uncskainch's Xanga

Sunflower

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:14:41 GMT

The sunflowers are still going strong -- some of them have eight or nine flower heads on each plant! And this morning we saw goldfinches picking the seeds out of one of the faded blooms. These are definitely a keeper that I'll plant again next year!

We're still picking about a pint of Sungolds a day and each week we're getting four or five zucchini, a few cucumbers, a couple of servings of green beans, a couple of cayennes, and several large tomatoes. The poblano peppers are almost ready to pick and we'll harvest more potatoes this weekend.

And the little late Jack-Be-Little pumpkins are growing well and starting to show tiny buds:

I'm hoping we'll have some mini-pumpkins from these for Halloween. They're in a spot that gets shade part of the day, but the packet of seed said they would tolerate part-shade and I suspect they'll grow toward the sunnier part of the bed anyway. We shall see!

Harvest Report

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:06:43 GMT

Yesterday's harvest:

3 Celebrity tomatoes
2 Cherokee Purple tomatoes
1 Black Krim tomato
About 3 cups of Sungold cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber
2 yellow zucchini
2 green zucchini (flowers attached)
about 1/2 lb. of green beans

Good thing everyone in our house likes vegetables!

I have my seeds for the fall garden and will be planting parts of it later this month. Photos of the bountiful summer garden to come later this week, too.

Garden Update

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:03:47 GMT

I've been picking a couple of big ripe tomatoes every day, several squash a week, three or four cucumbers a week, and enough green beans for a single serving every few days (the beans are mostly just for fun, so I didn't plant a huge quantity).

The tomatillos are starting to create husks:

I can pick a double-handful of ripe Sungolds every day -- sometimes more. These are still one of my very favorite varieties:

And the squash plants are, simply, out of control -- the biggest I think I've ever had!:

And this week, I've been delighted by the blooming of several red sunflowers:

I wasn't sure how I would like these, but I really love them! They produce several flowers on each 6-7 foot stalk, attract lots of honeybees, and the color is simply spectacular! I think this variety is Moulin Rouge (at least that's the only red one I remember planting).

A Caterpillar from a Summer Past

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:52:11 GMT

I still haven't found Parsley's chrysalis in the bushes and I suspect that she'll be ready to emerge any day now, so we may have missed our chance to watch the rest of her transformation. BUT I have lots of fennel and parsley in the garden still and, in past years, we've had black swallowtail caterpillars well into September, so there's still more time!

But for those of you who really wanted to see Parsley finish her metamorphosis, here are some shots from August of 2004 of some different caterpillars/chrysalises/butterflies of the same species. First the caterpillar attaches itself to a stem at its tail end and spins a thin strand of silk around its middle to hold it there:

Then it sheds its skin and, underneath, there is a chrysalis:

Several days later, the chrysalis becomes transparent and you can see the colors of the butterfly within:

And finally, the butterfly comes out!

I hope you enjoyed this "blast from the past." Maybe later this summer we'll get a repeat performance! And maybe...just maybe...I'll see a black swallowtail drying its wings in the azaleas in a few days.

Garden update: We have harvested several squash, Pink Girl tomatoes, Cherokee Purple tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and a handful of cherry tomatoes every time we go out in the garden. I also got my fall seed order, so I'll be planning and planting the late summer/fall garden in a few weeks!

Parsley: Ready for her close-up

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:10:38 GMT

It's been 15 days since Parsley hatched from her egg. Soon, it should be time for her to transform -- I'm hoping she'll choose to become a chrysalis nearby so that I can take photos! Updates to follow...

UPDATE: Parsley has gone off to form her chrysalis. She was there one minute, and when I went back to check a little while later, she was gone. We'll keep an eye on the nearby bushes for a chrysalis, but if we don't find her, we'll have to wait for another caterpillar, I suppose. But the summer's long yet, and there's lots of fennel and parsley to attract them, so maybe we'll get lucky next time if she eludes the lens! Whatever the case, I hope she has a lovely life as a butterfly.

Weekend Garden Update

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:59:54 GMT

So the green beans have reached the top of the poles and are starting to produce:

We seriously need to eat more squash:

The poblano peppers have started to set fruit:

The cucumbers are going nuts -- we've picked two and the vines are covered with flowers:

The Sungold cherry tomatoes are ripening:

We picked one big Pink Girl tomato and the Celebrity, Cherokee Purple and Black Krim aren't far behind:

Oh yes, and our friend Parsley is not such a tiny little caterpillar anymore -- she's grown into a great big one, seemingly overnight:

Friday Caterpillar Update

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:14:00 GMT

Our caterpillar friend is hiding down in the parsley again:

And getting bigger by the day:

I'm planning to put a few sticks in the container with the parsley, in hopes of providing an attractive place to form a chrysalis.

Garden photos to come this weekend!

Caterpillar Update

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:01:08 GMT

The caterpillar was hiding down low in the parsley this morning, but I still got a shot of her! She's growing visibly every day now.

Parsley & Friend

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:19:55 GMT

Here's our caterpillar this morning, undeterred by yesterday's major thunderstorm:

And here's a dragonfly that was warming itself and drying its wings on our pole beans this morning before taking off:

In other garden news, the rain was good for everything and our Jack Be Little Pumpkins and recently planted zinnias and mini-sunflowers are starting to come up. Our peppers are flowering and the beans should be producing in the next few weeks. All seems well!

I'm also starting to think about our fall vegetable garden, with help from this handy publication from the NC Cooperative Extension Service. In our areas, we can plant in July and August and have time to harvest into October and (for things that will tolerate a little frost) even November. We can also start crops like onions and garlic in the fall, let them grow slowly over winter and they will mature in the spring. So if you've been thinking, "Gee, I wish I'd started a garden this year, but now it's too late," don't despair -- there may still be time for some fall crops!

My husband is planning to extend our main garden bed a bit in July to allow me to plant some of the fall crops that must be started on the early side, then as the summer garden starts to wear itself out into August, we'll remove spent plants, add compost, and plant faster-maturing fall veggies. I'm thinking that the fall garden will include at least some of the following:

carrots
broccoli
cauliflower
collard greens
cabbage
spinach
chard
kale
beets
radishes
turnips
kohlrabi
lettuce (many varieties)
arugula
onions
garlic

Our first killing frost usually arrives around the end of October, so we have about four more months of gardening here and that's time to grow a lot of yummy stuff! What would you plant in a fall garden?

Molted Caterpillar

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:16:46 GMT

Our caterpillar friend molted today -- she may have molted once or twice before and I missed it, but this time it is a very clear color change from the previous instar (caterpillar stage) and I could see the molted skin, so I know we've had a very recent molt. The black on the stem below the caterpillar is the old skin that was shed. Note the big difference from the photo in the post below, taken earlier today.