Root- Knot Nematode

My eggplants and tomatillos have been looking pretty rough lately, so I pulled them up, and as you can tell by the photos it's root-knot nematodes. ( I had really been looking forward to those purple tomatillos ) I had some problems with the winter garden and I used a product made from chitin and right before planting this spring I applied it again. So I don't know ....... I'm going to plant some marigolds around the garden and see if that might help some. If nothing else, it'll bring some pretty colors to the vegetable beds.

Summer fun and book meme

The little one and I, have been enjoying our summer so far. We've been playing at the park, going to the library for their summer reading program,(it's all about bugs, cool!) painted rocks to look like vegetables for some garden markers, started painting a birdhouse, and built a volcano. I was expecting a huge eruption of water, baking soda, and vinegar. But as you can see it was more of a ooze. Hubby told us next time to just use the baking soda and vinegar and see how that does. Hopefully that will be more dramatic.

On another note, my friend Laura tagged me for a book meme. The rules are:

1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) open to page 123
3) find the fifth sentence.
4) post the next three sentences.
5) tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you.

Dang, I don't know 5 people to tag!!!!

My book is The Animal Dialogues, written by Craig Childs:
Okay here goes...

" He watched. His head moved as if it had the fluid suspension of a gyroscope. The female finally came."

It's about owls.

Really.

I swear.

" This male did not take our mouse. He glided between trees, his voice growing irritated. I had to run out and grab the mouse back because he wouldn't dive for it. He watched. His head moved as if it had the fluid suspension of a gyroscope.The female finally came. I posed the mouse on a broken branch and stood behind a tree, extending the branch from my arms."

I just started this book last night and I only made it to the third short story. Good reading so far and I'm looking forward to reading some more tonight.

Florida Scrub Jay

This article is from the current issue of Nature Conservancy.

Aloe and Vera

Remembering Dad

I am well again, I came to life in the cool winds
and crystal waters of the mountains.......

-John Muir-


May 25, 1940 - June 18, 2002

Sugar Baby Watermelon

Loved by children and chickens alike.

Hooray, our first sweet, tasty, watermelon!! I'm shocked at how hardy this variety is. ( I have the worst luck with powdery mildew and none of the plants do well because of it.) It also has a nice compact growth which was great for my small garden. I think I'll try growing it next time as a container plant to see how it does.

Red Admiral

Shirley and Aloe

It's painfully obvious, now that Shirley and Aloe are CROWING (ALOT), that they are really Larry and Al.

Ummm.......okay, that wasn't supposed to happen.

Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato

This little heirloom comes from Iowa and is named for the Wapsipinicon River. Wonderfully sweet and very hardy. I definitely recommend growin this one. I started them from seeds and then transfered them over into a Earth Box. If you lack available space for gardening go buy one of these. They are just awesome. I was lucky enough to get this one as a gift, so maybe I'll pick up another and try some watermelons or cantalope.

Ducks at the beach?

Have you ever seen such a thing ?

Yoko

Yoko at 7 weeks

Mexican Sour Gherkin

These are just so tiny, about grape size. I'm growing mine in a good sized terra cotta pot. They seem to like this method better than being put straight into the ground. So far I haven't had any mildew or pest issues and they are just producing like crazy. We taste tested some for the first time the other day and they tasted really good. I think these will go great in a salad with some little cherry tomatoes. Yummy.

Laverne

Laverne at 6 weeks

Baby Owl Shower

Last weekend, Audubon Bird of Prey Center was having their baby owl shower. This is a wonderful Mothers Day event that I look forward to every year. It's so heart warming seeing these people volunteering their time to help rehabilitate these birds. This year they had a Cara Cara out for demonstration, a baby Great Horned Owl, a Screech Owl and a Bald Eagle. So cool!!! I'm so glad we made the drive, I couldn't think of a better way to spend a day.

Dragon carrots

I really like these carrots. They have a nice taste, kinda spicy and of course the color is really neat. I would have let them get bigger, but the evil wild bunny beat me to them. They can't do much when their tops have been mowed down. If you want to know more about carrots, check out this article on seeds of change.

Ha!! Seems like hubby didn't like the cute bunny part.

Movin' on up.

Last weekend, after hubby was done fixing some of the little things on the coop, the girls were ready to move in. The reality was we were ready to get them out of our garage. Five chicks can be quite messy. So we rounded them up and off to the Big House for them. So far this week, other than two nights when Laverne was a little anxious, they have settled in nicely. They like all the bugs, green grass, and new places to scratch. Now if we could only get them to go into their little roost room at night instead of the corner out in the run.

City chicks

Sometime ago, hubby and I decided that no garden should be without chickens. Only one problem, we live in the city. Crowing roosters and city life don't mix. So we talked and longed and surfed the web for a company that we didn't have to order a min. of 25 chicks and get stuck with some roo's in the process. Then hubby found My Pet Chicken. This great company you can order just three chicks, even better, order all girls if you so choose. After five long weeks, our girls were finally here. Total cute overload for sure. So hubby has been working hard over the past month getting the big house ready for the girls. Hopefully in the next few days I'll have photo's up of the big move.