Beans Grow on Trees. Really.

I planted some climbing beans this spring and provided a trellis for them -- 5 feet of vertical climbing room should be enough, right?  Apparently not, as I discovered.  The bean plants decided that the nearby lilac tree was a much more appealing place to grow and now there are beans around 14 feet (or more!) above the ground.  Note to the neighbourhood birds, squirrels and raccoons: These beans are yours if you want them.

The first black raspberry harvest!!!

OK, so there are barely enough berries to add to a bowl of ice cream. Nevertheless, given that I didn't have to plant them or fuss over them in any way and I still got delicious berries in my bowl,  I'm a very happy gardener.    Three cheers for urban wilderness and a nod of thanks to the birds who I suspect were responsible for "planting the seeds" as it were.

This Squirrel is Nuts!

It keeps returning to this old school desk that's on the back porch and licking it and gnawing on it.  We have to keep chasing it away.  It seems young so perhaps it hasn't yet figured out that the desk isn't an exotic kind of nut.  Either that, or it's a student-wanna-be, in which case its first lesson will be that a chair is not food.

Fruit Flies like Apple Cider Vinegar

Our kitchen was invaded by fruit flies a few weeks ago.  Even after removing all fruits and vegetables from the counter and storing them (yes, even the tomatoes!) in the fridge, there were still clouds of them on the counter, cupboard doors, etc. just waiting for the lid of the compost bucket to lift. 

I tried putting some apple cider vinegar in a bottle to see if that would lure them in but that wasn't particularly effective it seemed.  I tried a large flat dish but that was even less effective.  What finally did the trick was covering the mouth of the bottle with a double layer of plastic wrap (from some grocery store produce), securing it with an elastic band, and poking a small hole in it with a bamboo skewer.  Within 24 hours the majority of the fruit flies were trapped in the bottle.

I'm considering living dangerously and putting the tomatoes back on the counter.

Good Dog, Schnoodle! You were a very, very Good Dog.

January, 1998 - June 23, 2011

"...(sort of) straight rows of veggies!"

I wrote an entry entitled The Best Mother's Day Gift Ever! just after, you guessed it, Mother's Day and stated my intention of growing "...(sort of) straight rows of veggies!".  Well, I guess some of the rows are "sort of" straight even though the overall look is somewhat chaotic: at the very least, a salad for dinner is an absolute necessity tonight in order to make room for the radishes planted next to the lettuces.  You can, of course, see the  row of radishes next to the lettuce, right?

Despite that fact that some of the veggies are clearly thriving, the beets, spinach, swiss chard,  and possibly the carrots (the jury is still out on that one), all planted from seed, are a disappointment.  The sprout rates on the spinach and beets were low and the rate of growth of all the seedlings unimpressive.  The radishes, which were  also planted from seed on the same day, are progressing more satisfactorily despite the crowding from the onion and lettuce.

The big decision is whether to officially give up on the spinach, beets and carrots and try to find some other vegetable seedlings to plant instead or whether to just leave that space for the other plants to take over. I think I'm leaning in favour of the latter strategy.

 
The  zucchini plants seem to be very happy in their pot -- I'm even starting to hope that there will be a zucchini harvest in the near future.  And, to my credit,  the zucchinis (all two of them) are planted in a perfectly straight row.

Lesson Learned -- The Hard Way

Well, I just learned a painful lesson: always wear gloves when weeding, especially in dense foliage!  I was trying to get weeds out of a large patch of ground cover and decided to take my right glove off to give me more dexterity.   I put my hand into the leaves in order to feel down to the base of the weed to yank it out -- and felt instant burning pain.  A bit of careful investigation revealed not nettle (which had been my first theory) but a wasp or bee stuck in a spider's web and not feeling too happy about its plight.  I'm not feeling too happy about my plight either -- my hand is swollen and discoloured and hurts!  Hmmmm -- hold on -- there is a silver lining!   I couldn't possibly cook dinner & do the dishes in my pathetic state, now could I?

(NB: The photo above is from my files and not depict the insect responsible for my misery).