Fall Garden Plans

forgive my lazyness on not scanning, but its so cumbersome to set up. bed measures 110" x 55" (don't ask) grid lines are set at 3" increments

5 dark dots on left are broccoli, surrounded by carrots in the first column and radish in the second column.
Petunia will be planted on either side of second column
a column of Nasturtium (alaskan or not i haven't decided) to the right of that
middle column is garlic up top, spinach in middle and beets at bottom in accordance with nitrogen needs
a column of some flower, larkspur possibly (since no parsnips are planted)
finally snap peas on the far most right.

pretty sure this is gonna be it for the fall setup. i was all anticipatory and whatnot and went to see if they had any seed out yet at the big box stores but no :(

I've been making myself sore pulling up all the giant ragweed in the backyard. I refuse to have such a failure as i did with last seasons crop. Just miserable. Pests are going to be the death of me.

Dismal day... I think I'm just going to wind up pulling up all my tomato plants b/c with all that the bugs have done to them they are just too small and unappealing to actually eat. I've never thought I would be so utterly defeated by bugs. Just sad.

For next time I have to clean out ALL the brush that's growing in my backyard. I'm not sure what it is that's growing back there, but it's extremely tall and multiplies like little plant bunnies. I see the stinkbugs in the thick of them and am pretty sure that's where they're mostly living and breeding. I've never had them this bad and the brush back there has never been this out of control so I'm thinking it's a fitting cause and effect correlation. So weak...

BUT, we've pulled off about a dozen squash already. Countless stir frys have been made :) My red bougainvillea have "bloomed" so to speak and I've gotten some of the angel trumpets to sprout. I'll be very happy to have those back again, as they are just so elegant and pretty. Always gotta look for the silver lining.

The stinkbugs are continuing to run rampant. They are out in droves and I kill at least 15 everyday, and that's NO exaggeration...
All the bugs are really getting to me this year. They reduced my verbena to tatters, ate the lavatera to nothing, are hitting my Okra, stunted my broccoli, giving my tomatoes cloudy spot among countless other things. I can't takes no more!

In other, happier news, my squash plants are totally kicking. They are so rewarding b/c they grow like champs and have given me no problems so far. Fingers crossed.

And my Hibiscus finally bloomed. These things are always sooooo late. Drive around and see them in full bloom all over the place when mine look dormant. They could be a little retarded is all i'm saying. Plus the pink one I have didn't even bloom all last season!

Maybe I should change the soil in the pots and add some fertilizer, and that'll get it going. Its worth a try.

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Ok, re-potted all three of them together in a huge clay pot. The roots looked terrible. I felt bad about myself when I saw them like that. I've been potting things up wrong for a while tho, so they're been growing horrible. Was putting off studying b/c Victory Garden was on PBS and according to them, here is how to plant properly in a large container:

* put a crock over the bottom drainage hole (it bows up and makes sure soil does not clog the hole to ensure drainage)
* fill about 1/2 of the pot with some course material (I used thick chunked mulch) to ensure drainage
* fill most of the way up with POTTING MIX. I've been using composted soil and garden soil and apparently you can't do this b/c it just compacts too much in the pot and will stifle growth.
* add some slow release fertilizer (i used some Osmote (sp?) stuff with the happy pink lid) to the potting mix layer
* add your plants
* mulch (b/c mulching = caring)

stinkbugs on tomato, moments before their demise

Outside watering this morning, everything was cool. Then I had this moment, you know the one. The moment where you see something but your mind does not comprehend it because it just doesn't seem real or you have some denial defense mechanism kicking in to save your mind from shattering into a million pieces. But then I processed it - stinkbugs (leaf footed bugs) en masse all over one of my Roma tomatoes. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor I ran inside and picked up my camera and the pest spray I made (diluted dishwashing liquid and veggie oil) and went to work eradicating the bastards. Let me tell you this, they DID NOT like my spray :) I had to rinse off all the dead bug carcasses off my tomato, haha. The are quite considerate to all bulk together to make them an easy kill though...

Tomatoes are growing like a boss. Don't ask me what variety these are, b/c I have no clue. This bush was one that started to sprout in my compost so I just saved it. Here's to hoping they're tasty. I didn't plant Borage around it like last time but I'll see if there is a noticeable difference when I munch into one.

There is another compost sprout I saved that is growing just as well and I'm fairly certain it's a Roma variety.

