Attracting Pollinators

If the weeds in my yard do nothing else, they attract pollinators. Today I noticed several honey bees enjoying the fully flowered clover in my back yard.

I was in the process of mowing down all of the weeds that has sprouted up during the rain. I spent most of the afternoon wishing that I had some chickens to just eat them all up, but alas, I do not. I noticed a honeybee. A real live honeybee. I was so excited and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized that I hadn't seen a honeybee in a very long time!

The little bee flew around me, and then dipped low near to the lawn mower and landed on a clover flower. It crawled all over it just like I remember them doing when I was a kid and they seemed much more plentiful. Then it flew low to the ground and landed on another clover flower and did the same thing. After that it buzzed away.

I thought of clover honey and how tasty it is. I started to look at the clover in a whole different way. I decided to leave a strip of the clover close to my porch and moved the mower away from it. For the rest of the day I noticed several different little bugs stopped by the flowers. I even saw a few more honeybees.

I'm sure there are more attractive ways to get pollinators into your garden, but I'm working with what I've got!

Too Embarrassing Not To Share

I know that I have written a couple of posts about the yard work that I have been doing. Well, it's more been about the yard work I have been planning. A few weeks ago I pulled almost all of the weeds out of my yard. After 2 or 3 solid weeks of rain, those weeds are back and they brought friends.

Shawn and I managed to pull most of them but there are still a few left that need to be removed. One area that had been neglected since we moved in was the side yard. We found a weed that was 6 FEET tall!

It looks shorter in this picture because we had already crushed the stalk trying to remove it. Once we had decided to hack through it with a shovel, I knew I needed documentation.

And now, without further ado, I give you, The Biggest Weed I Have Ever Seen!



(Husband included in picture for size reference. Husband = 6'1")

A Little Sun Goes a Long Way

Some sun has finally decided to show up! I am so excited that things are starting to grow in the garden. I think that the tomatoes may be gonners, but the banana pepper has grown a little pepper. The pole bean has started to climb its way up the post of the porch. I am pretty bummed about having to work today, but hopefully there will still be a little sun left when I get home.

I was supposed to put a pumpkin in the garden bed, but it has started to die since I was waiting for the sun to come out before planting it. I hope I am able to salvage it!

In other exciting news, little tiny broccolis have started to grow!  I can see little broccoli heads!  I was starting to doubt wether or not these were broccoli, but they are!  It's been confirmed!

Yay For Summer

Yesterday was the first day of Summer, and guess what? It rained. Today is supposed to be sunny and warm. I am hoping this is the day that turns everything around. I've been spending most of my time trying not to get discouraged while I wait on Summer to start.

I have also started a mental list of things I will do differently next season. Item number one on my list is to make a list. This year I had a loose idea of some things that I wanted to grow, but I missed out on a lot of things because I didn't think of them until it was too late. Okay well, to make the story short, here is the list as it exists so far

1. Make a list of all the vegetables I want to grow.  Start the list early so that I can add to it before to "growing season" starts; if it ever does. 
2. Start early.  Next year I will dig out my beds before I buy my starts.
3. More plants - more, more plants.  No more of this one or two of each variety thing that I have going on this year.  Next year I am planting multiples of everything.  That way I will have more to harvest, more room for error, and at the very least - a back up plan when the dog digs in the garden.
4. Security! I'm putting little fences around my beds next year to keep the dog out.  
5. Carpe Diem! If the sun is out then I am going to get up EARLY and work in the garden.  That way I will still have time to do all of my family fun Summer stuff, and my garden won't get neglected. 

 Anyone have any advice for my list? I would love to learn from everyone else's mistakes instead of my own!

Can't... Go... On...

I don't think I am going to survive if it rains one more day.  There isn't anything to blog about other than watching as my plants slowly die under the down pour this year.  It was 47 degrees last night when I checked, and it was supposed to be even cooler than that according to the weather man.  I heard on TV last night that we were going to have record lows.  What kind of a Summer is this?  The worst Summer to start a garden ever. I think I'm going to need a bit of encouragement, and I'm definitely not going to get it from the Sun.

Murder!

Warning: This post contains graphic pictures of a real gardening crime scene and may be offensive to some readers.

"I was shocked, absolutely shocked," recalls Kimmi, a gardener from Vancouver, WA. "I knew he had impulse problems, but I never knew it could lead to this."

Kimmi is mourning the loss of two plants today. Upon walking out to her garden near sunrise, Kimmi found the discarded remains of a banana pepper plant, another had been tortured, and a bell pepper is completely missing. Authorities are attempting to track down the missing bell pepper, but most fear for the worst.

The suspect in the case was originally Kimmi's two year old son who had been spotted near the crime scene the previous day with dump trucks and bulldozer. He also had very muddy hands later in the afternoon, reports indicate. However, further evidence has cleared his name.

Paw tracks, claw marks, and a large hole dug at the base of the surviving banana pepper plant mark a new suspect. Chopper, the family's 34 month old year old pitbull / boxer mix is being held for questioning and is the prime suspect. Charges have been filed, but no official punishment has taken place.

"I try to remember that this is his first garden," Kimmi told us. "His birthday is coming up soon, I hope he isn't expecting anything special."

See For Yourself

Here is a picture of my Vampire Broccoli NOT enjoying the morning sun. I am amazed at how quickly they start to droop when the sun comes out. It wasn't very warm when I took this picture; couldn't have been over 65 degrees yet. My broccoli sees the sun and it just recoils in sadness. I am so glad that I potted them in these containers so that they can be moved around my yard throughout the day.

At some point or another, every bit of my yard gets sun, and that is bad news for these little plants. I'll be able to scoot their containers around the porch and keep them in the shade. They have been really enjoying this nasty weather we have been having. No sun to speak of except for the lovely weather yesterday and a short sunburst today. I am wondering when my broccoli is going to start looking edible. I would love to see some broccoli heads already like somebody!