kill the whole plant, unless someone has a better suggestion instead. A beekeeper friend of my dad told him if you spray it late in the evening, it won't harm bees.

Not quite as annoying is this little guy, the common grasshopper. In large numbers, though, they can be quite destructive, especially for the farmers' crops. As much trouble as I have catching an insect in repose long enough for a photo, this guy seemed curious about my camera and eager to pose.

I am especially fond of any insect or other animal that helps to control the less desirable members of the species. We seem to have an abundance of dragonflies this year, which help to control the mosquito population. I've seen so many beautiful photos of them on other blogs I'm almost ashamed to show this one. Not only is it difficult to catch them standing still, but their transparent wings are difficult to photograph in sunlight.

Here's an insect that will never be considered handsome by any means, but I've always found him to be intriguing. This young praying mantis was climbing the trellis holding my clematis when I spotted him. I haven't seen any full-grown mantises this year, but I have seen several small ones like this one.

One of my favorite animals for insect control, though, is the common toad. I've run into this little baby several times (or perhaps it was his brother or sister) while working in the shade garden. Although I'm not brave enough to pick them up bare-handed, I often scoop them up in some fashion when I find them and put them back in my garden.

For sheer beauty, though, nothing can match a butterfly. I don't think there is anyone who doesn't like a butterfly. I purposely planted flowers that would attract butterflies, and usually in late summer they flock to my garden. So far I've seen only one or two monarchs and a beautiful blue/black butterfly I can't identify floating by, but I'm hoping they will bring the rest of their families here soon.

I won't pretend to have "embraced" the insect world in its entirety, but I have come to find that many of them are truly fascinating creatures. I may not sit and watch the ants work all day, but I do feel a little Thoreau-like in observing them for awhile in the garden.

Just a note: Although I have a short post planned for Friday's Muse day, I won't be around "Blog Land" much for the next several days. My daughter is coming home from Arizona for a long weekend and to help my parents celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. I can't wait to see her--she hasn't been home since Christmas. I'll try to visit everyone again early next week.