Butterfly Junction

countrynaturals wrote:April 9, 2019 -- 1st butterfly sighting -- Painted Lady. Boy, these early ones are fast.


Okay, here's what it's really supposed to look like:

countrynaturals wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:Huge garden expansion in progress. I'm planting the Rescue Garden in a combination of containers and BTE. Went to my favorite nursery and scored HUGE! They had 11 asparagus plants that didn't sell last year so they potted them up in 1 gal. pots. They wanted them gone so they let me have them for $6 each! These are now 3rd year plants, already producing spears. I can't believe I could get that lucky, to have a 2 year head start on an asparagus bed. 



My next lucky break was strawberries. I have always bought them mail-order and got puny little twigs with a couple of half-dead leaves on them. I'd try to nurse them back to life and always figure on losing half (last year they all died). These babies were only $6.50 a dozen and they're HUGE -- already blooming! All 24 are happy today. I cut the bottoms out of the 1 gal. pots and put them around the bed as a chicken-barrier. I think I'll plant marigolds in them.



The tree trimmers came last week and left me a beautiful new pile of wood chips from our own trees. I still have plenty to use from last year, so this pile will be for 2018.


We have a huge pair of Century Plants (agave) which I hate, but the crazy thing bloomed last year and the skeleton of that blossom is pretty kewl so we had the trimmers take it down for us. We have a huge trunk from it -- don't know what we'll do with that -- and 2 pieces of the "blossom." They also cut down a rotten vine maple, right by the butterfly/greenhouse. Hubby got the brilliant idea to make the stump into the base of a plant table and put that blossom in the middle like an umbrella in a patio table. I probably won't get that until fall, with all his other projects ahead of, but I'm really excited about it. I will definitely be the only kid on the block with one of those. (The tabletop will be on top of the 3 stumps with the agave "tree" supported in the middle.)


Also, the trimmers showed me a whole bunch of "agave pups." They're baby agave plants that sell for $6 to $9. We have about a dozen of them. I don't like them anyway, so we will probably put an ad on Craigslist and see what we can get.

The asparagus bed seemed to survive the fire and get through the rest of the year okay, but there's still no sign of life there this year. Last year we had sprouts by the end of January. I'm not up to starting over on this project, so I'm just hoping it's getting a very late start for some reason.

Looks like at least a few of the strawberries made it. Too soon to tell about anything else. I won't be able to work out there until at least Monday, but all of next week looks good, weatherwise.

countrynaturals wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:

sanderson wrote: It's so manageable!

Yeah -- that's it -- just the vibe I was going for! Actually, I may throw caution to the wind and plant a few artichoke seeds. I lost my 2nd year bed to the fire and they take so long to establish, that I need a head start. I still have one little plant that survived in a 1-quart pot -- amazing!

I'm giving up on artichokes. I just read that they like mild, damp weather -- not exactly our situation. Also, the one in the container -- tho still alive -- loses an old leaf for every new one it sprouts. Time to throw in the trowel!  

liar!

countrynaturals wrote:Worst hail I've ever seen.
Here is the master bedroom balcony, with baby cabbage and baby pak choi in the containers.

Here is the kitchen balcony, with romaine in the planter boxes.

countrynaturals wrote:I'm such a liar! I'm actually expanding my artichoke bed. I already have 4 plants doing well at Katie's. Now I'm planting seeds for another 6 plants over here in the pool area.

sanderson wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:THE JOKE'S ON ME!  

I planted a bunch of exotic stuff this year, including Zucchino Rampicante.

I've also been lamenting that I couldn't find Tromboncino squash, anywhere.

I just discovered THEY'RE THE SAME THING! "(Cucurbita moschata), an Italian heirloom zucchini also known as Zucchetta Rampicante or Tromboncino squash."



The best part is that NOW I HAVE 4 OF THEM!