I was just starting a blog post about my radishes, when the carrying-on outside my office window rang a familiar bell. I grabbed my camera and ran outside and a group of seven green, wild parrots were congregating in the top branch of the tree. Want to hear what I hear?
I spotted this on a sunflower leaf about 8PM last night, and didn’t realize what I was looking at. I believe this is the back end. John Dunstan’s “Total Metamorphosis” video makes it quite clear that this is one stage of a ladybug transformation. This little creature was racing along beside the one above, which wasn’t […]
I spent most of yesterday fussing over my tomatoes. I “didn’t get the memo” (from the movie “Batman Begins”) about pruning. As vines towered four feet over my head, I had to channel my inner contortionist to crawl into the jungle and clean up a big pile of limp or shriveled leaves and branches. That’s […]
Harvesting new potatoes is something I enjoy more than almost anything in the garden. One stem and it’s leaves had shriveled and turned brown, and that’s when my neighbor, C.L., had told me it was time to dig for potatoes. This was my first find from my second batch of potatoes. Then I found two more […]
Kaye gets out of her front yard garden for a little inspiration, and visits beautiful Woodside, California. In this episode, she checks out the Woodside Library California Native Plant Garden and the Woodside Elementary School garden. With guest, teacher Brian Myrtetus. Watch here or higher resolution on YouTube.
Crane Fly – I spotted this impossibly long-legged, mosquito-like insect on my cherry tomato plant today, and since I’m keen to attract beneficial insects to my garden, grabbed a photo and went to the internet. I learned it is a crane fly. I think I can spot the ovipositor, so I’m assuming it’s a female just taking a […]
Create an insectiary in your garden to attract beneficial insects! In “Wild Farm,” episode 15 of “Late Bloomer,” we meet Lisa Putnam and her sister Kathleen, who are master gardeners and they take us on a tour of Lisa’s family farm in Woodside, CA. Lisa explained that her insectiary brings in beneficial insects which eat the […]
Patty pan squash is ripe! My young neighbor Sophia and I planted this Cucurbita pepo Balmoral, or Patty Pan Squash, over Memorial Day weekend. Here’s the first harvested one. The tag says 55-65 days to harvest. I took the first one off today at 51 days. You can see us planting the seedling near the end (3:32) […]
Speaking of parrots, my neighbor across the street, C.L., has been reporting quite a show with the wild parrots passing through and making hay of my wilted sunflowers. I had been lopping off the deadheads, but when he told me that it was food for the parrots I left them on. I hadn’t seen them, […]
I’ve been wanting to plant some California native plants that would bring in beneficial insects for my vegetable garden. On my search for a native milkweed, I found Grow Native Nursery in Westwood. https://www.facebook.com/GNNWestwood. This is one type of Solanum, which should bloom from July to December, which will be nice as other natives […]
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