The last of the 3 tomato bushes is a Sweet 100 that I actually bought and it is lagging behind these other 2.
Niki 1, Commercial growers 0  :)

I went into the bushes today and thinned out some of the dense leaves. 1) the main reason, so that the plant gets better air circulation (so its less prone to problems) and 2) less surface area for me to have to look for caterpillars! It's a war I tell you and I will offer them the least amount of refuge possible.

convolvulus (full sun)

convolvulus(part sun)

Something to note... The spouts on the left and right sides are THE SAME plant (Convolvulus) , planted at the same time, in the same soil.

So what's the difference? The one on the right was subjected to full sun like around the clock. The one on the left is in a semi-shady spot. It's listed as a Full Sun plant. Interesting.

Now, granted they don't have the same, exact watering conditions since they are on opposite sides of the yard, but I wouldn't think that would be a huge contributor as to why the ones on the right have reddish outlines on them.

But now that I think about it, they ARE just little sprouts and I shouldn't have put them in harsh sun before they had a set of true leaves, even if it is a full sun plant. I'm going to leave it where it is and see how it pans out anyway.

Fireants on Peacelilly... why?

One last thing:

Why are these retarded fireants way up at the top of my Peace Lilly plant? Made absolutely no sense to me...

Gardenia

The gardenia houseplant I started from seed a year or 2 ago has finally bloomed. I squealed like a little girl when i saw the first bloom from my kitchen window. It was ridiculous.

Oddly shaped strawberries

I had some strawberries in my garden, right in the ground, no special treatment and some of them look lumpy and odd. I think it had something to do with poor pollination or weather conditions, not sure which. I went ahead and uprooted them and placed them into hanging pots with about a 1:1 mix of sand and garden soil (which is pretty much all composted stuffs). They like sandy, acidic conditions and nice drainage so I think the hanging pots will work great. Also, when the berries grow they won't be sitting on wet soil so they should fair better. I'm sure they would have been just fine to eat, but i pulled them anyway.

I also deadheaded my Moondance rosebush today and figured since I took such a huge chunk of stem off I would try to root the cuttings. I've gotten it to work before so why not try again. Its in a mix of 2:1 vermiculite to seed starting mix and the stems were cut at an angle just below a node and dusted with hormone rooting powder. I'm hoping that will do the trick.

They're going to sit on my north facing windowsill along with some Coleus i took cuttings of and some Larkspur, Bird of Paradise and Orange Jasmine seeds I put in little paper pots.

Both the Orange Jasmine and Bird of Paradise were soaked in water for like a day and a half. I nicked (well, filed) the Paradise seed too like is recommended. I did not however put in the fridge for a week b/c i was just too impatient. If it won't germinate I'll add that step in there next time. :) Orange Jasmine seeds floated at first but after soaking so long they sank. Read that a floating seed doesn't necessarily mean it's not viable but only time will tell.

cicada

Random Cicada exoskeleton spotting. Disgusting looking yet interesting.

citrus leafminer damage

My citrus leaves are curling and have these squiggly lines all over them. I seem to have a case of a citrus leafminer. The little larvae hatch and eat their way through the leaves leaving the squiggle lines apparently.

momma leafminer

I wanna try not to use pesticides, so I'm going to pick off all the infected leaves so i make sure to get all the babies actually eating the leaves and then spray some organic deterrent on them: 1 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon liquid detergent diluted with water at a 40:1 ratio. Not gonna lie, I'll probably make mine a little stronger than that. for a nice description of the citrus leafminer, see here for a pdf by Cali university UCDavis.

I was pruning today and even caught a glimpse of the thing. He looks a bit like an insect frog, its strange.

And as a sidenote: "Citrus leafminer moths are attracted to new flush of citrus trees. Avoid pruning live branches more than once a year, so that the cycles of flushing are uniform and short. Once the leaves harden, the pest will not be able to mine the leaves. Do not prune off leaves damaged by citrus leafminer because undamaged areas of the leaves continue to produce food for the tree. Do not apply nitrogen fertilizer at times of the year when leafminer populations are high and flush growth will be severely damaged" citation

yellow striped armyworm

On an upside, I found one of the caterpillars munching on my plants. The broccoli, onion and tomato have been hit on, so unless this guy was having a veggie buffet, he's got more friends around. I couldn't find him b/c i was looking in the wrong place before: tomatoes instead of onions. Left him out an open location and hopefully the birds find him. Ah, the circle of life.

He is black with a yellow stripe down the side and completely hairless. His name, the dreaded armyworm. Aptly named b/c we are totally at war right now.

Nymphalinae?

Went and found a nifty caterpillar today though that i think is some sort of butterfly. He was munching on a weed. Better than my plants though! I wanna say its Family Nymphalidae, Subfamily: Nymphalinae 


he's kinda awesome looking though.